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Late mistakes doom No. 6 Florida State Baseball in semifinals of ACC Tournament

On3 imageby: Corey Clark05/25/25Corey_Clark
On3 image
Florida State pitcher Wes Mendes delivers a pitch Saturday against North Carolina in Durham, N.C. (Courtesy of FSU Sports Information)

In a span of about 10 minutes Saturday evening in Durham, N.C., the Florida State baseball team likely saw its chances of being a Top 8 national seed disappear.

The Seminoles’ sloppy defense in the top of the ninth led to two runs for the North Carolina Tar Heels, and FSU fell, 7-5, in the semifinals of the ACC Tournament.

Florida State will find out where it’s seeded for next week’s NCAA Tournament during Monday’s Selection Show on ESPN. But it seems unlikely — based on the RPI rankings and projections by experts — that the Seminoles will be a Top 8 seed.

The No. 6 Seminoles, who lost two of three to the No. 4 Tar Heels last weekend, had a chance to even the season series on Saturday and pick up an enormous win for RPI purposes.

But it wasn’t to be. Thanks, in no small part, to some self-inflicted wounds.

With the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the eighth, Florida State’s James Hankerson Jr. led off with a walk. Chase Williams, who already had two hits on the day, was asked to bunt pinch-runner B.J. Gibson over to second. But his bunt went back to the pitcher, who easily threw out Gibson at second base.

Still. With Williams’ lightning speed at first, it seemed likely he would be able to get into scoring position with a steal. Instead, Jaxson West popped out on the second pitch he saw (with Williams trying to steal), and then Gage Harrelson grounded out to second on the first pitch he saw (with Williams trying to steal) and the inning was over.

In the top of the ninth, second baseman Drew Faurot was charged with an error when he couldn’t field a sharp groundball to start the frame. Then on a sacrifice bunt attempt down the first-base line, first baseman Myles Bailey didn’t charge it and pitcher Joey Volini, who came on in relief of starter Wes Mendes, couldn’t field it. Suddenly, UNC had runners at first and second with nobody out.

The next sac bunt went right to third baseman Cal Fisher, who had an easy out at third base if he elected to throw it there. Instead, he took the out at first. Kane Kepley then ripped the go-ahead two-run single up the middle to give the Tar Heels the lead.

Florida State couldn’t score in the bottom of the ninth, and the Tar Heels advanced to the ACC Championship game on Sunday at noon.

Bailey hit another home run in the loss — his third in two games in Durham — and he also drew two walks. Alex Lodise had an RBI double off the wall in left in the sixth to tie the game at 5-5. That was the lone hit FSU had with a runner in scoring position.

The Seminoles were 1-of-8 with runners in scoring position on the day. North Carolina was 5-for-14. That was the difference.

On the mound, Florida State starter Wes Mendes was terrific through his first three innings, retiring the first nine in order. He wound up being charged with five runs over the next two innings, but he was a bit unlucky with some well-placed doubles just out of reach of FSU fielders.

He did allow a long two-run homer to UNC star Luke Stevenson in the sixth inning that came off the heels of Harrelson allowing a pop-up down the line to land in fair territory for a double.

Volini came on in relief and allowed just one earned run in 3 1/3 innings of work.

Both teams, in fact, pitched their two remaining weekend starters in the game on Saturday.

Mendes and Volini combined for 11 strikeouts and just two walks. UNC’s combo of Jason DeCaro and Aidan Haugh combined for only five strikeouts and six walks. But FSU couldn’t come through with big hits when it got runners on base and wound up falling to the Tar Heels for the third time in four games.

Florida State will learn on Sunday evening if it gets to host an NCAA Regional, as expected.

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