James Tibbs III hit his team-leading 25th homer of the season and 52nd of his career, and No. 5 seed Florida State advanced to the ACC Tournament semifinals with a 12-7 victory over fourth-seeded Virginia on Friday in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The Cavaliers (41-15) finished 1-1 in pool play, and will now await an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament.
Tibbs, the ACC Player of the Year, went 2 for 3 with five RBIs. He gave Florida State (41-14) the lead in the fourth inning with a two-run single and then walked with the bases loaded in the fifth to make it 4-1. He added a sacrifice fly to begin a seven-run seventh inning.
Daniel Cantu highlighted the top of the seventh with a long shot to the wall that centerfielder Bobby Whalen appeared to catch, but the ball fell out of his glove. Cantu raced for a triple and two scored for a 9-2 lead.
Virginia responded by hitting three home runs in an inning for the third time this season to make it 11-7 in the bottom of the seventh, but couldn’t get closer. Casey Saucke hit a solo shot, while Luke Hanson and former Cox High star Ethan Anderson each hit two-run homers.
Griff O’Ferrall went 3 for 5 with a solo homer and two runs for UVA.
Tibbs is tied with Mike McGee for the fifth-most homers in FSU history.
Jamie Arnold (10-3) turned in another quality start for the Seminoles, allowing two earned runs with nine strikeouts across six innings. Brennen Oxford secured his fifth save.
Virginia starter Joe Savino (2-2) allowed four runs in 4 2/3 innings.
Wake Forest 9, North Carolina 5 (12 innings): Nick Kurtz hit a two-run home run to ignite a four-run 12th inning after his two-out RBI double tied the game in the ninth. The victory eliminated the Tar Heels from the tournament and advanced the Demon Deacons to the semifinals.
Wake Forest (38-19) will play No. 2 seed Clemson in the first semifinal Saturday. No. 6 seed Duke and 11th-seeded Miami will square off in the second one. The two winners will play for the championship Sunday. Among those four teams, only Miami probably needs to win the championship to reach an NCAA regional.
The Demon Deacons got the win despite wasting a stellar performance from starting pitcher Chase Burns. Burns struck out 15 in six shutout innings and left with a 4-0 lead before UNC (42-13) rallied against the Wake Forest bullpen.
Clemson 8, Louisville 7: Jimmy Obertop drew a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning for the winning run as the No. 2 seed Tigers rallied past the No. 7 Cardinals.
Neither team will advance to the semifinal round.
