FSU Tops UNC for 2017 ACC Baseball Championship After 8th-Inning Rally

North Carolina's pitchers held the Florida State offense in check for seven innings of Sunday's ACC Championship Game. In the eighth inning, however, the Seminoles exploded.

Led by Drew Mendoza's three-run homer, Florida State scored five runs in a huge eighth inning that secured a 7-3 win and an ACC title.

Mendoza was the hero, finishing with two home runs and four RBI, while Florida State's Andrew Karp, Drew Parrish, Alec Byrd and Drew Carlton held a dangerous Tar Heels offense that had scored 34 runs in its previous three games to just three runs and seven hits on Sunday. 

Byrd earned the win. UNC freshman closer Josh Hiatt, who has been superb all season long, gave up six runs on six hits in his 2.1 innings of work, taking the loss.

Tyler Lynn opened the scoring for North Carolina in the bottom of the second inning with a solo homer to right field. Zack Gahagan immediately followed that up with a single, and Michael Busch plated him with an RBI double.

Two batters later, Busch scored on a throwing error to give Carolina a 3-0 lead.

The Seminoles got one back in the top of the third, however, as Tyler Holton scored on a fielder's choice. And Drew Mendoza's homer in the seventh inning pulled the Seminoles to within one. That set up Florida State's breakthrough eighth. 

Hiatt's meltdown was unexpected. Hiatt, described by Andrew Carter of the News and Observer as "arguably the best closer in school history," had been superb all season. FSU radio announcer Eric Luallen broke down some of his impressive stats: 

He wasn't dominant on Sunday, however. He gave up a single to the first batter he faced in the eighth before hitting the following batter with a pitch. He then threw two wild pitches, which tied the game at three apiece, before Cal Raleigh's RBI single gave Florida State the lead.

One batter later, Mendoza hit his second home run, breaking the game wide open. Florida State shared the game-changing blast on Twitter:

UNC put runners on base in both the eighth and ninth innings but couldn't cut into Florida State's lead. 

The loss leaves both teams in an interesting position heading into the postseason. The Tar Heels are still potentially in the running for a top seed in the NCAA tournament, per Carter, while Florida State will hope its ACC title earned it the right to be a regional host.