CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) — Mac Horvath hit a grand slam in the first inning and drove in six runs on Friday night to help sixth-seeded North Carolina beat No. 3 seed N.C. State 9-6 in the final game of pool play in the ACC Tournament.
The Tar Heels (27-25) and Wolfpack (29-16) each finished 1-1 in pool play, but N.C. State took the tiebreaker as the higher seed and advanced to the semifinals to face No. 2 seed Georgia Tech on Saturday.
Horvath’s grand slam came in the middle of a six-run first inning and was initially ruled a single but changed to a home run after a video review. It was the first grand slam by a North Carolina player since Ashton McGee hit one against Liberty on April 30, 2019.
N.C. State went 4-for-5 to open the top of the eighth and closed the deficit to three. But the Tar Heels brought on Caden O’Brien in relief and he struck out two to get out of the jam and two more in the ninth to close out his third save of the season.
Austin Love (8-4) struck out nine in 5 2/3 innings for the Tar Heels. Wolfpack starter Andrew Tillery (1-1) picked up the loss.