Seminoles advance with 9-5 win at College World Series

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Connor Hults pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings to thwart North Carolina’s comeback attempt, and Jaxson West and Max Williams hit two straight home runs for good measure in the ninth inning as Florida State beat the Tar Heels 9-5 in a College World Series elimination game on Tuesday.

The Seminoles (49-16) play No. 1 national seed Tennessee on Wednesday afternoon. They would have to beat the Volunteers then and again on Thursday to reach the final for the first time since 1999.

The Tar Heels (48-16) lost two games in a row for the first time since mid-April and finished 1-2 in their first CWS since 2018.

Although FSU and North Carolina are both from the Atlantic Coast Conference, this was their first meeting since the Tar Heels won a three-game series to conclude the 2022 regular season.

Florida State took a 3-1 lead after retiring both Aidan Haugh (4-3) and Matthew Matthijs in the third inning. The Tar Heels called upon Dalton Pence, who extended his NCAA Tournament shutout streak to 14 1/3 innings, before five singles in six at-bats led to four runs in the fifth inning and gave the Seminoles a 7-1 lead.

North Carolina scored four runs in the second half. With two runners on base, Vance Honeycutt greeted Conner Whittaker with his fourth home run in five games, and Jackson Van De Brake followed with an RBI single to put the game up at two runs.

Hults (3-1) got the last out of the inning and struck out 12 of 15 batters in his longest outing of the season. He was never in trouble. Honeycutt hit a single in the seventh inning but was taken out on a rundown between first and second base. After Van De Brake hit a double in the eighth inning, Hults got a second groundout. He walked Alex Madera to start the ninth inning but got a strikeout between two groundouts to finish the game.

West, the No. 9 hitter for FSU, had a career-high four hits in five at-bats. His home run was his second in four games and just his third of the season.

Williams hit his fifth home run in eight NCAA tournament games and already has 14 this season.