Florida State caps ACC run, beats NC State to take conference crown

Published May. 24, 2015 9:24 p.m. ET

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DURHAM, N.C. (AP) -- Florida State sure turned things around at the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.

In reeling off four straight wins, the Seminoles captured their sixth league tournament title by beating North Carolina State 6-2 on Sunday.

They arrived in Durham having lost five in a row before getting themselves right -- with MVP Boomer Biegalski earning two wins.

John Sansone hit a three-run home run in the third inning and Danny De La Calle drove in two runs to help the fourth-seeded Seminoles (41-19) win their first ACC tournament title since 2010.

"It's one of the real highlights of the year, but we're only going to enjoy this for 48 hours," coach Mike Martin said. "Next weekend (at the NCAA Tournament) is what the season is about. And I'm very proud of each and every one of these young men ... To win this, with this competition, is a tremendous accomplishment."

Biegalski (7-4) -- who won the opener Wednesday against the same Clemson team that swept the Seminoles last weekend -- took over for starter Bryant Holtmann in the fourth and struck out five in 4 1-3 innings.

Martin said he only wanted Biegalski to throw 50 pitches but he wound up going 65 because "he was pitching so well, we didn't want to go get him."

Jake Fincher drove in a run for the sixth-seeded Wolfpack (34-21). They had won 13 of 15, including a 3-0 finish in pool play, before falling in the title game.

Johnny Piedmonte (1-2) allowed four runs on three hits in 3 1-3 innings for N.C. State, which was denied its first ACC tournament title since 1992.

"This weekend, it kind of showed everybody on the team that we can win the tight games," catcher Andrew Knizner said. "When we play with confidence, we can compete with anybody in the country."

Sansone came up with the biggest hit of the day for the Seminoles, putting them up 3-0 in the third.

Taylor Walls led off with a single and Josh Delph walked before Sansone lofted a pitch from Piedmonte over the 32-foot tall "Blue Monster" wall in left field for his eighth homer.

N.C. State caught a couple breaks in the fourth, when it scored both of its runs. Joe Dunand hustled in from third in a bases-loaded infield-fly-rule situation, and Bubby Riley then scored on a wild pitch to make it 3-2.

De La Calle, the Seminoles' No. 9 hitter, added a two-run single in the fourth to put them up 5-2, and Quincy Nieporte made it a four-run game by doubling in Sansone in the seventh.

WEIRD PLAY:

N.C. State's first run came on a bizarre play. With the bases loaded and one out in the fourth, Fincher hit a short pop-up that the Seminoles couldn't catch. Dunand took off from third and initially was called out via force play by home-plate umpire Barry Chambers.

Both coaches agreed that two of the other umpires properly invoked the infield fly rule -- which made Fincher automatically out and removed the force play at the plate. After a conference, they declared Dunand safe at home because he had not been tagged.

"They always say if you stay around baseball long enough, you'll see something you haven't seen before," N.C. State coach Elliott Avent said.

STAT WATCH:

N.C. State fell to 0-12 when scoring fewer than three runs. ... The announced attendance of 9,759 was the most for an ACC championship game.

HISTORY BOOKS:

This was the second time these programs met in the ACC tournament final: Florida State beat N.C. State 8-3 in the 2010 final in Greensboro.

UP NEXT:

N.C. State: Awaiting a probable at-large invitation to the NCAA Tournament, which begins Friday.

Florida State: Automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, which begins Friday.