DURHAM, N.C. -- One half of the ACC title game was decided late Friday night when N.C. State upset No. 2 seed Miami. No. 4-seed Florida State (40-19) made relatively quick work of the other half a little over 12 hours later, knocking off the tournament's top seed in Louisville (43-16).
The Seminoles didn't exactly come into ACC Tournament play hot, losing their final two games in the series at Louisville and then getting swept by Clemson at home in the final series of the year. Florida State has gotten nice work out of its starting pitchers, who have combined to go 19 innings over FSU's three wins and give up 14 hits and two runs. FSU has led by a combined total of 13-2 through the first seven innings as a result in the ACC Tournament.
Florida State has allowed just five runs through three games, the fewest of any team that made pool play (Virginia Tech allowed five runs in one game). Sunday's opponent, N.C. State, is a close second with six runs allowed.
The final scores haven't always reflected what a battle the games have been. Florida State's opponents have made it tough on them at times throughout the tournament, but the Seminoles have become a team that will grind through it.
Louisville head coach Dan McDonnell, whose team won an ACC record 25 games, was an admirer after the Cardinals lost their second game in pool play to FSU, 6-0.
The game was 0-0 through the first five innings before Florida State broke through in the bottom of the sixth. Louisville freshman Brendan McKay (the ACC freshman of the year) hit John Sansone with a pitch, then walked the dangerous D.J. Stewart (who O'Donnell called one of the hardest outs in college baseball) and then Quincy Nieporte came to the plate.
The sophomore got himself into a 2-2 count before fouling off three straight pitches and taking a ball to fill it up at 3-2. On the ninth pitch of the at-bat, his grounder found some dirt and sprang up in the air at a funny angle. Louisville's Sutton Whiting couldn't quite handle it and Sansone scored on the error.
It wasn't scored as a hit, but it's the type of at-bat that great teams encourage their players to have.
"I thought Quincy had the at-bat of the game -- just what we preach, two strikes, just battle, battle. Just move the ball," McDonnell said. "And it was a tough play for (Whiting). He hit a ground ball and hit that dirt and it took off. And it's what we preach. And again, tip your hat. They did what they needed to do."
Florida State did, and now the Seminoles will make their 11th appearance in the ACC championship game and first since 2011.
This is just business as usual for Mike Martin, who's been the FSU head coach since 1980. The Seminoles have won at least 40 games in every year he's been there, and the win over Louisville made it official for this season as well.
Florida State will be going to its 36th straight NCAA Tournament when the field is announced, and the Seminoles have almost certainly locked up a national seed with what they've done in Durham.
"Our goal will never change, and that's to get to Omaha. And this is another goal that we have, and that's to win the Atlantic Coast Conference," Martin said. "We know it's going to be difficult."
N.C. State's crazy walk-off win on an inside-the-park home run by Preston Palmeiro still had the Durham Bulls Athletic Park buzzing all day Saturday. After Florida State locked up its spot opposite the Wolfpack in the title game in the first game of the day, the remaining two games weren't of any consequence.
The games were still fun, though. Miami edged Notre Dame in a contest that had two lead changes as Notre Dame, down one entering the ninth, scored two to take the lead in the top only to see Miami score two more in the bottom to get the win. The Hurricanes were No. 2 in the RPI after their loss to N.C. State the night before; they're almost certainly going to be a national seed (which goes to the top eight teams as determined by the committee).
The N.C. State faithful on hand on Friday night helped propel the team to the upset win. Even though the nightcap against Virginia was essentially meaningless for both teams, the DBAP was filled with a lively crowd yet again, even if they weren't as loud as they were the night before.
Virginia is in the NCAA Tournament regardless, and couldn't help itself much with a win. N.C. State is playing for the ACC title Sunday anyway.
The Wolfpack used a lot of their key bullpen arms in the 12-inning win over Miami, and so they turned to seldom-used Ryan Williamson, whose only ACC start was against Notre Dame (he lasted 1.2 innings and allowed four earned runs).
But on Saturday, he went 7.0 innings -- a career high -- and threw 119 pitches, also a career high. He allowed just six hits and two earned runs, struck out six and walked two. More importantly, he ensured that N.C. State's bullpen would get the night off to rest for a game where they will surely be needed.
It was a close game throughout, going into the eighth inning tied at 2-2 after Williamson's night was done. But the top of the eighth was when N.C. State broke the game wide open, ensuring Williamson wasn't needed anymore, scoring a ridiculous eight runs and taking a 10-2 lead that would represent the final score.
Martin knew even before the Wolfpack's dominating 10-2 win over Virginia that N.C. State would be dangerous. His team won a hard-fought series in Raleigh back in early April, but that was before N.C. State had gotten red hot and won 13 of its last 15 games.
"North Carolina State is playing great right now. We were very impressed when we played them at North Carolina State six or eight weeks ago," Martin said. "And to do what they did in beating Miami last night, I'm sure it's setting up to be a fun and exciting Sunday."
The hot streak has come from a mix of talented young players and valuable veterans like senior Logan Ratledge meshing together and just finding a way to win games. String a few together and you believe you can do it, and N.C. State started coming out on the better side of the one-run games and has steadily built confidence in the last month or so.
"We weren't getting those big hits. We weren't executing when we needed to. Now, we've got guys up and down the lineup," Ratledge said. "It doesn't matter who you are -- we have confidence in everybody right now."
It's going to be a partisan crowd for N.C. State on Sunday, but at least Florida State will have a bullpen that's just as rested, if not more so. The Seminoles have already used Mike Compton, Boomer Biegalski and Drew Carlton this week, their three most frequent starters. Bryant Holtmann (6-1) is tied for fourth-most starts with eight, and he'll start for FSU in the ACC title game.
Holtmann, a senior lefty, hasn't started a game since May 5 at Stetson. He had seven innings of work in that one and gave up just three hits and no runs. In his last two appearances, though, he's gone a combined two innings against Louisville and Clemson and given up three hits and three runs (none earned). He's largely started in midweek games, but he did go 1-0 in three starts against Florida this year (two were a no-decision).
As for the Wolfpack, they will probably go with Johnny Piedmonte.
The sophomore's last start came at Wake Forest, and he went 3.2 innings and allowed two runs (neither earned). His longest start was 5.2 innings against Clemson on March 7 in a win. As for N.C. State head coach Elliott Avent, the real question is how much the bullpen will be able to help after Friday. Two key arms in Jon Olczak and Tommy DeJuneas each went more than three innings against the Hurricanes.
"Right now, I think we're probably leaning towards Johnny Piedmonte (as the starter)," Avent said. "Miami, they can just really hit, and Miami really took a lot out of our bullpen last night through that 12-inning thing. Maybe we're not as loaded as we'd like to be, but we think we have enough there."
This is Florida State's first trip to the ACC Championship game since 2011, when the Seminoles lost to Virginia. It's N.C. State's first trip since 2010, when the Wolfpack lost to ... Florida State. That was FSU's last title, and N.C. State hasn't won it since 1992.
And no matter who wins, the league will have a new champion for the 16th straight year. Since 2000, no team has won the title twice in a row. Georgia Tech has the most in that span with five while Florida State has three, but the ACC Tournament is the kind that tends to shake things up a bit.
This year has been no different, and Sunday's finale shouldn't disappoint.
