UNC baseball’s Scott Forbes, Tar Heels discuss FSU, ACC Tournament
Following UNC baseball’s semifinal win vs. FSU in the 2025 ACC Tournament, head coach Scott Forbes, Alex Madera and Perry Hargett discussed the win.
An automatic berth is on the line as the ACC baseball championship takes place between North Carolina (41-12) and Clemson (44-15).
The Tigers, seeded fifth in the ACC baseball tournament, reached the title game with wins over No. 12 seed Virginia Tech (6-1); No. 4 seed NC State (7-6); and No. 1 seed Georgia Tech (9-4). The Tar Heels, meanwhile, began their ACC tournament run in the quarterfinals, beating No. 14 seed Boston College 7-2 and No. 2 seed Florida State 7-5 to advance to the championship.
Watch North Carolina vs Clemson baseball on Fubo (free trial)
Both North Carolina and Clemson — ranked Nos. 3 and 12 among the top 25, respectively, in the most recent USA TODAY Baseball Coaches Poll — should feel secure in making the 2025 NCAA baseball tournament, regardless of Sunday’s outcome.
The Tar Heels are projected as the No. 7 national seed, whereas Clemson is projected as the No. 2 seed in the Conway Regional alongside No. 12 national seed Coastal Carolina.
With that, follow along live for scores, updates and highlights from the ACC championship game:
ACC baseball championship live score
This section will be updated.
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This section will be updated.
Clemson’s Cam Cannarella helps Clemson avoid the ACC title game shutout with a two-run home run in the top of the seventh. His shot has a 104.22 mph exit velocity.
Will there be a run rule for the ACC championship? They typically go into effect after seven innings of play when a team holds a lead of at least 10 runs. North Carolina leads 14-0 in the top of the seventh.
Clemson has three outs left to avoid getting run-ruled.
Clemson tries to make the play at home to stop another run from coming across for the Tar Heels, but a throwing error by French allows Madera to score. One batter later, Van De Brake grounds out to shortstop but scores Bass from third. Both runs were unearned. Clemson gets out of the inning after a Stokely line-out but the damage is done. It’s 14-0 UNC.
In what has been a recurring theme in the ACC title game, Clemson is making another pitching change. Up next is Justin LeGuernic, who is 0-3 in 21 2/3 innings pitched this year on top of allowing a 9.14 ERA.
Still no score for Clemson after six innings. The Tigers’ latest opportunity ends after Jarrell grounds into a 6-4-3 double play.
Another Clemson pitching change, the Tigers’ third of the inning. Next up is Noah Samol, who is 0-1 in six prior appearances on the season. He has a 10.8 ERA in 6 2/3 innings pitched.
Any chance Clemson had of a comeback in the ACC championship just left the field alongside Jackson Van De Brake’s three-RBI home run. One batter after Kepley drove in Hargett with an RBI-single, Van De Brake smoked one over the wall in left field. It had a 109.15 mph exit velocity and traveled 408.87 feet, per the ESPN2 broadcast.
𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐭𝐚𝐢𝐧 𝐂𝐫𝐮𝐬𝐡 💥
Heels running absolute wild in the title game. Our first 3 HR inning of the year. pic.twitter.com/OOKStvxOUd
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) May 25, 2025
It’s an eight-run inning and the rest of the game appears to be a matter of course.
And here’s another pitching change by Clemson. The Tigers move now to Chance Fitzgerald. It’s his 16th appearance of the season, in which time he has allowed a 7.56 ERA. He’s 4-0 on the season.
Hudson Lee has a rough start to his day, allowing a double to Madera followed by a two-run home run to Tyler Bass over the left-centerfield wall. It’s all Tar Heels here.
Another pitching change for Clemson, as Dvorsky’s day is done. Next up on the mound for the Tigers is 6-foot-4 sophomore Hudson Lee. It’s his 15th appearance on the season, in which he has allowed a 3.86 ERA. Dvorsky finishes with three innings of work, allowing four hits and three earned runs while striking out one.
UNC’s Hunter Stokely mashes a two-run home run over the right-center field to give the Heels a 6-0 lead in the bottom of the fifth. It had an exit velocity of 103.66 mph and traveled 399.25 feet. Stokely also scores Stevenson, who walked to start the inning.
Clemson’s Andrew Ciufo gets the inning started with a single to left field. But the Tar Heels force the 4-6-3 double play on the next batter, followed up by a groundout to shortstop to end the inning.
Lynch’s day is done after four innings pitched. He allows two hits, two batters based and struck out seven. Next up is 6-foot-6 sophomore right-hander Olin Johnson. He’s 1-0 in 14 previous appearances with a 2.77 ERA this season.
What a finish by Lynch to get UNC out of the inning with no damage done. After loading the bases, Lynch strikes out Jacob Jarrell looking, gets Jack Crighton swinging and TP Wentworth to ground out at first. The Tar Heels’ lead remains 4-0.
𝙊𝙣𝙞𝙤𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙧𝙤𝙢 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙪𝙚 𝙛𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙝𝙢𝙖𝙣 🤯@ryanlynch2024 leaves ’em loaded! 3 straight sat down hangs another 0️⃣. pic.twitter.com/nnRXndzVoW
— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) May 25, 2025
The Tigers have their best scoring opportunity here after Lynch walks Dominic Listi to load the bases.
After struggling at the plate through three innings, Clemson finally is stringing together some hits off Lynch. Collin Priest and Josh Paino both get singles off Lynch to start the inning.
The Tar Heels aren’t letting up. Gallaher starts the inning with a double off the wall. Stokely advances to third off a play at first base, and then scores off an RBI-single from Madera. UNC leads 4-0 in the bottom of the third.
Lynch retires the side for UNC. Up next for UNC: Gallaher, Hunter Stokely and Alex Madera in the 4-5-6 spots.
Dvorsky immediately gives a sacrifice fly to Kepley, who scores Bass from third base after the tag-up. He then gives up a left-field single to Jackson Van De Brake, scoring French from second base. The Tar Heels add two more runs to take a 3-0 lead heading into the third inning.
Clemson coach Erik Bakich has seen enough, and makes a pitching change. The Tigers are now moving to Nathan Dvorsky, who is 4-0 on the season with a 6.45 ERA. He has 22 1/3 innings pitched on the season and has allowed 18 hits. Bailey finishes his day with 1 1/3 innings pitched and is responsible for the bases being loaded.
Rough outing to start the second inning for Clemson’s B.J. Bailey, who bases UNC’s Tyson Bass and Perry Hargett in back-to-back at-bats. He then walks Carter French, bringing Kane Kepley up in the 1-spot with one out. The Tigers are convening on the mound.
Next up in the Clemson batting order: Dominic Listi, Jacob Jarrell and Jack Crighton in the Nos. 5, 6 and 7 spots. They are retired in order, bringing UNC back up to the plate.
The error comes back to bite Clemson immediately as UNC’s Gavin Gallaher hits an RBI-double off the back wall to score Stevenson from second. Tar Heels lead 1-0 in the bottom of the first. Gallaher seemed to have swung and missed earlier in the count, but the home plate umpire ruled he got a piece of it.
What should have been the final out of the inning results in a fielding error by Clemson’s Cam Cannarella, who drops a pop fly and allows Luke Stevenson to advance to second base. Cannarella also reached on an error in the top of the first.
Left-handed pitcher B.J. Bailey will get the start opposite Lynch for Clemson in the ACC title game.
Clemson’s leadoff hitter Cam Cannarella reaches on a fielding error, but that’s it for the Tigers in the top of the first inning. Lynch retires the next three batters.
North Carolina freshman Ryan Lynch will get the start for the Tar Heels. He joins He joins Connor Ollio (2019), Tyler Baum (2017) and Taylore Cherry (2013) as freshmen to start in the ACC title game.
North Carolina shows up for ACC championship
The Tar Heels have showed up to Durham Bulls Athletic Park for the ACC title game:
ACC baseball championship odds
Odds courtesy of BetMGM as of 11 a.m. ET on May 25.
Spread: North Carolina (-1.5 runs)Over/under: 11.5 runsMoneyline: North Carolina (185) | Clemson (+140)What time does ACC baseball championship start?? Date: Sunday, May 25Time: Noon ETWhere: Durham Bulls Athletic Park (Durham, North Carolina)
The ACC baseball championship is scheduled to start at noon ET from Durham Bulls Athletic Park in North Carolina.
What TV channel is ACC baseball championship today?
The ACC championship will air live on ESPN2. Streaming options include the ESPN app (with a cable login) and Fubo, the latter of which offers a free trial.