A fun, quick game that featured a pitching duel between Florida State’s Conner Whittaker and Wake Forest’s Josh Hartle unraveled in the ninth inning.

Wake Forest scored four runs in the top of the ninth to break open a tie game and take a 7-3 win over FSU on Saturday afternoon. The Demon Deacons had three singles, two off Doug Kirkland, but also benefitted as Andrew Armstrong hit a pair of batters.

The Seminoles (19-30, 6-20 ACC) have now lost eight straight ACC series. Wake wrapped up the ACC regular season title with the victory.

James Tibbs hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth to tie it at 3.

Conner Whittaker pitched 7.2 innings, allowing three earned runs. The sophomore right-hander only made a few mistakes, two of which were home runs — Justin Johnson’s solo shot in the seventh and Nick Kurtz’s two-run shot in the eighth.

Whittaker had three strikeouts and a walk. He threw 96 pitches (57 strikes).

"Whitt emptied the tank out there," FSU coach Link Jarrett said. "It’s unfortunate that we just couldn’t keep it in the park there when we needed to. He gave us everything he had. Clearly the guys battled back multiple times. … We just didn’t quite have enough in the pen to contain them."

DeAmez Ross crashed into the wall in center field as he tried to chase down Kurtz’s two-run homer. Ross stayed down on the ground for a few minutes before getting up, suffering what appeared to be a right shoulder injury. Jarrett said he thought Ross would be getting an X-ray to get a better look at the injury.

"Hopefully he's alright," Jarrett said.

It’s the fourth time this season Whittaker has thrown seven or more innings.

Doug Kirkland (2-2) gave up three earned runs in .1 innings. The right-hander allowed two hits, a walk and a wild pitch in four batters he faced.

Armstrong was making his 30th appearance in 49 games.

"Obviously Kirkland and Army, who had been very good for us the last several weeks, not so much today," Jarrett said.

Josh Hartle pitched 6.1 innings, allowing just a run in the sixth for Wake (42-7, 20-5). The left-hander had three strikeouts and gave up two walks.

Michael Massey (3-0) gave up Tibbs' home run in the eighth but was otherwise very good, pitching 2.2 innings and recording five strikeouts.

FSU plays host to Wake Forest on Sunday at 1 p.m. (ACC Network Extra).

Jarrett said Jamie Arnold, Ben Barrett and Carson Montgomery are among the options to start or come out of the bullpen.

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