Florida beats NC State 9-8, advances to Omaha

Daniel Pigott homered to open the 10th inning, an opposite-field shot that barely cleared the fence, and Florida held on to beat North Carolina State 9-8 on Sunday and advance to the College World Series for the third consecutive season.

Pigott's eighth homer of the season was key in a wild, back-and-forth game that included 26 hits, 12 pitchers, a lengthy weather delay, a little controversy and some unlikely heroes.

Casey Turgeon followed Pigott with a base hit and scored on Josh Tobias' single. Tobias, a freshman and Florida's No. 9 hitter, had an RBI double in the ninth.

Karsten Whitson (4-0) pitched two-thirds of an inning for the win. Keenan Kish got the final two outs for his first save.

Top-seeded Florida (47-18) improved to 10-0 against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference, including consecutive sweeps of Georgia Tech and North Carolina State (43-20).