Samford, Army upset ACC foes

Two No. 4 regional seeds from lightly regarded leagues upset opponents from the mighty Atlantic Coast Conference, shaking up what had been a mostly ho- hum first day of the NCAA Tournament.

Samford of the Southern Conference held on to beat No. 7 national seed Florida State 7- 6 on Friday night in the Seminoles’ home stadiumin Tallahassee. Army of the Patriot League upset No. 16 national seed North Carolina State 5- 1 on the Wolfpack’s field inRaleigh.

Florida State, which made it to the College World Series last year, lost to a 4- seed for the second straight time. Last year, Tennessee Tech beat the Seminoles, who then won four straight to advance.

Samford led 6- 1 before FSUpulledwithin a run in thebottomof thefifth, and the Seminoles had a runner on first in the bottom of the ninth when Cal Raleigh, theirAll- ACC catcher and conference tournament MVP, grounded out to end it.

Army led 5- 0 when NC State loaded the baseswith one out in the bottom of the seventh against a tiring Tyler Giovinco. The Wolfpack pushed across one run after SamMessina relieved, and they had runners on first and second with one out in the bottom of the ninth against Cam Opp. Opp got a strikeout and groundout to finish the game.

Samford plays Oklahoma on Saturday, and Army faces Auburn and the possible No. 1 overall draft pick in pitcher Casey Mize.