After stranding the go-ahead run on third base with three straight strikeouts in the top half of the 11th inning, the NC State baseball team watched Florida State launch a walk-off home run to win the first of a three-game set, 4-3, in Tallahassee, Florida Thursday night.
The Wolfpack (39-13, 18-10 ACC) squandered a leadoff triple from sophomore shortstop Will Wilson, as Steven Wells walked things off for the Seminoles (37-16, 14-12 ACC). All three of NC State’s runs were courtesy of junior outfielder Brett Kinneman, who launched his team-leading 16h home run of the season in the sixth inning.
Freshman righty Reid Johnston (7-0, 2.97 ERA) started on the mound for the Wolfpack, and gave up just two runs over five innings of work. Johnston struck out four batters, allowing the same number of hits and walking only one.
The Pack also got a great outing from redshirt freshman Connor Centala (1-0, 1.46 ERA), who pitched three scoreless, two-hit innings to get NC State to the 11th. It was redshirt senior Joe O’Donnell (1-3, 1.46 ERA) who took the loss, giving up the home run to the first batter he faced.
Lefty Drew Parrish took the bump for Florida State. He threw 7.2 innings, giving up seven hits, including the three-run blast to Kinneman. CJ Van Eyk got the win, escaping the Pack threat in the 11th with three strikeouts.
Florida State opened up the scoring in the third inning, plating two runs off of Johnston. Back-to-back singles opened the inning for the Seminoles, and the runners would come around to score on an RBI groundout from Jackson Lueck and an RBI single off the bat of Rhett Aplin.
Kinneman gave the Wolfpack a 3-2 lead with one swing of the bat, launching a towering three-run blast over the wall in right field, making Parrish pay for a hanging curveball. The homer drove in senior third baseman Stephen Pitarra, who walked, and freshman catcher Patrick Bailey, who singled.
The ‘Noles bounced right back though, tying things at 3-3 in the sixth. Florida State third baseman Drew Mendoza singled with Aplin on first, and Aplin would come around to score, unearned, on an uncharacteristic error by Pack senior right fielder Brock Deatherage.
After four innings with not much action, the Seminoles ended it on Wells’ blast in the 11th.
The loss puts NC State two full games back of Clemson in the Atlantic Division, with the Pack’s only hope of a division title being two straight wins over the Seminoles and two unlikely losses for the Tigers against Pittsburgh.
The Pack and Seminoles will be back at it Friday, with the game starting at 6 p.m. in Tallahassee.
