The No. 8 NC State baseball team has been flexing its offensive muscles during the its last nine games. This Saturday, the defense stepped up for the Wolfpack.

The Pack defeated the No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide 2-1 at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary for its sixth-straight win.

Coming into the game, the Wolfpack (9-2) had been on an offensive tear, scoring five or more runs in nine-straight games. The Crimson Tide (9-2) came in on a roll as well, opening the season winning eight-straight games and nine of its last 10. According to head coach Elliott Avent, the game had the atmosphere of a NCAA Super Regional.

“I told the players that this was the second game that we’ve played that had a regional type game,” Avent said. “We’ve played a lot of games that are regional type games, that’ll get this team ready.”

Sophomore pitchers Brian Brown and Jake Walters started the game for the Wolfpack and Tide respectively. Through the first three innings, both pitchers were entrenched in a duel, combining for five strikeouts and one hit as the score remained tied at zero.

Brown gave up his first hit of the game during the top of the fourth inning, when Keith Holcombe hit a 2-2 pitch that dropped into right field.  Holcombe stole second just four pitches later to set up the first scoring opportunity for either team to that point, and scored on two out single by Cody Henry to give the Tide the first lead of the game 1-0 with the fifth inning on the way.

Sophomore second baseman Stephen Pitarra reached first on a one-out single following a fly out to left by sophomore shortstop Joe Dunand. But the Wolfpack failed to make the most of the opportunity, as sophomore rightfielder Garrett Suggs flied out and sophomore leftfielder Brock Deatherage struck out to end the inning with NC State trailing 1-0 through the top of the fifth.

After letting two runners reach base and eventually into scoring position, Brown got the hook for redshirt junior Sean Adler. Brown finished with a final stat line of one earnednrun, three hits, three strikeouts and one walk in 4 ⅓ innings of work.

Adler hit catcher Will Haynie to load the bases with only one out, but struck out Holcombe and got second baseman Cobie Vance to ground out to end the fifth inning with the Wolfpack still behind 1-0. For Adler, the inning was a big swing in NC State’s favor.

“I think after I hit him, it was a lefty and I’m pretty good against those guys,” Adler said. “I was just focused on throwing strikes and had a good defense behind me.”

Junior first baseman Preston Palmeiro hit a shot deep to centerfield that dropped for a one-out double to get the Wolfpack in scoring position in the top of the sixth Then junior designated hitter Andrew Knizner brought him home with an RBI single to tie the game.

After Dunand reached first with a walk to start the top of the seventh inning, Walters got the hook from the game and was replaced by Dylan Duarte. Walters finished with a final line of one earned run, four hits, six strikeouts and four walks through six innings of work.

Sophomore Evan Brabrand came into relieve Adler to start the bottom of the seventh. Adler had a final line of one and two-thirds innings pitched, allowing no hits and striking out three.  Brabrand retired the side in the bottom of the frame to keep things tied at one.

Following a fly out to first by McClain, Palmeiro hit a deep one-out double to put the Wolfpack in scoring position. After a pitching change by the Tide, Palmeiro eventually reached home on a sac fly from Shepard to give the Wolfpack its first lead of the game 2-1. Palmeiro thought the ball was going to be a homerun when he first hit it.

“I thought I hit it as good as I could hit it. I initially thought it was a homerun,” Shepard said. “Figured I had to turn the jets on and get to third, but ended up getting to second.”

Senior Will Gilbert came in for Brabrand to start the eighth inning for the Wolfpack. Despite giving up a one-out walk to Holcombe, Gilbert got through the inning unschaithed. Gilbert and sophomore reliever Tommy DeJuneas combined in the ninth inning to get the final three outs and the win for the Wolfpack 2-1.

The Wolfpack will look to sweep the Irish Classic on Sunday against the Bucknell Bison at Doak Field.