The No. 25 N.C. State baseball team took on the No. 22 Virginia Tech Hokies this weekend at Doak Field. The Wolfpack took the three-game series, improving its overall record to 23-10.
Game One
On Friday night, the Pack managed to survive 14 innings across four hours and 53 minutes of baseball against the Hokies and take the series opener, 8-7.
With the game knotted up at 2-2 in the fifth inning, State’s bats woke up as the Pack Nine pushed four runs across in the bottom half of the inning to take a 6-2 lead.
The Hokies had another idea in mind as they cut the lead to just a run in the top half of the sixth, effectively ending the night for sophomore Carlos Rodon after 5 2/3 innings, recording 10 strikeouts and giving up three earned runs.
State extended the lead out to 7-5 in the bottom of the sixth, but the Hokies came right back and tied it up at 7-7 in the eighth. The score remained tied until the bottom of the 14th inning.
Senior Grant Clyde started things off for the Pack in the 14th with a single that turned into a two-bagger following a fielding error. Before the next pitch was thrown, he advanced to third base on a balk. During the same at-bat, Clyde scored on a wild pitch to win the game for the Pack, 8-7. Clyde was 3-for-7 during the game with three runs.
Game Two
After falling behind 2-0 early on, the Wolfpack rallied back against the Hokies to take a commanding 13-4 victory to claim the series win.
Down 2-0 in the fifth, sophomore Jake Armstrong started the inning off for the Pack with a walk. Sophomore Logan Ratledge later brought Armstrong home with a sacrifice fly and sophomore Trea Turner assisted the second run across with an RBI double to tie the game, 2-2.
Virginia Tech bounced right back in the sixth to retake the lead, 4-2, but an explosive seven-run inning in the bottom half of the sixth locked the game up for the Pack.
Ratledge provided the Wolfpack with a bases clearing triple with the bases loaded. Senior Bryan Adametz followed up with his own bases clearing performance, one of two doubles for him on the day.
“It’s a lot easier to get your confidence back when the team is winning and you’re rolling the way we’ve been,” Ratledge said. “We had a lot of big hits in big situations, and I’m starting to feel more and more comfortable at the plate.”
Redshirt junior Anthony Tzamtzis drew the win for State, going 3 2/3 innings while allowing two earned runs on two hits in relief. Senior Ethan Ogburn started the game for the Pack Nine, but was pulled after just 2 1/3 innings of work in the no decision.
Game Three
The Wolfpack picked up the series sweep against Virginia Tech Sunday. Similar to Saturday’s performance, N.C. State’s bats were slow to start but woke up late to close the game, winning 7-3.
Freshman pitcher Brad Stone enjoyed his longest outing of the season and arguably his most productive. Stone went 6.1 innings deep, allowing three earned runs on four hits while striking out five and walking just one in the no decision.
“I’ve been very humbled and blessed at the opportunities I’ve been getting,” Stone said.
For the second straight game, State fell behind early by a score of 2-0. Senior Grant Clyde started things off for the Pack in the third with a leadoff double to left field. Ratledge drove him in with an RBI single and went to second on the throw home.
Senior Brett Williams followed up with a single to put runners on the corners and proceeded to steal second base. Sophomore Jake Fincher then walked to load the bases with no outs. After VT got Ratledge out at the plate during the next at-bat, sophomore Brett Austin brought Williams home on a sacrifice fly to tie the game.
Adametz came right in behind Austin in the DH spot and fired a two-out RBI single to center field to give the Pack its first lead, 3-2.
After the Hokies managed to tie the game at three runs apiece in the seventh, NCSU rallied in the eighth to put the game away. With runners on first and second, senior Tarran Senay knocked a single through the right side to give the lead back to State, 4-3.
Following an intentional walk, Clyde hit a short chopper toward third base. The errant throw home allowed two more runs to score. Ratledge then brought in another run for the Pack to finish the scoring threat, but that would be enough to win the game.
