The NC State baseball team lost two of three games to the North Carolina Tar Heels in a hard-fought series May 6-8 at Doak Field.

The Wolfpack (30-15, 12-11 ACC) won the second game 9-2, but the Tar Heels (27-18, 10-14 ACC) won the first game 8-7 and the final game 7-6 to clinch the series.

Game 1

After the Heels went up 1-0 in the top of the first, the Pack evened the score at 1 in the bottom of the third on an RBI double by freshman designated hitter Tommy White, who was back in the lineup after suffering an injury in last week’s series against Radford.

Play was paused on Friday night due to adverse weather and picked back up on Saturday in the top of the fifth in which the Heels went back up 2-1. However, the Pack answered in the bottom frame on an RBI single by sophomore first baseman LuJames Groover that scored two runs, giving the Pack its first lead at 3-2.

The Pack’s lead didn’t last long as the Heels scored five runs in the top of the sixth, including a solo home run and a three-run blast, making the score 7-3. The Pack responded with three runs of its own in the bottom of the frame as sophomore pinch hitter Eddie Eisert scored on a wild pitch, Brown hit an RBI single and also scored on a heads-up play from second, making the score 7-6.

One inning later, the Pack tied it up 7-7 on an RBI double by sophomore right fielder Noah Soles, but the Heels retook the lead in the top of the ninth on a sac fly. With one last chance as the rain started to come down, the Pack came up empty-handed in the bottom of the ninth as the Heels took game one 8-7.

Redshirt sophomore righty Logan Whitaker started on the mound, giving up just three hits and one earned run and tallying two strikeouts in 4.1 innings pitched. Junior Baker Nelson gave up three hits and two earned runs in 0.2 innings, sophomore Justin Lawson gave up three hits, four earned runs and tallied three strikeouts in three innings pitched, and sophomore Chris Villaman came on in the ninth but gave up the go-ahead sac fly.

Game 2

The second game wasn’t played until Sunday due to another weather delay. The Heels once again scored the game’s first run, but it was once again White who evened the score, hitting a solo home run in the bottom of the first for his 20th homer of the season and tying the score 1-1.

The Pack then reeled off eight straight runs between the third and seventh innings. In the third, Groover scored on a wild pitch to put the Pack up 2-1, then Groover and redshirt junior shortstop Josh Hood each hit one-run RBIs in the bottom of the fourth to put the Pack up 4-1.

Hood’s bat remained hot when he hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth, and Cozart hit the Pack’s third homer of the game on a two-run blast in the bottom of the seventh. White tacked on another RBI on a groundout in the same inning to pad the Pack’s lead to 9-1.

Carolina scored one more run in the top of the eighth, but that was it as the Pack won it 9-2. It was an impressive performance offensively and even more so on the mound as sophomore Matt Willadsen threw a complete game, allowing just five hits, one earned run and tallying nine strikeouts.

“Command was probably the thing that helped me the most today,” Willadsen said. “I was able to put my fastball where I wanted and it set up my off-speed pitches.”

Game 3

In the second game of the Sunday doubleheader, the Heels scored in the top of the first for the third game in a row, this time on a two-run blast, but the Pack once again responded in the bottom of the frame as Brown and Groover each hit back-to-back solo home runs to tie it up 2-2.

The Pack then took the lead in the bottom of the second on a two-run blast by freshman third baseman Payton Green, but the Heels quickly tied it back up 4-4 with two runs of their own in the top of the third.

The Heels briefly took back the lead with a run in the top of the sixth, but the Pack quickly regained it on a two-run RBI by Cozart, making the score 6-5.

In the top of the eighth, the Heels took the lead 7-6 on a stunning two-run home run by Alberto Osuna. The Pack had a chance in the bottom of the ninth as Brown got on base with a leadoff walk and made it to second on a passed ball, but freshman pinch hitter Chase Nixon, White and Hood all struck out, ending the game and giving the Heels a stunning series win.

Villaman was given the loss as he gave up the go-ahead home run. Senior Canaan Silver started on the mound, giving up nine hits and four earned runs and tallying nine strikeouts in 6.1 innings.

Next up, the Pack has a four-game road trip as it travels to UNC-W on Tuesday, May 10, then heads to Durham to take on Duke in a three-game series May 13-15.

“I think we’re this close from being there,” Willadsen said. “We just gotta keep our head up, and everything starts tomorrow.”