After most of the focus of Wolfpack Nation was on the men’s and women’s basketball teams yesterday, No. 22 NC State baseball had the sole focus of the fans on Saturday afternoon and delivered with another walk-off win.
With two outs in the bottom of the ninth and down two, graduate first baseman Garrett Pennington smoked a three-run home run to give the Wolfpack (18-7, 8-4 ACC) a 7-6 win and series sweep over Notre Dame (14-12, 2-10 ACC). Pennington knew what pitch was coming and put a confident swing on it.
“I knew that guy was throwing sliders all game so it was pretty easy to sit on,” Pennington said. “I was pretty calm and like hey, he might walk me and then the bases are loaded.”
It looked like the Fighting Irish would avoid the sweep in the top of the ninth inning when left fielder David Glancy clubbed a no-doubt two-run to break the 4-4 tie and give Notre Dame a 6-4 lead.
Most fans in the stands might have had a feeling the Pack would walk it off because it had done so last game and the week before against Duke. And of course, Pennington delivered with a mammoth shot over the left field wall.
NC State has had a flare for the dramatics all season but its mentality of never giving up no matter what the score is has played a big part in pulling off comeback and walk-off wins.
“We play to the last pitch. We don’t quit,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “We don’t stop, we play till the last pitch but that was tough.”
Before Pennington had a chance to be the hero the Wolfpack needed players on base. Junior left fielder Chase Nixon put together a solid at-bat for a single and his brother freshman second baseman Luke Nixon grounded into what looked like would be the game-ending double play. Instead of accepting defeat, Luke Nixon sprinted down the first baseline to keep the Wolfpack alive.
Now with two outs, junior shortstop Brandon Butterworth had to get on base to set up Pennington’s at-bat and he did just that with a single up center field. The walk-off home run would have never happened if it wasn’t for the hustle from Luke Nixon and the clutch two-out at-bat by Butterworth
“They’re the ones who won the game,” Pennington said. “The guys before that are the ones that get the job done and they do their job and then we have the guys with the clutch.”
The walk-off was just a part of the first baseman’s massive day at the plate. The Wichita State transfer racked up four hits and drove in four of the Pack’s seven runs. In his first season with NC State, Pennington has become one of the Wolfpack’s most reliable hitters as he leads the team in batting average and hits.
Over the three-game series, Pennington collected six hits and six RBIs to claim the Wolfpack’s second ACC sweep and its third conference series win overall. After getting swept by Georgia Tech just a few weeks ago things looked bleak for the Pack but since then it has won five of its last six games including a series win over No. 11 Duke.
“We all know how important the sweep is in this league,” Pennington said. “We weren’t going to go two out of three like we did last week against Duke, we wanted to put the nail in the coffin.”
While the performance Pennington had will get all the recognition sophomore right-handed pitcher Shane Van Dam had his best outing in conference play. Van Dam gave up no runs and allowed just one hit in his 3.1 innings of relief to give NC State a chance to come back.
Van Dam took over in the top of the fifth inning when freshman right-handed pitcher Jaxon Lucas was unable to get an out after replacing sophomore left-handed pitcher Dominic Fritton. Van Dam got the last out of the inning and from there on he dominated the Fighting Irish.
What makes the sophomore pitcher’s performance even more incredible is that he is still making his way back from a concussion he suffered a couple of weeks ago.
“You’re talking about a guy who had a concussion and hadn’t pitched in 10 days until yesterday,” Avent said. “What a job he did, he just competed really, really hard.”
After raising the blood pressure of its fans once again, NC State will stay at Doak Field for a midweek matchup against No. 15 East Carolina on Tuesday, April 2. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
