There were high expectations for sophomore left-handed pitcher Dominic Fritton coming into the season after a stellar rookie campaign and being named a preseason All-American by D1 Baseball.
Fritton struggled to start the year, giving up five runs in his first start, and struggled controlling the zone, evidenced by his 24 walks through eight starts. He entered his start against No. 2 Clemson with a 9.29 ERA and fresh off a start against Louisville where he gave up seven runs.
With an opportunity to clinch the series against one of the best teams in the country, the lefty pitched his best game of the season to power NC State (20-12, 10-7 ACC) baseball to a 4-0 victory over the Tigers (28-6, 10-4 ACC) and a series win.
Fritton was dialed in from the jump, striking out the first two batters he faced with swings and misses. Through 5.2 innings, he held complete control of the zone with his fastball and offspeed pitches, giving up just three hits, one walk and no runs.
In his longest start of the season, the sophomore pitcher didn’t allow a runner past first base until the sixth inning. With a runner on first and second and one out, Fritton recorded a groundout that put an end to his night.
Freshman right-handed pitcher Jacob Dudan replaced Fritton with two outs and runners on first and third. Dudan walked the first batter to load the bases but struck out the next one to get out of the inning and give Fritton a clean sheet.
Clemson’s starting pitcher, Ethan Darden, was just as lethal as Fritton, but his infield committed several errors to spot the Wolfpack a lead. The Tigers committed two errors in the first inning that set up graduate third baseman Alec Makarewicz’s RBI double and his run after the Tigers’ first baseman decided to throw home but was late. Clemson’s mistakes spotted NC State a 2-0 lead in the first inning with both runs unearned.
In the third inning sophomore right fielder Josh Hogue reached first on a fielding error and junior catcher Jacob Cozart made the Tigers pay with a double that drove in Hogue because of a wide throw home. The Wolfpack scored three runs through three innings and none of them were earned runs.
Darden eventually gave up an earned in the fifth inning when Makarewicz hit an RBI single. If not for his poor defense, Darden would’ve been the star of the game as he pitched nine innings and allowed just one run. Instead, Darden will be credited with the loss despite his impressive outing.
After Dudan escaped the sixth inning, he had a clean seventh but allowed the first two batters on in the eighth with no outs. Sophomore right-handed pitcher Derrick Smith came in for Dudan unfazed. Smith struck out three consecutive batters to escape the inning unscathed.
Smith came back out for the bottom of the ninth and shut down the Tigers to get the shutout and series win. The victory snapped Clemson’s 11-game conference series win streak dating back to last March.
Next, NC State will go for the series sweep on Sunday, April 14. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.
