DURHAM, N.C., — Fresh off a trip to the College World Series, NC State baseball returned to action against the Duke Blue Devils for a fall exhibition. Regimented into a seven-inning contest followed by a six-inning game, fans got an opportunity to see an array of new names as well as several returning faces.
In both games, NC State drew first blood, however, in both contests, the Wolfpack suffered a rough inning near the end in which Duke found success and pieced together the needed runs to win the game. Even though the Pack fell in both contests, NC State has much to build off of in the coming months before the 2025 season.
“Fun to get out here,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “Everybody got a chance to play pretty much. As far as how we play, we got a ways to go.”
Game 1
In the early part of the evening, NC State wasted little time getting settled. In the second inning, sophomore infielder Chris McHugh belted a towering homer to give the Pack an early 1-0 lead. A transfer from VCU, McHugh is looking to help supplement the power that NC State lost in the offseason.
The fresh faces continued to make themselves known as sophomore outfielder Jet Gilliam ripped a deep shot of his own to give NC State a 2-0 lead that it held for the next two innings.
In the meantime, NC State fans got a taste of a wide variety of pitchers. Starting the game on the mound for the Wolfpack was sophomore right-handed pitcher Heath Andrews. Andrews was the first of 10 pitchers to take the mound, throwing the first two innings, which represented a limit that was mostly abided by throughout the evening.
Throwing four strikeouts, Andrews set the tone for the first five innings. Duke began to put runners on but NC State found a way to get out of trouble.
As the sixth inning rolled around, both teams were locked in a stalemate. With a hit batter, Duke put a runner into scoring position. He later scored with a base hit to pull Duke to within one. Another base hit allowed this runner to come home to knot the game at two.
The inning was far from over as Duke had runners on second and third and a fielding error allowed both to run home unchallenged. Before the inning concluded, the Blue Devils brought home yet another run giving them a 5-2 advantage they held onto for the remainder of the game.
Game 2
After a short intermission, both teams embarked on another shortened contest. For the first two innings, both teams traded blows, helping ensure that they kept the other scoreless. First led by junior right-handed pitcher Andrew Shaffner who helped provide two scoreless innings, sophomore right Jaxon Lucas followed this up with a third inning in which he struck out the side.
The Pack took over in the fourth inning. Utilizing his speed, sophomore infielder Luke Nixon collected a base hit and stole second and third to set up the Pack. Freshman Brandon Novy grounded out to provide time for Nixon to come home to give NC State a 1-0 lead. Later in the inning, with two men on, redshirt sophomore catcher Drew Lanphere singled to bring home another run and give the Pack a 2-0 advantage.
While it took some time for a Blue Devil response in the first game, Duke chipped away at the Pack right away in the second. Quickly loading the bases, it hit one runner home. Even though NC State limited the damage to one run, this would not last long as it clung to a one-run lead.
In the fifth, Duke picked up right where it left off as a fielding mistake at first base allowed a runner to get on second. Eventually advancing to third, he was sent home to tie the game on a base hit. However, the Blue Devils were far from finished. Putting two more men on, they emphatically put a dagger into the game with a deep home run to right field to squeeze out three more runs.
Many facets of the team are uncertain, especially the pitching rotation as 10 different Wolfpack pitchers saw action tonight. With several key arms from last year’s team gone, NC State will have to turn to new faces.
“We got a lot of young guys who got out there tonight,” Avent said. “From what I see right now, we’re gonna have to really pitch and play defense.”
Even though NC State fell in both games, Avent likes what he saw from his team. The Wolfpack continually showed effort, something that left an impression on him over the course of the game.
“To see us run the bases the way we did tonight was very encouraging to me,” Avent said. “I thought we ran hard to first all night long and did a great job on dirt balls.”
NC State is slated to take on Elon in its second offseason scrimmage on Oct. 9. The game is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Doak Field.
