Akin to a pair of heavyweight fighters in a primetime, title card bout, NC State baseball and South Carolina went blow-for-blow in front of a sold-out crowd at Doak Field in Raleigh.

But as the saying goes, it’s not about how hard you get hit. It’s about how hard you get hit and keep moving forward.

No matter what punches the Gamecocks threw, NC State never stopped moving forward.

The 10-seed Wolfpack put on its best Rocky Balboa impression in front of its home crowd on the second day of the Raleigh Regional, ousting South Carolina 6-4 in a hard-hitting, home run slugfest. With six total home runs in the contest — three from each team — the Pack was always one step ahead of the Gamecocks, and always had a counter for South Carolina’s advances.

“Those are the games you live for,” said graduate first baseman Garrett Pennington. “Our team is relentless in taking pitches we need to take, having all the trust in the guys behind us, and just doing our jobs and moving the bat along.”

Just after the bell sounded, Pennington ambushed the Gamecocks with the first blow of the day. On just the third pitch from South Carolina pitcher Garrett Gainey, the graduate mashed a no-doubt solo shot over the outfield bullpens to put the Pack on the board.

From there, the two sides alternated home runs for the rest of the game. South Carolina’s Will Tippett got the Gamecocks on the board in the third with his own solo shot. However, Pennington wasn’t done with his show-stopping evening just yet.

Just a half inning later, the graduate countered with his own long ball. Pennington’s second home run of the day, a two-run, opposite-field jack that carried over the right field fence.

NC State was on top 3-1, and the raucous crowd at Doak Field was ignited once again.

“This was probably the best I’ve ever seen the crowd,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “This crowd was electric tonight, they were in every pitch, and just a big hats off to the fans of NC State — I thought it was the best crowd I’d seen since I’ve been here.”

But both sides refused to go down quietly. South Carolina’s Dylan Brewer hit his first solo homer of the day in the fifth, taking NC State’s starting pitcher, sophomore lefty Dominic Fritton deep for the visitors’ second homer of the evening.

However, despite the two solo shots, Fritton found ways to limit the Gamecocks offense. He was mostly effective through five innings, only allowing two runs on three hits and flaming three strikeouts.

But once again, NC State had an answer. Sophomore center fielder Eli Serrano III provided a counterpunch with a solo homer of his own. After dropping one in the NC State bullpen, the Wolfpack took a 4-2 lead, one that didn’t last for more than two innings.

The relentless South Carolina offense retaliated with a two-run homer — Brewer’s second of the day — taking NC State’s freshman left-handed pitcher Cooper Consiglio deep in the top of the seventh. Despite getting stuck in yet another tie, the Wolfpack didn’t shrink come the final rounds.

Loading the bases with only one away in the bottom of the seventh, it looked as if the Pack was bound to blow the game wide open. While the Gamecocks eventually secured two outs to end the inning, it wasn’t before Pack walked home a run when freshman designated hitter Alex Sosa took a walk to put NC State back out in front.

One frame later, the Pack continued to make noise, putting runners on the corners in hopes of some insurance runs. With sophomore second baseman Matt Heavner on third, NC State scored on the first and only error of the night — an attempted pickoff play at third which resulted in the ball ricocheting off Heavner’s helmet. This allowed time for Heavner to speed home to gift NC State a late 6-4 lead.

Meanwhile, NC State kept its cool for the final two innings, executing to near-perfection to put the Gamecocks away.

“Every run is big in a game like this,” Avent said. “Everybody’s good at this point. You just got to play pretty good, pretty perfect baseball.”

With the Gamecocks on the ropes, sophomore right-handed pitcher Derek Smith was called on to deliver the knockout blow. While Consiglio earned the win, the Wolfpack’s closer tallied another save onto his stat sheet.

Smith etched a final line of 1.2 innings pitched, giving up just one hit and tossing four strikeouts, two of which came in the ninth frame.

“I think for me, it was just kind of picking up my teammate in Coop and going to do what he really started,” Smith said. “It was just believing in myself and saying to myself that I’m gonna do my job.”

With one out to go and the sellout crowd on its feet, Smith sealed South Carolina’s fate. The closer sent everyone home after forcing a popout, and Doak Field erupted as the Gamecocks hit the mat.

South Carolina, who foiled NC State in last year’s NCAA Tournament, is now set to face James Madison in an elimination game on Sunday morning. Now, after surviving South Carolina and exacting its revenge, the red-and-white advances to the regional final on Sunday.

NC State will face either James Madison or South Carolina on Sunday, at 6 p.m., where the Wolfpack will advance to the Super Regional round with a victory.