For those in attendance Friday night at Doak Field, Sunday’s series finale must have felt like deja vu. Friday night, No. 21 N.C. State led 3-2 against No. 1 Florida State after six innings before the bullpen allowed a six-run seventh, leading to a 10-4 Seminole win.
Then Sunday, the Wolfpack took a 4-0 lead into the sixth inning, only to see FSU put together a five-run frame and hold on to win 6-5.
“We played well,” junior shortstop Ramon Corona said. “It was two good teams out there competing. All the games went back-and-forth and no lead was safe.”
That was certainly true with State’s middle-relief in the game.
In Saturday’s 8-6 win, coach Elliott Avent left junior starter Andrew Brackman in the game for seven innings and 117 pitches before going straight to junior closer Eryk McConnell. But in both losses, the coach lifted the starters and went to the bullpen early and often with disastrous results.
“Maybe we oversold [the bullpen]. Maybe they never were what we thought,” Avent said. “It wasn’t just that they didn’t pitch well. It was how they did it. It was a lack of confidence and they never got ahead of anybody. It’s pretty obvious with the starting pitching we got, we got to give the ball to them and let them go.”
After Sunday’s game, a noticeably-frustrated Avent shouldered the blame for the loss. He questioned the decision to pull freshman starter Jimmy Gillheeney with a 4-2 lead in the sixth inning, as well as the decision not to bunt in two situations that resulted in rally-killing double plays.
“I made poor decisions. It was all me. I made as poor decisions in a baseball game as I’ve ever made in my life,” Avent said.
“I totally let the team down today. I coached a poor game. That had nothing to do with Florida State. It had all to do with Elliott Avent.”
Corona, on the other hand, gave the credit to the perennially-powerful Noles, for “battling” back when they were behind.
“That’s a great-hitting ball club. You expect that,” he said. “They battle. You know they’re going to come back.”
With the two losses, State falls to 24-10 overall and 9-6 in the ACC. But despite letting two leads slip away, the Pack continued its improved-offensive play that began against Boston College.
In the series, State scored 17 runs — the most of any ACC opponent so far against FSU. Junior designated hitter Mike Roskopf, who homered on both Saturday and Sunday, said the competitiveness of the three games will give the team some confidence heading into the rest of the demanding ACC schedule.
“We know we can play with those guys,” Roskopf said.
State will head to Miami this weekend for a three-game set. Last year, the Hurricanes came to Raleigh and took two of three games. According to Roskopf, though, the Pack must return the favor this year, especially after the way ACC play has gone so far.
“We need to get two out of three against these [conference] teams,” he said.
