N.C. State starter Clayton Shunick was cruising through the Virginia lineup, having struck out five of the last eight batters and holding a 1-0 lead after five innings.
But that all changed in the sixth, when the Cavaliers smacked five singles and drove in all of the team’s six runs en route to a 6-1 win.
Shunick, a sophomore, had already given up two singles when he fielded a ground ball and tossed it past third base and into the outfield. The error allowed one to score and set up a two-run single to the following batter.
“Today we just faced a good pitcher and they had a big inning. Who knows, if they don’t have that big inning, we’re still on a roll,” catcher Caleb Mangum said. “Hopefully we will use this as motivation and not get complacent.”
Virginia’s starter, Jacob Thompson, improved to 11-0 on the year while allowing just five hits and one unearned run over eight innings.
“I wasn’t putting hitters away and I felt that they were hitting everything that I threw to them for the first two or three innings,” Thompson said. “Once I got settled in and got angry with myself then I finally found a groove.”
The only run the Wolfpack could muster was in the fourth when designated hitter Mike Roskopf’s fly ball sailed into the outfield with Ramon Corona on third.
At first, the ball wasn’t deep enough to score Corona, who looked like he was content to stay at third, but the throw to home plate took a short hop and bounced straight into the catcher’s neck, dropping him to his knees and leaving him stunned with the ball laying a few feet away from him.
By the time he managed to flip the ball back to Thompson, who was covering home, Corona had already made it down the line and slid into the pitcher’s glove, knocking the ball away.
The Pack made one last push in the ninth, loading the bases with second team All-ACC Mangum at the plate. Mangum, however, grounded into a double play to end the game.
“Good ball game today between two good baseball teams, unfortunately one team had to lose,” coach Elliott Avent said. “They had a lot better sixth inning than we did and that was the difference.”
It was the first game of the newly-formatted ACC Tournament, in which the eight-team field is split into two divisions and each division plays a round robin schedule against the teams in their respective division.
After all teams have played each team in their division, the teams with the best record in each are pitted against each other in a winner-take-all ACC Championship game on Sunday.
With the loss, State will need some help making it to the championship game, as Virginia can advance on the head-to-head tiebreaker if both teams finish 2-1.
Next up for the Pack will be rival North Carolina on Thursday with sophomore Eric Surkamp taking the hill. Junior Andrew Brackman will likely go for the Pack on Friday’s game against Georgia Tech. State’s combined record this year against the two teams is 1-5.
