With two games left in the regular season, the freight train that has been NC State baseball over the past couple weeks continues to run full steam ahead. The Pack picked up a 3-2 win over the visiting Clemson Tigers in a nailbiter of a game, giving the team wins in 12 of 13 games and seven straight ACC victories since being swept by Boston College April 23.
“I think our team has just been getting closer and closer,” junior catcher Andy Cosgrove said. “I think we’ve been battling more and more. I think our compete level is just getting higher and higher. We’re working harder than we ever have and it’s just going really good for us right now.”
Junior shortstop Joe Dunand, who finished the game 2-for-4 behind the plate, scored from third on a wild pitch with two outs in the bottom of the eighth in a 2-2 game to give the Pack the win.
“I told the guys ‘I’ve been doing this a long time and I know y’all have been in a lot of great college games too’ and I told them ‘That’s probably as good a 3-2 game as I’ve ever been in,’” head coach Elliott Avent said. “That’s what college athletics is all about. I thought both teams laid everything on the field, both teams are probably exhausted and fortunately for us, we came out on top.”
Following a scoreless first inning, the Tigers jumped ahead in the top of the second, as right fielder Weston Jackson blasted a solo shot over the left-field wall to make it 1-0.
The Wolfpack did not take long to respond with a two-out rally in the bottom of the second. Sophomore left fielder Brett Kinneman walked, then advanced to third on a single to left from junior third baseman Evan Mendoza. Mendoza swiped second standing, and Cosgrove drove in both with an RBI single that put the Pack up 2-1.
“We’re unbelievably hot right now,” Cosgrove said. “We’re so resilient. Everytime they score, we’re scoring too. We just come and bounce back from anything, and I think it’s just kind of the feeling in the locker room and it transfers onto the field and I think we gotta keep rolling like this.”
Clemson designated hitter Seth Beer knotted the game up 2-2 in the top of the fourth inning with a solo home-run. The no. 1 ACC prospect in the 2018 MLB Draft added to his team-leading home-run count with his 14th of the season.
Avent opted to replace senior starting pitcher Johnny Piedmonte with redshirt junior reliever Cody Beckman to start the fifth. Piedmonte surrendered two earned runs and four hits with no strikeouts in four innings pitched.
The Pack threatened with two outs in the bottom of the sixth on singles from freshman second baseman Will Wilson and Kinneman, but Clemson third baseman Grayson Byrd made a diving stop on a grounder by Mendoza to end the inning and the threat.
Beckman tossed 3.1 shutout innings, with three hits allowed and three strikeouts before giving way to sophomore Austin Staley in the top of the eighth.
Tigers starter Charlie Barnes pitched a strong game, throwing seven innings of two-run ball, allowing seven hits and striking out eleven before reliever Owen Griffith replaced him in the bottom of the eighth.
In that bottom of the eighth with Griffith on the mound for the Tigers, Dunand hit a ball towards center field, just out of reach of two Clemson outfielders for a double. He then moved to third on a groundout. With two down, Griffith lost control of one, and Dunand scored on the wild pitch to give the Pack a 3-2 led in the bottom of the eighth.
“The ball just got away from him and I think he couldn’t find it,” Dunand said. “By that time I had a good jump and was able to score.”
The Tigers got a man on to lead off the ninth, as pinch hitter Chris Williams walked. Shortstop Logan Davidson then reached first on a bunt, but the Pack got the lead runner on a throw from Cosgrove to Dunand, who hustled to second for the out. Avent then replaced Staley with senior Sean Adler, and he picked up two outs, getting Beer looking to send the crowd into a frenzy and pick up the save.
“With the way we’re playing right now, that is why Joe [Dunand] goes to second,” Avent said. “We’re playing with such emotion and intensity and that’s the way this game is supposed to be played.”
Game two will take place Friday night at Doak Field at 6:30 p.m.
