The NC State baseball team clinched its third straight ACC series victory by erasing a 5-0 deficit to top Georgia Tech 9-6 Sunday afternoon at Doak Field.
The Wolfpack (20-4, 7-2 ACC) used a six-run eighth inning and two home runs from junior first baseman Evan Edwards to mount a comeback against the Yellow Jackets (13-11, 3-6 ACC).
“What makes it more special to me, and more impressive to me, is the fact that we got off that bad start Friday night,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “After Friday night’s game, to get down the very same way, with some balls that find grass and we’re not picking the ball up a couple times, which I thought was kind of uncharacteristic of us, and to come back because of Friday night was even more impressive.”
Senior left-hander Brian Brown (4-0, 0.48 ERA) found the bases loaded in the second inning with no outs after an error by sophomore shortstop Will Wilson, a walk and a bunt single. Georgia Tech grounded into a double play in the next at-bat, but scored one to go up 1-0.
NC State threatened to get the run back in the bottom half of the second. A two-out single by sophomore third baseman Dillon Cooper moved senior right fielder Brock Deatherage to third. Senior center fielder Josh McLain couldn’t find a hole and ended the inning with a grounder to shortstop.
The Yellow Jackets broke through in a big way in the fifth. With two outs and nobody on base, the Yellow Jackets hit back-to-back bloop singles and then another error by Wilson allowed Georgia Tech to score it’s second run of the ball game.
Brown hit the next batter, loading the bases with two outs and then gave up a three-RBI single that was bobbled in right field by Deatherage. The bloop hits and errors aided a 5-0 lead for the Yellow Jackets.
With its back against the wall, NC State got back three much-needed runs in the fifth inning. After singles by McLain and junior outfielder Brett Kinneman, junior first baseman Evan Edwards hit a two-out, three-run home run to left field. The opposite field blast brought the Pack within two runs at 5-3.
After giving up a one-out single in the seventh, Brown was taken out for redshirt junior Nolan Clenney (2-0, 1.50 ERA). Brown pitched 6.1 innings, giving up five runs, none of them earned, seven hits and struck out three. After he recorded the first out of the inning, sophomore Kent Klyman (2-0, 1.35 ERA) came in to finish the seventh.
“My fastball command has been doing pretty well,” Klyman said. “I just try to keep them off-balance.”
The Wolfpack struck again in the eighth inning with Edwards’ second home run of the game. This deep shot down the right-field line made the score 5-4 and infused momentum into the Pack dugout.
“I was seeing the ball really good,” Edwards said. “I just got a fastball I could handle in the first at bat and the second home run he was throwing nothing but changeups and coach just told us to sit back on it.”
Edwards finished 3 for 4 with 4 RBIs and now has eight home runs on the year.
Freshman catcher Patrick Bailey kept the inning alive with a two-out single, followed by a walk from senior Shane Shepard to move a runner into scoring position. Cooper lined a clutch double down the right-field line to score pinch runners freshman Devonte Brown and sophomore Lawson McArthur to put the Pack up 6-5.
McLain scored Cooper on an RBI single and Kinneman launched a two-run shot deep to right field to give NC State a 9-5 lead. It was Kinneman’s 12th home run of the season while his RBI total sits at an equally impressive 34.
Klyman gave up a home run in the ninth inning, but the Pack held on for a 9-6 comeback win to take the rubber match from Georgia Tech. Klyman was credited with the win, his second of the season. His ERA sits at 1.35 as he’s become one of the top bullpen options for the Pack.
“You lose sight of the fact that it was a 9-6 game, each team with one walk,” Avent said. “Usually when you get those kind of games, there are some walks and I think both teams were very, very impressive today and we made some good at-bats at the end of the game.”
The Wolfpack takes on George Mason Tuesday at 3 p.m. at home and then travels to Blacksburg, Virginia, for a conference matchup with Virginia Tech.
