The NC State baseball team kept on rolling Saturday, moving its win streak to seven games, with a come-from-behind 7-5 victory over Wake Forest at Doak Field.
A rocky start saw the Demon Deacons (22-28, 11-15 ACC) climb out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. The Pack (38-12, 17-9 ACC) was hitless through three innings against Wake pitcher Morgan McSweeney, but in the fourth inning, the ACC’s top home run hitting team saw its bats come alive.
The scoring started when sophomore shortstop Will Wilson blasted a no-doubt solo home run to straightaway center field to lead off the inning. It was Wilson’s 13th home run on the year. Freshman catcher Patrick Bailey walked in the next at-bat, and junior left fielder Brett Kinneman plated Bailey with a line drive triple to right-center field, his first on the season.
Senior right fielder Brock Deatherage just missed a home run in the next at-bat, skying a sacrifice fly to right to score Kinneman and tie the game at 3-3. Next, junior infielder Evan Edwards put together a great at-bat and connected on an opposite-field bomb to left-center field, putting NC State up 4-3. Freshman designated hitter Terrell Tatum then lined a shot into right field that the Wake right fielder misplayed, and Tatum flew in to third with a triple.
Though senior third baseman Stephen Pitarra struck out for the would-be third out of the inning, the ball trickled away from the Wake catcher, who then committed a throwing error, allowing Tatum to come in and score for another Pack run.
Wake tied the score in the sixth on a double by catcher Logan Harvey to make it 5-5. Pack senior pitcher Brian Brown was very efficient after the first inning hiccup, as he notched a season-high 10 strikeouts in six innings of work.
With the game tied at 5-5 going into the seventh inning, the Pack hitters worked five walks to push across two more runs.
Those runs would be all graduate pitcher Johnny Piedmonte would need. He came on in relief of Brown, bridging 1.1 innings before handing the ball to senior closer Joe O’Donnell. O’Donnell also went 1.1 innings, picking up his 10th save, tying him for the ACC lead.
NC State will look to pick up its eighth straight win Sunday, with big postseason seeding implications in play prior to the team’s last series against Florida State. The Pack currently sits less than one game behind rival Duke for a top-3 seed in the upcoming ACC tournament.
Sunday’s starting pitcher has not yet been decided, but Piedmonte’s relief work means he will not be starting, though he could potentially come out of the bullpen again. Freshman David Harrison could get the call after his strong outing against James Madison earlier this week, with sophomore Michael Bienlien also a possibility. The Mother’s Day matchup will begin at 1 p.m. from Doak Field in Raleigh.
