The NC State baseball team battled back from an early 5-0 deficit to defeat Wake Forest, 11-7, Friday night at Doak Field at Dail Park.
The Wolfpack (21-9, 6-5 ACC) prevailed with the help of five untimely Demon Deacon (19-13, 5-8 ACC) errors leading to eight unearned NC State runs, plus two home runs, including a grand slam, NC State took over the game.
“I thought we played very, very well,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “We knew Wake Forest, not only are they a very, very good team, they’ve got one of the players who is certainly a candidate for not only MVP candidate of our league, but maybe national player of the year. Will Craig is one of the best players I’ve seen in this league in a long time.”
Redshirt junior starter Johnny Piedmonte (0-2, 5.74 ERA) struggled early, loading the bases in the second inning with nobody out. Wake junior designated hitter Jonathan Pryor drilled a double down the first base line to drive in two runs, followed by freshman shortstop Johnny Aiello, who singled through the right side to score another run. After a pop fly for the first out of the inning, Wake junior second baseman Nate Mondou hit a sacrifice fly to center to score another.
The Demon Deacon’s fourth run of the inning signaled the end of Piedmonte’s day, as he was replaced by freshman Austin Staley (1-1, 2.84 ERA), who was able to get the first batter he faced to fly out, ending the top of the second inning with the Wolfpack in a 4-0 hole.
NC State eventually found some offense of its own as junior catcher Andrew Knizner and junior first baseman Preston Palmeiro each got on base with hits to start the bottom of the fourth inning. With runners on first and second, and no outs, the next two batters struck out.
Avent wasn’t thrilled with some of the home plate umpire’s calls, and emerged from the dugout to express his displeasure, leading to him being thrown out of the game. After a walk to load the bases, a line out ended the fourth inning without NC State drawing any closer to Wake.
Wake junior third baseman Will Craig — ranked third nationally in batting average — singled to right field in the top of the fifth to drive in a runner from third, giving the Demon Deacon’s a 5-0 lead.
Freshman Xavier LeGrant led off the bottom of the fifth with a bomb, just short of leaving the park, off the left field wall for a double. Sophomore right fielder Brock Deatherage followed suit with a homer to right field to make it 5-2.
Sophomore center fielder Josh McClain popped up a bunt attempt that was dropped by the Wake pitcher, followed by a Knizner hit to put runners on the corners with no outs. A Palmeiro sacrifice fly scored McLain from third. The Wolfpack tied it later in the inning when a routine fly ball from designated hitter Shane Shepard was dropped by the Wake second baseman, scoring two baserunners.
“You gotta give our guys a tremendous amount of credit for being down 5-0 against a guy who is a strike thrower and has done so well in this league,” Avent said. “The way they battled back, and just kept fighting and clawing — [I’m] just really proud of our guys, right now.”
After a two-out Wolfpack double from McClain in the bottom of the sixth, Wake sophomore pitcher Chris Farish hit a batter, threw a wild pitch and then issued a walk to load the bases. Freshman left fielder Brett Kinneman reached base when the first baseman dropped a routine throw, which would have ended the inning, to drive in the go-ahead run. Sophomore shortstop Joe Dunand broke the game open with a grand slam to give the Pack a 10-5 lead.
“I was trying to hit the ball hard,” Dunand said. “Get some runs in for the team. I just happened to hit it over the fence.”
In the eighth inning, the Pack extended its lead to 11-5 when LeGrant singled up the middle and Dunand reached home safely, as the Demon Deacon catcher couldn’t hold onto the ball when applying the tag.
Craig sparked his team in the ninth, looking to somehow erase a six-run deficit, with a double to left center field to bring home a run. Sophomore first baseman Gavin Sheets followed with a double of his own to score Craig and cut the Wolfpack lead to four, which was as close as the Demon Deacons would come.
NC State looks to take its momentum into Saturday’s matchup against Wake in the second game of the series.
