The No. 12 NC State baseball team defeated the Wake Forest Demon Deacons 6-1 Monday to get the team’s first conference sweep of the season. It is the team’s first series sweep since the Irish Classic March 4–6.
Coming into the game, the Wolfpack (23-9, 8-5 ACC) defeated the Demon Deacons (19-15, 5-10 ACC) in the first two games of the series and had won six of its last seven games. The Demon Deacons, conversely, lost four of their last six games coming in. Head coach Elliott Avent recognized the team’s success level has been in spite of injuries to the team.
“It’s really hard to sweep a conference series,” Avent said. “We’ve gotta get healthy. [Stephen] Pitarra’s been hurt, [Brock] Deatherage has been battling a back [injury]. I’m very impressed with what we have been doing recently.”
Sophomore Brock Deatherage, who has been battling a back injury, had three hits and two RBIs and a walk on six at bats. Deatherage attributed the team’s success when injured to the team’s depth.
“It just shows you how much depth we have and how strong we are as a team,” Deatherage said. “We’ve all been working hard to get healthy, when we get healthy, it’s gonna be big time.
The Wolfpack wasted no time getting on the board. With one out in the bottom of the first, sophomore Josh McLain and junior Andrew Knizner hit a double and a single, respectively, to put runners on the corners.
Following the hits by McLain and Knizner, junior Preston Palmeiro hit a single past the second baseman to bring McLain home. The inning ended two batters later with a strikeout by senior Chance Shepard, the Wolfpack on top 1-0 going into the second.
The Wolfpack kept the scoring going in the bottom of the second. After freshman Brett Kinneman reached third on a double and a balk, senior Ryne Willard hit a sac fly deep to right to bring home Kinneman. The RBI was the Wolfpack’s only run of the inning, but it kept it ahead of Wake Forest 2-0.
Junior Ryan Williamson got the start on for the Wolfpack and was pitching well through the first four innings of the game. Despite giving up four walks, the junior struck out four and was pitching a no-hitter with a 2-0 lead.
After getting two runners in scoring position early in the fifth, Palmeiro got his second RBI of the night after he advanced Deatherage home on a fielder’s choice. Sophomore Joe Dunand grounded out on the very next at bat to end the inning with the Wolfpack on top 3-0.
After pitching six no-hit innings, Williamson gave up the first hit of the night to junior Will Craig in the seventh inning. Stuart Fairchild hit a double on the very next at-bat attempting to bring Craig home, but Craig was thrown out at home plate. Despite giving up the no-hitter, Williamson didn’t realize he had a no-no going into the seventh.
“To be honest, I was just really focused, and I didn’t know that I had a no-no at that point,” Williamson said. “It was a heck of a swing by [Will] Craig, and it’s why he’s one of the best hitters in the country.”
Wake scored its first run of the game when sophomore Fairchild reached home on a fielder’s choice to break up the shut out. After giving up four hits and a run in the seventh, Williams was relieved by sophomore Tommy DeJuneas, who struck out freshman Logan Harvey to end the top of the frame, as the Wolfpack led 3-1.
Despite holding onto a slim lead, the Wolfpack struggled to hit the ball with runners on base. During the course of the game, the Wolfpack batted 3 of 18 with runners in scoring position going into the last at bat of the game for sophomore Evan Mendoza.
With two outs and two on in the bottom of the eighth, Mendoza drove home Palmeiro on an RBI single and pushed Kinneman to third. Deatherage tacked on two more runs three batters later, and senior Will Gilbert closed the ninth to secure the sweep for the Wolfpack.
On tap for the Wolfpack next will be the Elon Phoenix Tuesday, followed by a three-game road series against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in Atlanta starting Friday. The starter for Elon will either be redshirt junior Johnny Piedmonte or junior Cory Wilder, according to Avent.
