With three big wins and another ACC series sweep this week over Boston College, it’s been another exciting few days for the NC State baseball team. There’s just a little over one month left of the regular season, so let’s take a look at some takeaways from last week’s matchups as the team gets set to head out on another road trip.
Walk-off Wolfpack
One of the biggest storylines from this week has to be that the Pack9 won its midweek matchup against UNC-Wilmington along with the first two games of its series against the Eagles all in the form of walk-off winners.
Down 6-5 in Tuesday’s game against the Seahawks, a single and two sac-flies from sophomore outfielder Dominic Pilolli and senior outfielder Devonte Brown in the bottom of the ninth inning gave the Pack the runs it needed to emerge with the victory.
Brown would be the difference maker in game one against Boston College as well, with another sac-fly in the ninth to bring NC State a 4-3 win.
Game two of the series took 11 innings, but NC State loaded the bases on two singles and a throwing error. An additional error by the Eagles allowed the Wolfpack to cash in and walk it off for the third time in a row- a feat quite unheard of in college baseball.
NC State continues to prove its resilience this season, and now on a five-game win streak, it provides a lot of great momentum entering a four-game road trip.
More fielding errors
What forced the Pack to create late waves of scoring for the walk off wins? Errors, particularly in game one of the Friday doubleheader against Boston College.
Four errors in that matchup gifted the Eagles five out of their six runs, digging the Wolfpack into a hole it was only able to climb out of in extras.
The third game of the series also saw five errors from the Pack in the field, but the NC State bats made up for it for the 6-3 win.
It’s been said before, but the Pack9 needs to clean up its fielding heading down the stretch, as it still sits dead last in fielding percentage in the ACC with 52 errors so far this season.
Standout offensive performances of the week
Multiple NC State players had strong offensive performances over the past week starting with freshman first baseman Tommy White.
White grabbed four RBIs in the series against Boston College, largely in part to his four doubles, one of which was just inches from his 14th home run of the year.
There’s Brown, who was responsible for the walk offs in the game against the Seahawks and game one over the Eagles as well as sophomore outfielder Noah Soles, who now has 20 hits in his last 10 games, including six over just the past week.
Freshman infielder Payton Green recorded his first two triples of his collegiate career in back-to-back games against UNC-Wilmington and Boston College and was a big part of the Pack’s extra-innings win over the Eagles, going 3 for 4 with an RBI and a double that game.
Also, with six hits in the past week, sophomore infielder LuJames Groover III extended his hit streak to 21 games.
Especially with its struggles defensively, the strength of these Wolfpack bats will continue to be a huge factor in the team’s success in the next few series.
Updates from the mound
The NC State pitching staff had more consistent performances over the past week as well.
Redshirt sophomore righty Logan Whitaker and sophomore right-hander Matt Willadsen both struck out five in five innings in their starts and only allowed one earned run each.
Senior left-hander Canaan Silver and redshirt junior right-hander Logan Adams combined for the win in game three of the series.
Silver collected seven strikeouts and let up just two earned runs in five innings, while Adams pitched the final four for the save, blanking the Eagles and striking out one.
Also of note, once again, is sophomore left-hander Chris Villaman who came in for the final out in game one of the series and held off Boston College for four frames in the extra-innings victory with nine strikeouts.
With the continued absence of sophomore right-hander Sam Highfill from the starting rotation, the performances of these Pack9 pitchers have become all the more important.
On the road again
NC State hits the road again for a midweek matchup at High Point University on Wednesday, April 20 and then another ACC weekend series at Louisville from April 22-24.
The Pack has not taken the field since Friday, April 15 due to weather and the holiday, so it will be interesting to see how the team adjusts with the extended break.
