NC State baseball secured an ACC series sweep over Cal in a 5-2 victory over the Golden Bears on Saturday night behind a dominant outing on the mound from sophomore left-handed pitcher Ryan Marohn.
Just one day after the Pack’s impressive comeback in the series-winning game, the red-and-white secured its first ACC series sweep of the season. The win in Berkeley, California was spurred on by a blazing nine-strikeout outing from Marohn, who threw 7.2 innings in his fifth win of the year.
Scoring a combined 21 runs in the three game set, NC State (27-12, 12-6 ACC) put up six home runs on Cal (18-21, 6-15 ACC), the final being a lead-separating two-run home run from sophomore catcher Alex Sosa in the eighth inning of game 3. Once Sosa put NC State out to a three-run lead, sophomore right-handed reliever Jacob Dudan closed the game with 1.1 innings of no-hit ball.
To start the series finale in Berkeley, NC State put up one run in the first inning thanks to a single from junior left fielder Josh Hogue single and a sacrifice fly from senior shortstop Justin Decriscio that scored freshman center fielder Ty Head. Cal responded just one inning later, though, after nabbing two hits off of Marohn and scoring one.
NC State kept up the offense in the next frame. A clutch bases-loaded two-out knock from sophomore first baseman Chris McHugh scored two, pulling the Wolfpack out to a 3-1 lead, a lead that it didn’t give up for the rest of the game.
From there Marohn pitched six innings of shutout ball, flaming nine strikeouts in those frames. But not only did Marohn pitch six innings of shutout baseball, he pitched five straight innings of no-hit baseball.
While the sophomore didn’t eclipse his season-high strikeout total of 14 punchouts, his nine against the Golden Bears was the highest mark for Marohn in an ACC series.
However, while Marohn was dealing, NC State’s offense went cold. After a strong first and second inning, it wasn’t until the eighth frame that the Pack increased its lead on the Golden Bears. However, when it did build on its lead, it did it in a loud way.
After Descriscio reached base on an error, Sosa launched a bomb over the right field wall for a two-run shot that increased the red-and-white’s lead to 5-1, a lead that was out of reach for a Golden Bears team stymied by Marohn.
Cal did earn one run in the bottom of the eighth, but Dudan shut down any hope of the hosts pulling off a rally during either the eighth or ninth innings, securing the Pack’s series sweep over the Golden Bears.
NC State will return home for a midweek duel with East Carolina on Tuesday before a showdown with No. 3 Clemson at Doak Field beginning on Thursday.
First pitch against the Pirates is set for 6 p.m.
