NC State baseball seemed poised to cruise to its second win of the season and head coach Elliott Avent’s 1000th victory at NC State. Instead, the Wolfpack fell apart in the fifth inning and never recovered during a 9-6 loss to VCU.

The Wolfpack (1-1) found itself up early, seemingly hitting everything into the outfield, while sophomore left-handed pitcher Dominic Fritton was dealing on the mound. Up 5-2, the red-and-white imploded and never recovered in the top of the fifth as the Rams (1-1) pulled off the upset.

“They were really, really good,” Avent said. “When it was 5-1 early, we had a couple of opportunities to rip this thing open… We made some defensive mistakes, mental mistakes in the outfield for no reason and they took advantage of every mistake we made. You gotta give them a lot of credit, they took advantage of the mistakes we made and that’s how you get beat.”

The pivotal inning began with a line drive down the left field line — good for a VCU double. Two at-bats later, the Rams’ drilled an RBI-single to left field. Making matters worse, the cutoff throw to second base was inaccurate and VCU’s runner sprinted into scoring position. The Rams then loaded the bases shortly after and Fritton’s outing came to a close. 

What had started out as a strong outing for Fritton quickly evaporated. The starter retired seven consecutive batters to open the game, but by the time Fritton returned to the dugout he had pitched 4.1 innings, posting four strikeouts and a concerning 10.38 ERA.

“He’s developed his pitching repertoire, it’s much greater than it was last year,” Avent said. “He’s got a good cutter, a good breaking ball and a good changeup. He couldn’t land his breaking ball, the guy hit the cutter out… I wasn’t sure if it was the cold weather or if he didn’t have it.”

Once redshirt senior right-handed pitcher Logan Whitaker replaced Fritton it was too late. With the tides shifting in VCU’s favor, the Rams scored on Whitaker’s first three batters faced, including a two-RBI single. By the time Whitaker finished the fifth inning, the damage was done and NC State’s three-run lead had turned to a two-run deficit. 

“Credit to them, they played a good game,” said senior right fielder Noah Soles. “The back half of the game is unfortunate, but we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.” 

Seemingly shell-shocked by the Rams’ scoring outburst, the Wolfpack offense lost its groove and never looked the same. The last run that NC State did score came in the sixth inning. Breakout star and sophomore second baseman Matt Heavner blasted a solo home run — his second in two games. Heavner’s emergence has been one of the encouraging early stories of the 2024 season for the red-and-white. 

“Heavner’s had two really good games,” Avent said. “I just told him we made a pre-set lineup before the weekend with Luke Nixon getting his shot at second tomorrow and Matt Heavner looks like our best player. It’s difficult as you’re trying to maneuver and get guys playing time.” 

VCU drilled a two run homer in the seventh to put the icing on the cake, sealing the 9-6 upset over the Wolfpack. The home run was one final blow to a disappointing start to the year for Whitaker, who pitched 3.2 innings for a 4.91 ERA and three strikeouts.

While the Pack struggled in the back half of the game, it showed positive signs of growth during the first four innings. On the very first pitch in the bottom of the first, Soles drilled a home run past the right field wall. Soles went on to hit a second homer to open the third inning, almost perfectly mirroring his first. 

“Just trying to do my role,” Soles said. “Obviously I’ve got leadoff, so just trying to get on base and just do my job.”

The Wolfpack will look to build on what it showed in the first four innings going forward. With an influx of transfers, a rocky start isn’t shocking. Ironing out fielding errors will be one of the most critical tasks for the red-and-white, which gave up four errors against the Rams.

“Yesterday we played a really clean game defensively and today we didn’t,” Avent said. “I’m talking about we bobbled some balls in the outfield with nobody even going. Then there was a ball we didn’t come get in the outfield and then it winds up going to home plate and people move up.”

NC State and VCU will square off one more time on Sunday, Feb. 17 at 1 p.m. in the series finale. With a victory, Avent would win his 1000th game at NC State — a feat that no coach has come close to in Wolfpack baseball history.