In what proved to be a wild weekend of Wolfpack baseball, the Pack severely hampered its ACC chances Sunday at Jack Coombs Field after dropping the final game of its season series against Duke, 8-7, in extra innings.
“This puts us in a bad position, but as long as there are games left, we’ll keep fighting until the end,” junior pitcher John Lambert said.
Friday’s scheduled game was rained out and tabled for a windy, mild Saturday. The Pack split the double header with the Devils, winning game one 3-1 and falling off 11-2 later that night.
The Pack blew two leads en route to a loss in the third and final game of the series. After letting a 5-0 lead slip away, the team built a 7-5 advantage in the tenth inning, but gave up three RBI singles in the bottom of the inning to lose 8-7.
“We didn’t figure out a way to get it done,” coach Elliott Avent said.
After flying through the first two innings of the game, State found the right swing for the first hit of the game in the top of the third. Chris Schaeffer singled to left field, and Dallas Poulk followed with a single, pushing Schaeffer to third. John Gianis brought his teammates home on a single up the middle, putting State in the lead 2-0.
State gained momentum with three runs in the fifth and held a 5-1 lead before Duke’s Gabriel Saade hit a solo home run. State third baseman Drew Martin committed a crucial error, and shortly thereafter, Duke brought another man home to get within three runs of tying the game.
“We need to tighten our game up,” Lambert said. “We need to start putting everything into action.”
At the top of the 10th inning, Drew Poulk hit a single and Martin dashed for home from second base, giving State a 6-5 lead. A balk by Duke pitcher Alex Hassan allowed Andrew Ciencin to score, extending the lead to 7-5.
In the bottom of the 10th, Duke answered with a string of RBI singles that snatched the win from the Pack’s grasp.
State committed two errors, an improvement over the four the team made in Saturday’s 11-2 loss. However, with every mental mistake, the No. 8 seed in the ACC tournament — currently held by Duke — fell further and further away.
“We’re going to stay in this, we’re going to fight, and we’re going to do everything we can to get into the postseason,” Lambert said.
