With the entire season hanging in the balance, the baseball team finished its most important series sweep of the season against in-state rival Duke Saturday. Equipped with a one game lead over North Carolina for the final spot in the ACC tournament entering the series, the Wolfpack (36-20, 15-15 ACC) relied on strong pitching and timely hitting to fend off the pesky Blue Devils and secure a ticket to play in the postseason.
“People love to watch the biggest moments in sports,” coach Elliott Avent said. “No matter if it’s the final day of the Masters, the finals of the NBA championship, or the final day of Wimbledon. It doesn’t matter what sport you like, you are going to watch it when it comes down to the finale because that is what it is all about.”
Junior Jake Buchanan took the mound for the Pack in the first game of the series Thursday night and logged his second complete game win of the season. Buchanan mixed his pitches beautifully, fooling Duke hitters to the tune of nine strikeouts while only walking three batters.
The Pack offense was led by seniors Dallas and Drew Poulk, who each finished the game with three RBI apiece, propelling State to an 8-3 victory.
Sophomore Andrew Ciencin supplied the heroics during Friday night’s game, hitting a double in the bottom of the 12th inning that drove in centerfielder Kyle Wilson to edge Duke 7-6. The Blue Devils managed to score six runs on 15 hits off of Wolfpack starting pitcher Cory Mazzoni, but the bullpen was lights-out in the extra innings, keeping the Pack in the game.
Juniors Rob Chamra and Grant Sasser combined to pitch three and two-thirds innings, giving up only three hits and striking out six batters in the contest. Sasser recorded the win and moved to 3-3 on the year.
“The bullpen has come a long way from the beginning of the season,” catcher Pratt Maynard said. “They’re getting more familiar with their roles and which situations they come into the game for, like a lefty coming in to face a left-handed batter.”
First baseman Harold Riggins had an impressive day at the plate. The sophomore blasted two towering solo homeruns, scored three times and also walked once.
“I haven’t been trying to do too much,” Riggins said. “I’ve just tried to put good swings on the ball and focus on my approach to the plate.”
On a sunny Saturday afternoon, the Wolfpack began the third and final game of the series with a spot in the ACC tournament on the line.
Second baseman Dallas Poulk drove in the game’s first run in the first inning with a triple to right field that scored Wilson. Drew Poulk continued his hot hitting by smashing a double to score Dallas, pushing the score to 2-0.
Following a solo home run by Duke first baseman Jeremy Gould, the Pack responded with a six-run third inning. A pair of singles by Dallas and Drew Poulk followed by a walk from Riggins loaded the bases. Maynard’s two-RBI double drove in both Poulks and brought the score to 4-1.
Freshman Tarran Senay hit his second double of the game with two outs to drive in Maynard and Riggins. Bergquist joined the scoring attack with an RBI single up the middle to score Senay. Wilson concluded the Wolfpack’s big third inning with a single that scored Bergquist after Duke’s Joe Pedivillano made a fielding error to bring the score to 8-1.
Duke’s Gould tried to lead a comeback attempt by hitting a two-run homer, his second of the game. The homerun by Gould cut State’s lead to 8-3.
Following a 20 minute umpire delay, the last run of the game was scored when Duke’s Jake Lemmerman knocked a bases loaded single off State’s Alex Sogard in the eighth inning, bringing the score to 8-4.
“I thought what Sogard did today was phenomenal,” Avent said. “After the umpire delay, he faced the middle of Duke’s lineup with two men already on base and got out of the jam.”
With the series sweep of Duke, the Wolfpack clinched the seventh seed in the ACC tournament.
“For us to be in a race for a spot in the ACC tournament was awesome,” Avent said. “We tried not to look at scores from the other conference games because it was out of our control. We wanted to stay focused on the task at hand and we certainly did that this week.”
