The NC State Baseball team lost the rubber match of its three-game series against the No. 10 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in an 11-2 walloping on Sunday, April 18 in South Bend, Indiana. The game was characterized by the Pack offense’s inability to capitalize on its chances, leaving 11 runners on base.
The contrast between Notre Dame’s ability to drive in runs and NC State’s lack thereof was apparent early. The Wolfpack (16-13, 9-12 ACC) left the bases loaded in the top of the first and the Fighting Irish (18-7, 16-7 ACC) jumped out to an early 3-0 lead with a three-run first inning. The Wolfpack left another two runners on base in the second inning, but that went unpunished in the bottom of the frame, as Notre Dame left a runner of its own on second base.
The two squads traded blows in the fifth inning, as sophomore center fielder Tyler McDonough (1-5, HR, RBI) put the Pack on the scoreboard with a leadoff dinger. The Fighting Irish negated this chip into its lead when freshman right-handed pitcher Matt Willadsen (5.0 IP, 4 ER, 8 H, 6 K) surrendered an RBI double to make it 4-1 in favor of the home team.
It was in the sixth inning that Notre Dame started to pull away to its eventual margin of victory. The Fighting Irish padded its lead with two more runs via the long ball against freshman left-handed pitcher Chris Villaman (1.1 IP, 6 ER, 4 H), who entered the game in relief of Willadsen to begin the inning. The Wolfpack trotted out freshmen right-handed pitchers Cooper King (0.1 IP, BB) and Coby Ingle (0.1 IP, H, BB) in the bottom of the seventh, but neither stopped the Irish from putting up a crooked four runs in the frame and entering the eighth with a 10-1 lead.
The Pack tried to stage a comeback in the top of the eighth starting with a one-out groundout to second by junior outfielder Terrell Tatum (2-4, RBI) that scored a run, but the attack fizzled out with a strikeout by junior first baseman Austin Murr (1-5).
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Dalton Feeney (1.0 IP, ER) finished out the game for NC State, but not before Notre Dame tacked on one more run to end the scoring action. The Wolfpack went down in order in the top of the ninth to the tune of three flyouts, ending the ball game.
NC State will return home on Friday, April 23 to begin a three-game series against the No. 12 Virginia Tech Hokies. The series opener will be aired at 6:30 p.m. on ACC Network Extra.
