It’s been a rough go for NC State baseball over the last two weeks. After starting the season 18-4, the Pack went on a seven-game losing streak, tied for the longest in program history.
“It’s tough when you lose,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “It eats at you. I don’t care who you are, this game will eat at every fiber in your soul.”
But on Thursday night in its series-opener against Notre Dame, the same Pack (19-11, 4-6 ACC) team that’s averaged 3.7 runs per game in conference play took control in a 7-3 win over the Fighting Irish (15-10, 6-7 ACC) behind an explosive second inning and dominance from the mound.
“It’s been a little bit, I missed this feeling,” first baseman Chris McHugh said. “It’s a feeling that never gets old, and we’ve missed it, but we’re back.”
Notre Dame drew first blood at the top of the second inning via a two-RBI double that just barely stayed within the left field line, much to the chagrin of Wolfpack fans.
Down 2-0 early usually doesn’t bode well, but the Pack took the challenge head-on, opening with back-to-back singles before a sacrifice fly from right fielder Brayden Fraasman brought home the runner on third. Three batters later, McHugh tied the game with an RBI-single.
With two runners on base, second baseman Luke Nixon launched a rocket over the right field wall, giving NC State the lead, which it rode until the final out.
Amidst its recent seven-game losing streak, NC State hadn’t scored more than five runs in a game, yet it matched that mark in just one inning against the Fighting Irish — the first time it’s done so since Feb. 28 against Sacred Heart.
“I think this team knows that we’re talented,” Nixon said. “It’s just trusting and believing in it. A lot of it is mentality. Our guys had a different mentality going into today’s game, and it showed.”
Notre Dame responded with a home run of its own — albeit a solo shot — and looked as though it would fight its way back into the game. But after allowing three runs in the first 2.2 innings, lefty pitcher Ryan Marohn took over.
“The kid hit a bomb off me, but I didn’t let it rattle me,” Marohn said. “Just try to throw up zeros every time I go out there.”
Through the next three innings, Marohn kept the Fighting Irish at bay, allowing just two hits. It couldn’t have come at a better time as NC State seemed to have used all of its batting power in the second inning, recording just two hits of its own.
“This guy’s got brass like you can’t believe,” Avent said.
By the time he was replaced by righty Anderson Nance midway through the seventh inning, Marohn threw 110 pitches, finishing with nine strikeouts, five hits and three earned runs.
Nance picked up right where his predecessor left off, stranding four Notre Dame runners on base in the seventh and eighth innings.
Finally, after five innings of quiet, the Wolfpack bats fired up again, and McHugh launched a two-RBI single into far right field to give his team the comfortable gap it needed.
“Going into the ninth with a four-run lead, much easier to pitch than with a two-run lead,” McHugh said. “I was really happy I was able to do that; that was big.”
Nance slammed the door on Notre Dame in the top of the ninth, securing the Pack’s first ACC win since March 20 when it downed then-No. 11 Florida State.
“Finally getting a win like this against a really good team is big,” McHugh said. “We have momentum, we get some confidence.”
With momentum in hand, the Pack returns to Doak Field on Friday, April 2, for the second game of the series against Notre Dame. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
