CHARLOTTE, NC — After capping off the regular season with a statement win over No. 2 North Carolina just two days ago, NC State baseball emerged from four hours of grueling play against Duke with a brutal 21-12 loss.
The Wolfpack (32-22, 14-16 ACC) might have very well played its last game of 2026, and it wasn’t one to remember. The Blue Devils (26-30, 10-20 ACC) came into the tournament as the No. 16 seed, but didn’t play like it, scoring 15 runs in the last three frames.
It hasn’t been a straightforward season for NC State, as injuries have taken out multiple key players, and those injuries caught up against Duke. The Pack’s thinned bullpen was taken advantage of, and pitching coach Clint Chrysler made the trot to the mound five separate times.
The Pack threw seven different arms on the day, and those pitchers allowed 20 hits, nearly double the amount NC State’s batters posted.
“[Our players] got hammered with injuries throughout the season, but they just kept persevering,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “Very proud of our guys effort, we will go back to Raleigh tomorrow, and hopefully some of these injuries can heal up and with Mikey [Ryan] back and maybe [Ryan] Marohn back we can get ready for regionals”
In the second inning, senior designated hitter Dalton Bargo got the Wolfpack off to what seemed like a great start. He slammed a 420-ft three-run home run into the proper downtown area of Charlotte. That start didn’t last, as the Wolfpack had surrendered its lead by the start of the bottom of the fourth, trailing 6-5.
Offensively, the Wolfpack had a fair game, with leaders like senior second baseman Luke Nixon and sophomore center fielder Ty Head keeping the game close in the first six innings. Head scored three runs while going 2-3 at the plate with a two-run home run. Head was old reliable today, finding a way to get on base in every plate appearance and was one of two players to steal a bag
Nixon did his part to keep the Pack in it, as he went yard in the bottom of the eighth, but it was too little too late.
Balls were flying out of Truist Field all morning. A combined six homers left the park, with four of them coming from NC State. Typically, when a team hits four home runs and posts 12 runs, they aren’t expected to lose, let alone by a wide margin. A team hitting four home runs and scoring 12 runs isn’t usually expected to lose, let alone by a wide margin, but Duke’s hitting was even more impressive.
In two-out situations, the Blue Devils thrived. They scored 20 of their 21 runs in two-out situations, with the majority of the runs coming on two strikes as well. The Pack couldn’t manage to get off the field, and finished the game with 246 total pitches thrown.
The power from Duke was led by Kaden Smith, who had a career day. He tied the ACC tournament record with eight runs batted in, a record that has stood since 1985, and recorded a grand slam in the seventh inning to take the life out of the Pack.
Deflated, the Wolfpack scrambled to create a response, trying pitching changes left and right to stop the bleeding, all to no avail — its pitchers walked 12 different batters and loaded the bases 10 times. While Duke had its best offensive performance of the year, the arms for the Pack played a significant role in the loss.
“This is a team that if we can get our pitching back in order, and if we can maybe get Marohn back, this is a team that can win a regional,” said Avent.
After the loss, the Pack are certainly on the bubble for the regional tournament, but Avent and his staff have a strong faith that this team and the work it has done this season are worthy of a spot.
“All day Sunday, it took about nine hours, we made a resume [for season wins], and the response I got from the people I sent it to was that we are a lock [for regionals],” said Avent. “We play the toughest schedule in the ACC, so to get 14 wins, it definitely gets us a regional bid”
If the Wolfpack manage to get to the regional, it can’t have another performance like today, or it will get squashed. While it played a clean defensive game with no errors, poor throws from the outfield allowed for Duke to score in bunches. Six different Blue Devil players recorded two or more runs batted in.
The Wolfpack will have to wait until Monday, May 25th, to see if it will be selected to play in the NCAA Tournament. The selection show is set to air at 2 p.m. EST.
