NC State baseball (19-1, 5-1 ACC) suffered its first loss of the season Sunday afternoon 7-5 against Florida State (14-4, 3-3 ACC).
“I would take two out of three from every series we play this year, but all I told the team is how proud the staff was of them,” said NC State head coach Elliott Avent. “Nineteen games in a row to start the season, program record, this is the first third of the season, we’ve played 20 games. Hopefully we’ll play a little more than 60 games but let’s just call this the first third of our season.”
Nander de Sedas led the way for the Seminoles, reaching base four times, including an RBI double in the fifth and an RBI single in the sixth.
Florida State started the scoring in the second when Mike Salvatore hit an RBI single to left field scoring Nico Baldor. The Seminoles immediately followed up with more offense as Reese Albert drove a double to right-center field scoring Salvatore and De Sedas to make it 3-0.
Wolfpack junior starting pitcher Michael Bienlien’s day would end after the double, throwing 45 total pitches through 1.1 innings of work while giving up three runs on three hits and walking four. RHP junior Andrew Blake would come on in relief, ending the rally with no more damage.
NC State responded in the third inning when sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey ripped a double to left field, scoring sophomore left fielder Jonny Butler and putting both base runners in scoring position. Florida State starting pitcher Shane Drohan was able to get a strikeout and a groundout to end the inning, leaving the bases loaded and limiting the damage to one run.
J.C. Flowers led off the fifth inning for the Seminoles with a home run to left field to give Florida State a 4-1 lead. After Baldor followed up with a stand-up double off the top of the center-field wall, sophomore lefty David Harrison entered the game in relief of Blake, who finished with two earned runs on four hits, as well as three strikeouts through 2.2 innings.
A double down the left-field line by De Sedas scored Baldor, and after a wild pitch by Harrison moved de Sedas to 3rd base, a sacrifice fly by Matheu Nelson scored De Sedas to give Florida State a 6-1 lead.
In the sixth inning, the Seminoles extended their lead to 7-1 on a De Sedas RBI single to left field. The Seminoles would leave the bases loaded to end the top of the inning.
The Wolfpack responded in the bottom frame with a double down the left-field line from sophomore third baseman David Vazquez that scored junior designated hitter Brad Debo and put runners on second and third. A sacrifice fly to right field from freshman Luca Tresh scored sophomore Terrell Tatum to cut the deficit to four. Freshman Thayer Thomas came on to pinch-hit and delivered with an RBI groundout to first base that scored Vazquez to make it a 7-4 game.
“I’m feeling pretty good,” Vazquez said. “It was a lot of stuff I worked on with [assistant coach Austin Morgan]. “We’ve been working on a lot of stuff mechanically, but I feel like the biggest influence has been my mental approach at the plate that’s been helping me out.”
In the eighth, NC State continued to scrape away as Vazquez snuck a double just past the third baseman that rolled to the wall and scored Debo to make it 7-5. Later that inning Bailey came up with the bases loaded and two outs, the preseason All American proceeded to hit a line drive to right field but the Florida State right fielder was positioned perfectly, as he was able to catch the ball for the final out of the inning.
After a leadoff single in the bottom of the ninth by senior first baseman Evan Edwards, freshman center fielder Tyler McDonough grounded in a 4-3 double play. Flowers then got Debo to strike out to win the game for Florida State and give the Wolfpack its first loss of the season.
“Obviously, it sucks, but that’s baseball, you’ve got to deal with it,” Bailey said. “Evan got the big hit in the ninth to start it off, but you know, next play ended up being a double play and that’s life, that’s baseball. Sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t.”
Drohan earned the win for the Seminoles, and Flowers picked up the save while Bienlien took the loss for the Wolfpack.
The Wolfpack will take on Towson at Doak Field on Tuesday with a 6 p.m. first pitch.
Senior infielder Evan Edwards makes contact with a pitch against Florida State on Sunday, March 17, in Doak Field. The Wolfpack lost 7-5 to the Seminoles, with Edwards registering two hits, one walk and one strikeout.
