NC State baseball has had its fair share of bad performances at NCAA regionals but this weekend can be more accredited to the two incredible pitching performances the Pack faced on Friday and Sunday.
The Pack faced the ace of both Campbell and ECU in the two games and both pitched like the ace they are. Campbell’s Michael Horrell and ECU’s Jake Agnos shut down a deep and powerful NC State lineup that scored just six runs in two games.
Horrell (10-3, 2.62 ERA) threw into the eighth inning of Friday’s game and was only taken out because of the first rain delay. He gave up just four runs, one earned, and five hits with 11 strikeouts to go with no walks, including four strikeouts against first-round prospect Will Wilson.
“I mean every one of his pitches moves,” said sophomore outfielder Jonny Butler after the loss to Campbell on Saturday. “And he just commanded it pretty well. But I just think collectively, we as a hitting group didn’t do our jobs. We just had a bad day at the plate, personally. He did do a great job and props to him.”
Agnos (11-2, 2.02 ERA) had a similar performance in front of his home-team crowd, going into the ninth inning with a chance for a complete game. Instead, senior first baseman Evan Edwards tattooed one out of the stadium to left-center field and knocked him out of the game.
“He’s probably one of the best pitchers in the country,” said sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey after the loss to ECU on Sunday. “He attacked us with three pitches. I think he kind of struggled to find the breaking ball in the first and second inning, but he got in control and in command of the zone and he’s a tough guy to hit.”
The only runs he allowed were solo shots, the other from Bailey in the first inning. Otherwise, the Pack only got two more hits in the whole game and struck out nine times.
Both threw with emotion and intensity as it could be their last game throwing in college if neither team advances to a super regional. They also pitched until they couldn’t anymore, with both going over a normal pitch count. Horrell hit 118 pitches and Agnos threw 127 times from the mound.
Horrell and Agnos came to play and to show off their abilities like there is no tomorrow because it was possible that there wasn’t. Both are looking to their futures in the big leagues and were facing the last career start in college.
The offense wasn’t there this weekend, the pitching wasn’t there, the intensity wasn’t there but it’s not all on NC State. The team faced two of the best pitchers in the country and two that are likely to be drafted in the upcoming MLB draft.
Senior infielder Evan Edwards watches his home run ball fly against ECU in his last at-bat for the Wolfpack on Sunday, June 2 at Clark-LeClair Stadium in Greenville. Edwards went 1-3 with one home run and one walk as the Wolfpack's season was ended by a score of 9-2.
