NC State Baseball
No. 4 NC State Takes Series Opener Against Wake Forest with 8-5 Win
RALEIGH, N.C. – The fourth-ranked NC State baseball team recorded its sixth consecutive win with an 8-5 victory in game one of the series against Wake Forest Friday night at Doak Field at Dail Park.
After the Demon Deacons knotted the score at 5-5 in the top of the sixth, the Wolfpack answered with a pair of runs in the bottom half and added a run in the eighth to secure the win.
NC State moves to 37-12 on the year and 16-9 in ACC play, while Wake Forest falls to 22-27 and 11-14 in conference action. Sophomore Kent Klyman earned the win on the mound with 3.2 innings of shutout relief, while Wake Forest reliever Antonio Menendez was charged with the loss (0-4).
Avent’s Additions
Overall thoughts…
“I thought we played really well,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “Griffin Roberts is as good as anybody in this league, I thought we had some really good at-bats and made him throw a lot of pitches and got to their bullpen early.
“I thought Reid [Johnston] was outstanding. It’s impressive to have a freshman be your Friday night starter at this time of the year. He continues to compete on every big stage. He is the epitome of a competitive pitcher; our staff is full of them”
Quick Hits
– NC State jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first after a three-run homer from Brett Kinneman, his 15th of the year which ties the ACC lead.
– Stephen Pitarra started the inning with a single and Patrick Bailey reached on a fielder’s choice to score on Kinneman’s blast.
– The Wolfpack tacked on a pair of runs in the fourth to open up a 5-0 advantage after a two-RBI single from Will Wilson to plate J.T. Jarrett and Pitarra, who both walked earlier in the frame.
– Wake Forest trimmed the deficit to 5-3 in the fifth, after scoring its first run of the game on a balk call before a two-RBI single from Patrick Frick.
– A two-run homer from the Deacs’ Bobby Seymour knotted the score at 5-5 in the top of the sixth.
– NC State countered with a pair of runs in the bottom half to regain the lead, 7-5.
– Pitarra scored from third on a balk and McLain scored on a sacrifice fly from Wilson.
– In the eighth, Wilson picked up his fourth RBI of the game as he doubled to right center to score McLain, who tripled to start the inning, and push the NC State lead to 8-5.
Inside the Box Score
– McLain led the Wolfpack at the plate and was the only player in the game to record three hits, as he extended his reached base safely streak to 18 games.
– Freshman Patrick Bailey and Wilson also turned in multi-hit outings, as both tallied a pair of hits in the contest.
– Brock Deatherage, Kinneman and Pitarra all had one hit for the Wolfpack.
On the Mound
– Freshman Reid Johnston started on the mound for NC State and pitched 4.2 innings, allowing just one hit to go along with a career-best six strikeouts.
– He retired 10 consecutive batters from the second to the fifth inning, but struggled with his command late in the fifth.
– Klyman was stellar in relief to pick up his sixth win, as he allowed just three hits in 3.2 shutout innings of work.
On Deck
NC State and Wake Forest return to the field for game two of the series Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m.
The NC State Baseball team is now 7-0 through two weeks of play, going 4-0 last week, defeating Coastal Carolina 16-4 on the road in a midweek game, and sweeping Belmont at home this past weekend (11-4, 7-0, 7-1).
The Wolfpack remain ranked 21st in the D1Baseball Top-25.
(NCAA)
The Wolfpack moved up 11 spots to #19 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll, up 2 spots to #20 in the Coaches Poll, and up 1 spot to #24 in the Baseball America poll.
NC State will host Longwood today at 3pm in their next matchup.
NC State’s Men’s Baseball team stayed put at #21 in the D1Baseball Top-25 after an opening weekend sweep of Wagner.
(NCAA)
NC State also stayed put at #25 in the Baseball America’s new poll, and stayed put at #30 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll.
The Wolfpack will play Coastal Carolina on the road this Wednesday at
The 2023 ACC Preseason Poll was released yesterday, and NC State is projected to finish 3rd in the Atlantic.
NC State finished 5th in the Atlantic Division in 2022, with a 14-15 record in Conference play.
I was just about to write a piece about the Doak renovation going down.
Feb. 17 is right around the corner and #TheDoak is looking nice 👀 #Pack9 #GoPack pic.twitter.com/w64471DPFj
— NC State Athletics (@PackAthletics) January 25, 2023
But while I was over on Twitter, I saw a ton of comments on it, all of them NC State fans, and almost all of them critical of the new look.
Look, I don’t know what’s going on here. Maybe it’ll look a lot better once it’s done, or maybe the grass will match up a lot better when it greens up. But right now, it’s a little jarring. Here is how it used to look…
And here is how it’s looking right now…
Doak Field renovation coming along. Sod and turf almost completed #accbaseball #pack9 #ncsu pic.twitter.com/SYKgmSQZhi
— Allen (@BigalnRaleigh) January 19, 2023
Again, I’m going to wait until it’s really done before I cast judgement, but I think the official tweet from the school marketing it and drawing attention to it, has people thinking it’s in it’s final form. And maybe it is. But I hope it’s not.
I remember this being shared a while back…
This shows grass in foul territory and dirt in the 1st/3rd baselines. So I’m not sure when this turf thing came along. And while we’re on the subject, aren’t we a turf management school? Shouldn’t we be turning up our noses at artificial turf?
Apparently, this is a thing now, where foul territories are artificial turf and fair territory is grass. Here is Mississippi State’s baseball field doing the same thing.
🔜 #NewDude pic.twitter.com/dCoqhCKxLI
— Mississippi State Baseball (@HailStateBB) February 15, 2019
Can’t say I like it there either, honestly. It just seems like one of those fads. Remember when everyone was going crazy with field/court colors?
School with a grey field and school with a glow in the dark basketball court meet on blue turf. Winning coach gets dumped with French fries. College athletics at its absolute best. https://t.co/crEKoeLKbX pic.twitter.com/Bpeod50Sy4
— RedditCFB (@RedditCFB) December 4, 2022
Good time to remind everyone that Memphis’ basketball court should be fired directly into the sun. https://t.co/jXpDbPQ7Iw pic.twitter.com/htyMv4sAXD
— Jim Weber (@JimMWeber) November 10, 2021
The worst basketball court in the history of the sport. Thanks a lot, Oregon. pic.twitter.com/842T5CYmIc
— Craig Miller (@junior_miller) January 30, 2022
Did anyone ever really like those? Do people like them now? Have they ever gotten a recruit to come to the school? Have they ever scared a recruit away?
I don’t know. You tell me. I’ll hold final judgment, but things NC State fans don’t seem like they’re going to follow along.