NC State Baseball
NC State Edged in Extra Innings at No. 11 Florida State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – No. 11 Florida State slipped past No. 3 NC State baseball in extra innings Thursday night at Dick Howser Stadium, as the Seminoles hit a walkoff home run in the bottom of the 11th to earn the 4-3 win.
In the first extra-inning game of the season, NC State threatened in the top of the 11thafter a leadoff triple by Will Wilson but was unable to push across the go-ahead run and Florida State carried that momentum into the bottom of the inning, as Steven Wells hit a walkoff homer.
The Wolfpack moves to 39-13 on the year and 18-10 in ACC play, while the Seminoles improve to 38-16 and 15-12 in conference action.
Quick Hits
– Florida State struck first in the game with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third after three singles.
– NC State countered with three runs in the sixth, as junior Brett Kinneman launched his 16th home run of the year to put the Wolfpack ahead, 3-2.
– Kinneman launched a hanging curveball over the right field wall on the first pitch of his at-bat to tie for the ACC lead in home runs and take the conference lead with 59 runs batted in (RBI).
– Stephen Pitarra started the inning on a positive note for the Pack, as he battled out of an 0-2 hole to draw a leadoff walk.
– Freshman Patrick Bailey ripped a two-out single up the middle to put runners on first and second prior to Kinneman’s blast.
– Florida State capitalized on a miscue by NC State defensively to plate an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth and knot the score at three.
– Both teams were held scoreless from that point until the walkoff home run.
On the Mound
– Freshman Reid Johnston turned in a strong start on the mound for NC State, as he pitched five innings and allowed just two earned runs.
– The Enfield, N.C., native struck out four batters and all four hits he yielded were singles.
– Kent Klyman relived him and pitched two innings with three strikeouts before turning the ball over to Connor Centala.
– Centala threw a career-best three innings and struck out three batters in one of the best outings of his NC State career.
– Joe O’Donnell entered the game to pitch the 11thand was charged with the loss after the walkoff home run on a 2-2 pitch.
On Deck
NC State and Florida State return to the field Friday evening for game two of the series. First pitch is set for 6 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.