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.