NC State Baseball
No. 3 NC State Forces Extras, Comes Up Short at No. 11 Florida State
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Down to its final out in the top of the ninth, NC State’s Brock Deatherage homered for the second time in the game to tie the score and force extra innings, but the Wolfpack came up short, as the 11th-ranked Florida State Seminoles hit a walkoff home run to earn a 6-3 win Friday night at Dick Howser Stadium.
With the win, the Seminoles clinch the series as the Wolfpack suffers only its second ACC series loss and first on the road this season.
NC State moves to 39-14 on the year and 18-11 in ACC play, while Florida State improves to 39-16 and 16-12 in league action.
Quick Hits
– Will Wilson gave NC State a 1-0 lead in the contest with a solo home run over the left field wall to start the fourth inning.
– The National Player and Hitter of the Week launched a first-pitch fastball out of the park for his 14th homer of the season.
– Brock Deatherage followed three batters later with a solo shot over the right field wall to give the Wolfpack a 2-0 lead on his 13th home run.
– Florida State answered with three runs in the sixth to take a 3-2 advantage.
– After a pair of quick outs, the Seminoles loaded the bases with two outs and got RBI singles from J.C. Flowers and Reese Albert to pull ahead.
– With two outs in the top of the ninth, Deatherage came up huge for NC State with his second home run of the game to knot the score at three apiece.
– The Burlington, N.C., native drove an 0-1 pitch over the center field wall for his 14thhomer of the season and third multi-home run game.
– After a flyout to start the bottom of the 10th, a walk and a single put runners on before Reese Albert hit a walkoff home run to right field.
Inside the Box Score
– It was the first time that NC State has played consecutive extra-inning games since March 2-3, 2013.
– Deatherage was 3-for-4 in the game with a pair of homers and was the only player in the contest to record three hits.
– NC State hit two or more home runs in a game for the 23rd time this season.
On the Mound
– Senior Brian Brown turned in a strong outing on the mound for the Wolfpack, as he 5.2 innings with six strikeouts and had not allowed a run when he departed the game with the bases loaded.
– Unfortunately, all three came around to score and were charged to Brown.
– Freshman Evan Justice threw two shutout innings and Johnny Piedmonte pitched the final 1.1 for the Pack.
On Deck
NC State and Florida State will wrap up the series Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Dick Howser Stadium.