NC State’s NCAA Regional at-large hopes took a massive hit in Blacksburg this weekend, as NC State dropped their ACC series to the Hokies, two games to one.
Brett Renfrow tossed a gem for Virginia Tech on Friday night, going 8.0 IP or 3-hit, scoreless ball with just one walk and 9 strikeouts in leading the Hokies to a 4-0 win. Virginia Tech used their best reliever, Chase Swift, to lock down that win. Sometimes you run into a pitching buzzsaw. Things happen.
Saturday’s game was moved up to an early start with inclement weather in the area. The early going was a back-and-forth affair with both offenses in high gear early. Virginia Tech took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the 1st inning, then the Wolfpack responded with a pair of runs in the top of the 2nd before a 4-run bottom of the 2nd gave the Hokies a 5-2 lead. State then outscored the Hokies 5-1 over the next two innings to take a 7-6 lead into the 5th.
Virginia Tech plated one in the bottom of the 5th and the Wolfpack responded in kind in the top of the 6th to regain the lead. It remained there until a long lightning delay in the top of the 8th. The Wolfpack came roaring out of the delay, plating five runs to take a 13-7 lead into the bottom of the 8th. That’s where the questionable pitching moves started for State.
After the almost two hour delay, the Pack were going to need to run with a new pitcher. As State was up just a single run, it made sense to warm up Anderson Nance to finish off the game; however, as the Pack offense continued to pile up runs – and the inning included several stoppages of play for two VT pitching changes and a replay challenge – State should have warmed up another arm while up 6 runs.
Instead, the Pack rolled Nance (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K) out there for the remainder of the game, which saw him throw 30 pitches. Those were valuable pitches that reduced his ability for a longer outing on Sunday if and when needed.
That need came up in the 6th inning of the Sunday rubber match. With the Pack ahead 3-1 thanks to a bases-clearing Sherman Johnson double in the top half of the inning, State starting pitcher Luke Hemric clearly started wearing down. The inning started with a line drive single up the middle followed by a deep fly out to left field for the first out. That should have been the signal to pull Hemric who was at 75 pitches.
Getting 5.1 innings of 1-run ball from the freshman was a gift, and it would have been an excellent time to put in Nance to finish off the game. After a 4-pitch walk, Clint Chrysler used a mound visit to speak with Hemric. While it would have been one batter too late, this would have been an opportune time to make a pitching change. Instead, Hemric stayed in and surrendered a 414-foot, 3-run home run to Ethan Ball. Even then, Hemric stayed in for another batter, surrendering a line drive double down the left field line.
Finally, the move to Nance was made, but having already tossed 30 pitches the prior day, he was only able to go 1.2 innings, albeit of excellent quality (1H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K). That came back to bite with State needing to turn to freshman Sam Harris in the 8th, who faced just two batters but surrendered a single and a ground-rule double. Fellow freshman Mikey Ragusa (1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K) was excellent in relief of Harris, but the first out he recorded was on a fly ball from Ball that plated the go-ahead run (charged to Harris) for the Hokies.
It’s a shame that the Wolfpack used Nance on Saturday with a 6-run lead. It’s a shame that the Wolfpack coaches weren’t faster on the hook on Sunday in what would have protected a 3-1 lead. It’s a shame that the Wolfpack played such a weak non-conference schedule which put so much pressure their ACC record. It’s a shame that losing Sunday’s game puts that much more pressure on State to pull out a winning record down the stretch with series against two ranked opponents and a cross-country trip still on the slate.
Rett Johnson (5-for-11, 2B, 4 R, 3 BB, 2-2 SB) continued with his hot bat, notching a pair of multi-hit games in the series while having a hit in all three contests and reaching base safely multiple times in all three games. Ty Head (5-for-11, 2B, HR, 4 R, 4 RBI, 2 BB, HBP) also swung the bat incredibly well and notched a pair of multi-hit games.
Sam Harris did toss 3.0 innings of hitless, scoreless relief on Friday, retiring all nine batters he faced, including three via strikeout. On Saturday, Ryder Garino put together a similar 9-up, 9-down outing, including seven via strikeout to earn his third win of the season.
State, currently ranked 52nd in RPI, hosts a suddenly hot ECU squad on Tuesday. The Pirates have won six of the seven games they’ve played since the Wolfpack beat them 10-3 two Tuesdays ago. East Carolina has scored 11+ runs in each of the last four games they’ve played. A win over the RPI #28 Pirates will be huge for the Wolfpack.
