NC State baseball weekend recap: Pack off to an 8-0 start

NC State baseball sandwiched a come-from-behind win with two lopsided victories in a weekend sweep of Quinnipiac.

Game one of the series Friday was a continuation of how much of the season has gone thus far for the Wolfpack, a dominant 10-4 win that was showcased on ACC Network.

Game three, the back end of a doubleheader arranged to avoid a rainy forecast Sunday, was another never-in-doubt victory, 16-4 in seven innings.

The first game of the twin bill however was the dramatic game of the weekend. Quinnipiac led 9-3 at the seventh inning stretch, but an error on a shallow pop fly in right with two outs where the Bobcats’ second baseman Kyle Maves dropped a challenging catch led to two unearned runs scoring.

Quinnipiac got a run back in the eighth, but the Pack offense came alive and scored five times in the bottom half of the frame to tie and force extra innings. That’s when sophomore LuJames Groover, who did not start but came into the game as a second baseman, crushed a two-run homer to left for a walk-off win in the 10th, 12-10.

“It was very exciting, I have never hit a walk-off in my life,” Groover noted. “I did not go up there with that mindset. I wanted to put a ball into the gap. I recognized his pitch and took control of the moment.”

The wins pushed NC State to 8-0 overall on the year. Quinnipiac is 1-5.

“That’s a team coming out of the North who hasn’t taken as many ground balls, their field situation isn’t as good, that’s a team right there you probably don’t want to play in about three months,” NC State head coach Elliott Avent said of the Bobcats. “They’re scrappy, they’re tough, they run the bases well, their bunting game is tremendous, great team speed, and they’re very well-coached.”

At The Plate For NC State Baseball

His name is Tommy White, in case you forgotten after his remarkable season-opening sweep over Evansville when he hit five homers in three days, including a grand slam.

Against Quinnipiac, White added for more home runs, with another grand slam.

The updated stats for White are unreal: a .588 batting average with nine home runs and 29 runs batted in while scoring 18 runs. He’s only struck out three times with five walks in 34 official at bats while owning an on-base percentage of .650 and a slugging percentage of 1.412.

“I’ve never seen anything like that in my life,” Avent said. “I never have. I think he even amazed himself that last time. The guy threw him an unbelievable slider and Tommy got a good hack at it and missed it, and then he came back with a good fastball and he hit it out. I think that one even surprised Tommy a little bit, he was smiling like, ‘Wow, I can’t believe I did that either.’

“He’s just a heck of a hitter. He’s smart, he’s a baseball player. I said that at the beginning of the year, he’s a baseball player. He pays attention to the game, he works hard, believes in himself, he understands the game, and he plays the game a certain way on defense and offense.

“But I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Overall, White has half of the team’s 18 home runs this season. Groover and redshirt junior third baseman Josh Hood, both transfers, hit their first homers in a Wolfpack uniform, over the weekend.

On The Mound

NC State baseball fans finally got to see third-year sophomore lefty Chris Villaman in his closer role. Villaman made his season debut during Friday’s lopsided win, but made a bigger impact Saturday in game one when he pitched two perfect innings to earn the win, striking out four batters in the process.

“We usually don’t bring him in with a tie, but we felt that was the thing to do,” Avent noted.

Game three starter David Harrison, a super senior lefty, was arguably the most effective starting hurler of the weekend, tossing 5.2 innings to improve to 2-0. He struck out six batters while allowing three earned runs.

“That’s twice he’s been very good,” Avent said.

One Area Of Concern

Nine different relief pitchers saw action out of the bullpen over the weekend, and four of them allowed at least one earned run while two more were unable to make it out of the inning before having to be relieved themselves from the mound.

Game two starter Matt Willadsen, a third-year junior, also continues to struggle some with his command. He had three walks and two wild pitches in 3.2 innings, helping lead to six earned runs. Willadsen had four walks and a pair of wild pitches in 4.2 innings in his first start of the year.

Midweek Action Ahead For NC State Baseball

NC State will have arguably its toughest challenge of the season yet when it plays at Campbell Wednesday evening, The Camels are just 1-6, but four of those losses have come against ranked opponents. It was swept over the weekend by No. 22 Maryland at home, struggling to score runs. Campbell crossed the plate three times in the three games combined.

However, Campbell was the heavy preseason favorite to win its Big South Conference.

The game will be a 5 p.m. first pitch and televised online by ESPN+.

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