NC State drops extra-innings bout with Stanford, no longer controls ACC regular season title path

NC State entered Friday night’s date with Stanford with a chance to control its own destiny for the ACC regular season title. Two wins to close out the series would be enough to get the job done. 

Although the 13th-ranked Wolfpack had history in its own hands, it let the opportunity to win its way to the league crown for the first time since 1986 slip away with a 4-3 loss in 10 innings against Stanford at Doak Field.

“There are no gimmes in this league, it doesn’t exist,” NC State skipper Elliott Avent said. “They’re a proud program. We’ll have to come out and be ready to play tomorrow.”

The Wolfpack led by as many as two runs in the fifth, but the Cardinal was able to hang around and pounced on its few opportunities to take its 10th ACC win of the season. Here are three takeaways from the Pack’s defeat. 

Lacked timely hitting

Even though NC State used a pair of RBI doubles to take a 2-0 lead by the fifth, it struggled to put together consistent hitting at the plate. And, well, that cost the Wolfpack key chances to put the game away. 

The Pack, which stranded six base runners, had the bases loaded in the fifth with one out to do more damage, but couldn’t push more than one runner across. Stanford’s arms, led by relievers Toran O’Harran and Aiden Keenan, were composed and never seemed to let the game pressure rattle them. 

How much were they in a groove? The Cardinals’ two bullpen arms tossed 4.2 innings of perfect baseball, retiring all 14 batters they faced. They quieted NC State’s bats, and in turn, gave their own offense a chance to get rolling. 

“I don’t want to say we weren’t productive in the other spots, I want to give credit to their pitchers,” Avent said. “But we’re going to see pitchers like that the rest of the year and you’ve got to find ways to score.”

NC State only mustered five total hits — all off starter Nick Dugan — and the Wolfpack was just 2-for-8 with runners in scoring position in the defeat. The Pack’s first five hitters — Luke Nixon, Josh Hogue, DeCriscio, Alex Sosa and Brayden Fraasman — hit a combined 2-for-21 in the defeat.

“When you get to this level at this time of the season, when you get opportunities, it’s not easy to cash them in,” Avent said. “But when you cash them in, you improve your chances. We didn’t do that tonight.”

Unlucky hop

When it seemed like the game was going to turn into a pitcher’s duel with sophomore reliever Jacob Dudan and his high 90s fastball paired with a devastating slider on the mound, an unlucky bounce allowed Stanford to take its first lead in the 10th. 

Cardinal second baseman Jimmy Nati, who hit a game-tying two-run blast in the sixth, hit a sharp grounder to Wolfpack shortstop Justin DeCriscio and it took an awkward hop that let the ball trickle into left field for a double. Stanford center fielder Charlie Bates scored in the process, allowing the Cardinal to level the series at one apiece. 

While it was NC State’s only fielding gaffe in a game that featured slick defensive stops from third baseman Matt Heavner and DeCriscio, it proved to be costly.

“I thought we played good defense,” Avent said reflecting on the loss. “That ball took a bad hop on DeCriscio, unfortunately in the 10th, or we’re still playing. We did a lot of things well, but obviously we’ve got to do better.”

What does this mean for the ACC title?

Now that NC State no longer controls its own fate when it comes to earning the No. 1 seed in next week’s ACC Tournament, what does the path look like to getting it? It’s rather simple: the Wolfpack needs to win Saturday’s series finale (1 p.m., ACCNX) and have No. 2 Florida State knock off No. 4 UNC at the same time. 

If the results fall the Wolfpack’s way, it would give Avent his first ACC trophy of any kind in his 29 seasons at the helm of the program. Although it would help boost his resume in Raleigh, likely cementing his status as the program’s top coach of all-time, Avent isn’t worried about what happens when it comes to seeding. 

He’d rather help guide the Pack to its third College World Series appearance in a five-year span to battle for the team’s first-ever national championship.

“That’s for the fans,” Avent said of the possible regular season title. “That’s what the fans talk about. I’ve always talked about going to the postseason and having the chance to play for a national championship. I don’t even know who won tonight, I have no idea.”