NC State baseball falls to South Carolina, 6-3
NC State baseball pitchers could not command the strike zone. The lineup could not avoid costly double plays. The result was a 6-3 Wolfpack loss to host and top seed South Carolina in the Columbia (S.C.) Regional that puts the Pack on the brink of elimination and the Gamecocks in the driver’s seat.
With the defeat, NC State will face Campbell at noon Sunday in a do-or-die game. The Pack beat the Fighting Camels 5-1 in the regional opener. Campbell rallied from down 5-0 to win 10-5 over Central Connecticut State in an elimination game Saturday afternoon.
All of South Carolina’s runs were set up by two-out walks.
NC State starting pitcher and junior right Matt Willadsen gave up a free path with two outs in the top of the third to South Carolina’s ninth-hitter in the lineup, center fielder Will Tippett, who was batting .200 on the season entering the game. The next batter, designated hitter Will McGillis, belted a two-run homer to give the Gamecocks an early 2-0 lead.
Four straight walks in the fifth with two outs by Willadsen and sophomore reliever Carson Kelly plated a third run for South Carolina, and then first baseman Gavin Casas lined a two-run single to right. A well-placed blooper by second baseman Michael Braswell gave the Gamecocks a 6-0 lead.
The Wolfpack staff finished the game with nine walks.
NC State baseball rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth, all with two outs. Three straight singles scored junior third baseman LuJames “Gino” Groover, and then sophomore left fielder Chase Nixon smacked an opposite field double off the wall in left to score two more runs.
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The Pack had two runners on base with one out in the seventh, but pinch hitter and sophomore Will Marcy bounced into an inning-ending double play. Groover led off the eighth with a single, but freshman designated hitter Cannon Peebles hit into the third double play of the game for NC State.
After a pair of singles in the ninth, NC State twice had the tying run at the plate, but junior pinch hitter Carter Trice grounded out to third, and sophomore second baseman Payton Green lined out to centerfield.
NC State also missed an opportunity in the bottom of the first, when a pair of two-out hits gave the Pack runners on second and third. Nixon flied out to deep center to end the frame.
South Carolina gets the enviable position of advancing to the regional finals without a loss in the double elimination format. Teams that win the first two games in the regional has gone on to advance to the next round’s super regionals on 298 of 368 occasions, or nearly 81.0 percent of the time.
