NC State baseball weekend recap: Another season-opening sweep

NC State baseball is beginning to make sweeps of the opening weekend seem routine. The Pack took all three contests from Wagner, winning games one and three in lopsided fashion. NC State started with a 14-1 crushing Friday and completed the sweep with a 9-0 victory.

In between, the Pack needed a 3-run seventh to rally for a 3-2 triumph Saturday.

NC State baseball has now had a season-opening sweep over the opponent for four straight years.

NC State Baseball In The Polls

D1Baseball.com: 21st (no change)

Perfect Game: 21st (no change)

USA Today Sports baseball coaches: 22nd (not updated)

NCBWA: 22nd (up from 24th)

Baseball America: 25th (no change)

Collegiate Baseball: 30th (no change)

At The Plate For NC State Baseball

A season ago, shortstop Payton Green and catcher Jacob Cozart joined infielder/designated hitter Tommy White as the standouts in the NC State baseball recruiting class. While White shattered home run records, Green and Cozart went through the more traditional growing pains for rookies.

A year later, White is playing at LSU (where he injured his shoulder in the season opener), and Cozart and Green looked a lot more comfortable at the plate for the Wolfpack.

Green was 6-of-11 batting with a double while drawing 3 walks. He drove in 5 runs and scored 3 times himself. Cozart went 3 of 7 at the plate while starting twice at catcher and drew a pair of walks. He belted a homer and a double and had 4 RBI.

On The Mound

The story of the weekend for NC State baseball was the pitching staff. NC State allowed just 3 earned runs over the weekend, the lowest in a three-game season-opening series since giving up a pair in 1968, 55 years ago.

Redshirt junior righty Logan Whitaker went 7.0 scoreless innings in the opener, giving up 5 hits and not walking a batter while striking out 3.

Taking it one step further, junior starter and righthander Matt Willadsen, fifth-year senior righty reliever Baker Nelson and junior right-handed relief pitcher Justin Lawson combined to go 9 innings without a walk Saturday, the first time that has happened in a game for NC State since 2020. None of the trio hit a batter or threw a wild pitch, either. Willadsen had 6 strikeouts over 6.0 innings. Lawson picked up the save while fanning 2 over 1.1 innings.

Freshman left-handed starter Dominic Fritton made a successful career debut, going 4.1 innings of 1-hit ball, although he walked three and hit a batter. Nelson, sophomore righty Carson Kelly and freshman righthander Andrew Shaffner helped combine for the shutout, with Shaffner striking out a pair in the ninth in his career debut.

Nelson picked up the wins both Saturday and Sunday.

Midweek Action Ahead For NC State Baseball

Casual Wolfpack baseball fans are well aware of the tradition of Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers won the College World Series in 2016, a journey that started in Raleigh when Coastal rallied in the ninth inning to knock out NC State in the final game of the regional.

The Pack had a 5-3 lead until the game was mercifully called during a downpour with Coastal Carolina having loaded the bases with one out. The last batter for the Chanticleers before the delay reached when his grounder stopped on the wet grass halfway down the third base line.

Played resumed 2 p.m. the following day. After an RBI groundout to first, NC State reliever Evan Braband was ahead in the count 0-2 when he hit the batter to reload the bases. The next hitter slapped a soft liner to right that the umpire ruled was trapped by diving NC State rightfielder, Brock Deatherage, scoring two.

Coastal Carolina would add an insurance run and win 7-5.

NC State heads to Coastal Carolina Wednesday for a 4 p.m. first pitch in Myrtle Beach. The Chanticleers went 2-1 over the weekend, defeating Fairfield and Middle Tennessee while losing to VCU in an event hosted by Coastal.

In the preseason Sun Belt poll, Coastal Carolina was picked fifth in the 14-team Sun Belt Conference and received one first-place vote.

Clemson transfer P.J. Labriola, a lefty, will start for the Wolfpack in his NC State baseball debut.