NC State’s hitting slide continues, drops fifth straight in loss to Richmond

Matt Ossenfort stepped to the plate with the bases loaded and one away in the first inning against Richmond. It seemed as if NC State had found a way to break out of its hitting slump with early traffic on the base paths. 

But instead of finding a way to extend a one-run lead (via a Chris McHugh RBI single the batter before), Ossenfort grounded into an inning-ending double play. Just like that, one of the Pack’s best starts to a game this spring was silenced in a hurry. 

And that was about all the offense the Wolfpack was able to muster in a 5-1 loss to Richmond on Tuesday afternoon at Doak Field. In a way, NC State’s fifth straight loss was a window into the Pack’s last four games, where the offense has struggled to get anything going. 

NC State didn’t record a hit over the last seven innings of play. The only base runner it did get in that stretch? A one-out walk by junior outfielder Brayden Fraasman in the bottom of the ninth. Other than that, 23 of the Wolfpack’s last 24 final hitters were retired in order. 

Elliott Avent, the Pack’s 29th-year coach, isn’t sure what is going wrong at the plate. But whatever it is, he believes it needs to be figured out before a three-game series with Canisius this weekend. 

“I don’t know whether we’re tight, sometimes when you’re not hitting, baseball can get to you,” Avent said. “When you’re not hitting, you look tight and you don’t relax at the plate. And then you don’t see the ball as well.”

Over its last four games, all losses to teams with a combined record of 18-8, NC State is hitting just .137 (17-for-124) as a team with 34 strikeouts and only five total extra-base hits. The loss to the Spiders marked the Wolfpack’s second straight 10-strikeout performance as a unit. 

The inconsistent hitting has led to a lack of run support, lately, too. The Pack scored 42 runs in its sweep of Fordham, while it added eight in a midweek loss to Liberty. But in the four games since that defeat, which NC State gave up a three-run lead in the ninth, the Wolfpack has scored a total of seven runs.

This was one of the main question marks going into the 2025 campaign. NC State returned just 18 percent of its home runs (19 of 101) and 26 percent of its RBI (114 of 426) from its College World Series roster from a year ago, which left some wondering where the production was going to come from.  

And after three consecutive run-rule wins over Fordham to open the year, the Wolfpack’s bats have been nearly non-existent, leaving that question still unanswered. 

Sophomore catcher Alex Sosa, who appeared primed to lead the Wolfpack’s offense after a breakout end to his freshman season, has struggled to find a rhythm. He’s hitting .200 with a double, two home runs and six RBI to go along with 14 strikeouts. Sosa has posted multiple strikeouts in four of the first eight games, including five against Liberty last Tuesday and a trio against Richmond. 

Avent thought a main factor in the team’s struggles as a whole has been its approach at the plate. 

NC State’s hitters seem to be pressing, especially with runners on base. Against Richmond, the Wolfpack tried to attack early in counts, but it led to back-breakingly quick three up, three down innings for the Spiders. Richmond turned in six straight 1-2-3 frames in the middle innings, which included seven strikeouts in at-bats that NC State tried to work the count in, while a mix of flyouts and groundouts littered the rest of the outs. 

“I just don’t think our approaches are great right now,” Avent said. “They definitely need to get better. We’ll see what happens. We’ve got a lot of work to do. We knew that, but we’ve got a lot of work to do.”

Avent tried to press as many buttons as he could against the Spiders. He inserted three different players at designated hitter, but they combined to go 0-for-3. 

“We’re looking for something,” Avent said. “We made a couple moves there, but it seems like whatever we’re doing, it’s not working right now. All you can do is keep working and try to get better.”

NC State’s defense plagued the team through the first seven games. It cleaned that department up against Richmond, just its first game without an error this season. Now, Avent hopes the Pack can do the same with its hitting. 

“We’ve just gotta get better at the plate, much better,” Avent said. “We worked hard to get better defensively and we’ve gotten better defensively, but we’ve got to get better offensively.”