NC State sweeps Wake Forest; secures #3 seed in ACC Tournament

Wolfpack overcome 5-1 deficit in Game 3 to secure their first series sweep over the Deacons since 2018

After securing the series win over Wake Forest with a dramatic win in Game 2, it was understandable if NC State laid an egg in Game 3 on Saturday. Instead, the Wolfpack displayed the same resolve that has taken them from NCAA Regional bubble team to Regional host over the last five weeks. The end result in this one was a 9-6 NC State win.

It was also the first series sweep for State over Wake since 2018 and secured the #3 seed for the Pack in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

Both teams went down in order in the first, thanks in part to an outstanding play by Noah Soles on the first batter of the game.

The Demon Deacons struck first blood with a leadoff home run from Jake Reinisch in the 2nd inning. State tied things up in the bottom half of the inning thanks to some two-out hitting. Luke Nixon lofted a hustle double into shallow left field and Alex Sosa followed with a single up the middle to bring him home.

Wake jumped back in front with a three-run 3rd. Back-to-back singles from Liam Willson and Jacob Burley started the frame. Marek Houston reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners and Nick Kurtz brought home Willson on a sacrifice fly to deep center field. Jack Winnay followed with a no-doubter home run to left for the 4-1 Wake advantage.

State put a pair of runners on in the bottom of the 3rd but was unable to plate any runs.

The Deacs plated another run in the 4th. Adam Tellier led off with a single and Antonio Morales reached on a fielder’s choice that should have been a double play due to interference when Tellier didn’t slide on the play to force Brandon Butterworth to throw around him. The no-call loomed large as an error by Noah Soles on a Willson single allowed Morales to score from first base and push Wake’s lead to 5-1.

The Pack’s bats went quietly in the 4th and it seemed like it was going to be another dud of a series finale for State. Instead, Ryan Marohn entered the game and proceeded to toss 4.0 innings of one-run ball to give State’s lineup time to mount a comeback. That time needed wasn’t much.

In the bottom of the 5th, Eli Serrano worked a one-out walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch. Garrett Pennington brought him home on a single up the middle to cut the deficit to three runs.

Alec Makarewicz singled to keep the inning going and then Jacob Cozart made it a new game with a single swing of the bat and a dent of the scoreboard.

The reactions of Derrick Smith and Garrett Payne in the bullpen crack me up on that homer.

Wake wasn’t going down easy, though. Seaver King led off the 6th with a triple to right center and Tellier bounced a seeing-eye single up the middle to plate him. Marohn set down the next three Deacs hitters in order to squash any thoughts of a big inning.

Alex Sosa led off the 6th for State and tied things up again on one of the biggest blasts you’ll see. The freshman is coming into form, batting .368 over the last six games with 3 HR and 7 BB to 4 K.

The game stayed 6-6 until the bottom of the 8th when a three-spot from the Pack put them back ahead. Sosa walked with one out and Chase Nixon earned a pinch-hit four-pitch walk behind him. Soles reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners, then stole second base to put two in scoring position for Serrano with two outs. Serrano hit a bouncer up the middle on what should have been an inning-ending groundout, but the throw took Kurtz off the bag and his tag attempt failed allowing Sosa to score.

Pennington made the error hurt even worse as he did what he does, which is hit baseballs really hard.

Derrick Smith came on for the 9th and BDD was in top form, mowing through 2-3-4 in the Wake lineup, to lock down the win for State.

Marohn (4.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER 1 BB, 4 K) moved to 4-2 on the season with the win while the save was Smith’s 5th of the year. Serrano (2-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB, SB), Pennington (2-for-5, 2B, R, 3 RBI), Makarewicz (2-for-5, R), and Sosa (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, BB) tallied multiple hits on the day.

With the win, State further improves it’s NCAA Regional hosting chances, moving up to 14th in RPI and 8th in ELO. Series wins over #11 Duke (20th in RPI), #4 Clemson (7th), #7 UNC (4th), #18 Virginia (12th), and #8 Wake Forest (11th) are impressive resume line items. Add to that a series split at #10 Florida State (8th). All of those series aside from the one against Duke have come over the last six weeks. A Raleigh Regional should be all but locked up at this point.

The win also secures the #3 seed for NC State in the ACC Tournament which starts this week. In the Pack’s pool will be Duke and Virginia Tech. The full bracket and schedule will be released sometime later on Sunday. Being one of the top four seeds means that State theoretically will just need to win one game to move on to the semifinals in Charlotte: the winner of the Duke-VT game.