NC State takes down #7 Florida State, 8-7, in series opener

The Wolfpack improve to 13-9 in ACC play, moving into a tie with FSU for 2nd in the Atlantic Division

NC State secured a huge win in Tallahassee on Friday night, taking down Florida State by a final score of 8-7 to take game one of the three-game ACC series. The victory puts the Wolfpack in a tie with the Seminoles for 2nd place in the Atlantic Division, 2.5 games behind Clemson.

I would say that NC State “pounded” out 14 hits, but the truth is six of those were infield singles. It was a great approach by the Wolfpack hitters when facing the standout lefty starter for the Seminoles, Jaime Arnold. Entering the game ranked tied for 6th in the country in strikeouts (99) and having allowed just 44 hits in 65.1 innings pitched, Arnold faced a Wolfpack team using a contact-over-power approach to minimize deep counts and put the ball in play. It worked.

NC State tagged Arnold for 6 runs (5 earned) on 9 hits in just 3.0 innings of work, significantly denting the 1.79 ERA he entered the game with. Only 2 of those Wolfpack hits went for extra bases, but it was plenty enough damage to put the Pack in a position to win the game, which they ultimately – and thankfully – did.

After a relatively quiet first inning for the Wolfpack, FSU struck first blood in the bottom half of the frame thanks to a one-out walk to Cam Smith and a perfectly executed hit-and-run by James Tibbs, scoring Smith all the way from first.

NC State responded quickly in the top of the 2nd, with Jacob Cozart wasting no time in evening out the score, sending his 9th home run in the last 9 games deep out to right field.

That wouldn’t be all the scoring in the frame for NC State, though, as Luke Nixon reached on a one-out infield single, Noah Soles lofted a double down the left field line, and then Matt Heavner had an infield single to score Nixon. Chase Nixon stepped to the plate and delivered an infield single of his own to score Soles, but a throwing error by FSU’s shortstop also allowed Heavner to score.

NC State would load the bases with two outs, but couldn’t push anymore runs across in that inning. Leaving runners on base was an issue all night for the Pack (13 total in the game) but not one that would come back to bite them tonight.

The Seminoles appeared on the verge of a big inning in the bottom of the second, putting men on 2nd and 3rd with just one out, but they were only able to scratch one run (on a wild pitch) as Wolfpack starting pitcher Sam Highfill worked out of the jam to preserve State’s lead.

The Pack plated a pair more in the top of the 3rd. Luke Nixon reached on his second infield single of the game and Soles was hit by a pitch to put both runners on. Nixon advanced to third on a passed ball and then scored on a safety squeeze bunt from Heavner.

Chase Nixon grounded out to move Soles and Heavner into scoring position and Eli Serrano came through with a single through the right side to score Soles. Heavner also tried to score on the play but was thrown out at the plate to end the inning. Still, it left the Pack with a 4-run lead at 6-2.

And then the game went into an almost 2-hour lightning delay. That was unfortunate for an already thin Wolfpack pitching staff as it meant going to the bullpen earlier than expected. Highfill was only at 53 pitches, but given the lengthy delay, that was the end of his night. His final line: 2.0 IP, 3 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 2 K.

When play resumed, Shane Van Dam took the mound for the Pack and… well… it was not the start that he wanted. A leadoff four-pitch walk was followed by back-to-back home runs to cut NC State’s lead down to a single run. From there he settled down to retire the next three hitters in order.

Unfortunately, Van Dam’s end of the night was also not what he – or anyone – wanted. While warming up ahead of the bottom of the 4th inning, Van Dam injured his arm and had to leave the game before facing a hitter. You don’t want to speculate on a potential injury, but that’s never good. Best wishes to Shane that he quickly and fully overcomes whatever the injury may be.

The 4th through 7th innings were quiet for both teams aside from an Alec Makarewicz leadoff blast in the 6th. Just look at this thing:

The Seminole bats were held at bay across those four innings thanks to a huge outing by Cooper Consiglio, who came in for Van Dam. Consiglio, a Florida native himself, cruised until the 8th inning. He led off that frame with back-to-back strikeouts of Smith and Tibbs, but the third strike to Tibbs got past Cozart allowing Tibbs to reach. From there, a clearly fatigued Consiglio struggled with control and FSU plated a pair of runs on a Jaime Ferrer single.

Derrick Smith came on in relief and worked around a walk and hit-by-pitch to exit the frame without another Seminole run crossing the plate thanks to a pair of big strikeouts.

Thankfully for NC State, in the top half of that inning, they were able to push across a run of their own that proved to be huge. Brandon Butterworth walked with two outs and then stole second base. Luke Nixon and Soles both walked to move Butterworth to third base and he eventually scored on a wild pitch.

With NC State staked to a one run lead heading into the bottom of the ninth, Derrick Smith was absolutely nails, setting down in order all three FSU hitters to secure the Wolfpack win and his fourth save of the year.

Makarewicz (3-for-6, HR, R, RBI) led the way at the plate as well as in the field where he made several excellent defensive plays. Serrano (2-for-5, RBI, BB), Luke Nixon (2-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB, 2-2 SB), Soles (2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, BB, HBP), and Heavner (2-for-3, R, 2 RBI, BB) also each notched multi-hit efforts on the evening. Chase Nixon (1-for-3, 2 BB) also reached base safely multiple times.

Consiglio (4.1 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 5 K) and Smith (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K) were the story on the mound as they kept an ultra-productive FSU offense almost entirely at bay for six innings. That was excellent work. Consiglio earned the win, his second of the year.

Game Two of the series is scheduled for Saturday night at 7:00pm, although there is a chance the game time gets moved up due to potential inclement weather in the area. If the Wolfpack can secure the series win, it would mark the third series win this year for NC State over a Top 10 RPI opponent.