Missed opportunities result in NC State exiting ACC Tournament with 7-6 loss to Clemson

Wolfpack batters ground into 4 double plays and run into a costly out in the 8th inning

It’s really hard to beat a team four straight times on the season. It’s also really hard to beat a team when you ground into four double plays in a game.

NC State’s lineup came into their ACC Tournament game with Clemson with a much better offensive approach, but some bad luck – in the form of a quartet of double plays – and a bad baserunning decision in the 8th resulted in a 7-6 loss to Clemson and a quick exit for the Wolfpack. State will now await their NCAA Regional fate (NCAA Tournament selection show is Monday at noon on ESPN2).

Neither team was able to scratch a run in the 1st inning, with the help of Dom Fritton catching Cam Cannarella stealing in the top of the frame. Clemson then used some luck in the 2nd to scratch a run. Dominic Listi singled with one out and then advanced a base on a wild pitch. He stole 3rd but appeared clearly out; however the 3rd base umpire ruled him safe and there was no definitive angle to overturn the call thanks to an odd shortage of camera angles, even though you could piece together two angles to see that the tag was applied before his hand reached the base. The next batter lifted a flyball to shallow rightfield which was caught, but for some reason Ty Head didn’t set his feet for a throw which allowed Listi to score.

That missed call, that mental miscue, and – most importantly – that run came back to bite hard.

The bottom half of the 2nd inning saw State put the leadoff man on via a Justin DeCriscio walk, but a Brayden Fraasman double play ended the inning.

State put together an even better scoring opportunity in the 3rd inning with Matt Ossenfort working a leadoff walk and Ty Head putting runners on the corners with a single. Down a run and with bunt champion Matt Heavner up, the decision was made to let him swing away and the result was yet another double play with Ossenfort staying put at third base. Despite the great scoring opportunity, the Pack came up scoreless.

The bottom of the 4th inning did see State finally take the lead thanks to back-to-back-to-back singles from Chris McHugh, Josh Hogue, and DeCriscio, with DeCriscio’s single plating McHugh.

Unfortunately, for the third straight inning, the Pack grounded into a double play, this time off the bat of Alex Sosa. Thankfully, Hogue was able to score via a wild pitch to put the Pack ahead 2-1.

Clemson had a quick answer in the 5th, again with a bit of luck. Jack Crighton led off with a deep drive to centerfield, but Head tracked it perfectly only to have the ball carom off the heel of his glove before he crashed into the wall. Thankfully, Head was okay, but the play resulted in a leadoff triple. Clemson then used a suicide squeeze to push across a run, with State being unable to make an out on the play.

With runners on the corners thanks to a single and a stolen base later, the Tigers used a safety squeeze to push across another run and take a 3-2 lead. Thankfully, a 4-6-3 double play ended the Clemson 5th.

Ossenfort led off the bottom half of the 5th with a walk, but was thrown out a third base trying to advance two bases on a Head single in the next at-bat. Head did have a heads up play to advance into scoring position on the throw.

Heavner then grounded out on a swinging bunt to third base with Head coming around to score on a Major League style hustle play.

The Tigers again responded in their next half inning, this time with Jacob Jarrell taking an Anderson Nance fastball over the centerfield wall for a two-out solo home run.

State got right back to work in the home half of the 6th with McHugh reaching on a leadoff single and Hogue following with a double into the rightfield corner. DeCriscio then singled home McHugh to tie the game. Clemson brought in their top relief arm, Lucas Mahlstedt, and Sosa greeted him with a single to score Hogue.

Unfortunately, State’s potentially big inning ended with yet another double play as Fraasman hit into his second of the game.

Neither team scratched a run in the 7th despite both teams putting a runner into scoring position.

The 8th inning saw State unravel. A clearly tired Nance, whose top-end fastball velocity had dropped by 5 mph by this point, gave up singles to four of the first five batters of the inning, plating two runs, plating two runs and giving Clemson a 6-5 lead. Jacob Dudan came on in relief and surrendered one more single, plating yet one more run for the Tigers, before striking out the last two batters of the inning.

State put together a rally in the bottom half of the inning, but ran themselves out of making it a bigger frame than it was. DeCriscio reached on an infield single with one out, advancing to second on a throwing error by Andrew Ciufo on the play. Sosa was hit by the next pitch to put two men on. Fraasman came through with a single through the right side to score DeCriscio, but he made a terrible decision to try to advance to second base on the throw home and was gunned down in the process. Instead of runners on the corners with one out, it was one on with two outs. Ossenfort walked in the next AB, but a would-be Head RBI groundout instead resulted in a inning-ending 4-3 out and State still trailing by a run.

The Pack went down in order in the 9th, with Luke Nixon coming agonizingly close to hitting a tying solo home run with one out. Alas, it wasn’t to be.

As mentioned, State came into the game with a much better offensive approach and pounded out 12 hits in the effort, a total the Wolfpack had only matched once since the second game of the series against Clemson in Raleigh back a month prior. DeCriscio (3-for-3, R, 2 RBI, BB), Head (3-for-4, R), McHugh (2-for-5, 2 R), and Hogue (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R) each tallied multiple hits. Sosa (1-for-3, RBI, HBP) and Ossenfot (0-for-1, 3 BB) also reached base safely multiple times.

The issue was a trio of baserunning miscues – Ossenfort not going home on the GIDP in the 3rd, Ossenfort trying to advance two bases on a shallow single in the 5th, and Fraasman trying to stretch a base in the 8th – and the attempt at a single-game record of double plays. The former is correctable; the latter is just bad luck.

The good news is the overall offensive approach was much better. Clemson may have registered more hits (16-to-12), but NC State had more walks (4-to-2) and fewer strikeouts (7-to-13). Hold those walk and strikeout advantages and you’re going to win more times than not. Tonight just happened to be one of those nights when you don’t.

Fritton (5.0 IP, 7 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 6 K) was better than his line indicated with a few bad breaks denting his numbers, although he was pulled at the appropriate time. Nance (2.1 IP, 7 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 0 BB, 5 K) on the other hand was left in too long when it was clear he was gassed. Had he been pulled after the first or second hitter in the 8th, things might have gone differently. As such, he was saddled with his second loss of the year, dropping his record to 8-2.

Dudan (1.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 K) finished things off for State, although it was good to hear the announcers ask the obvious question of why a guy with a fastball that can touch 99 mph is scarcely using such a weapon, especially at the college level. Maybe the pitch is flatter than he or the coaching staff want it to be, but not many hitters at this level are going to be able to touch that level of velo and it’s going to work as a setup pitch to make his wicked slider even better. Every hitter is going to sit on the slider if they know they will only see a maximum of one fastball per at-bat.

NC State is a lock for an NCAA Regional appearance with a 33-19 overall record, 17-11 ACC mark, and a top 40 RPI, but they will be on the cusp of a low 2-seed to high 3-seed. Either way, the Pack will be on the road next weekend as the start the road to a second consecutive trip to Omaha.