NC State Baseball sweeps #2 Clemson

The weekend thrusts the Wolfpack firmly into the NCAA Regional hosting conversation, maybe more

NC State entered this weekend’s series with Clemson on the edges of the NCAA Regional hosting conversation while also holding on ever so slightly to the #4 spot in the ACC rankings. After a convincing sweep of the Tigers in Raleigh, the Wolfpack have moved themselves easily into the Regional hosting conversation while guaranteeing the weekend will end with no worse than a 2nd place ranking in conference. As of Saturday evening, NC State sits atop the ACC standings with Florida State still having a game tomorrow against Louisville.

The Wolfpack crushed Clemson in the Thursday series opener, run-ruling the Tigers by a 14-4 final with State hitters pounding out 19 hits. Clemson jumped on top early with a barely-clearing-the-fences 2-run homer in the top of the first inning off the bat of Collin Priest. The homer-to-score-first theme would remain throughout the weekend for the Tigers, but thankfully so, too, would the Wolfpack’s ability to overcome the early deficit.

In Game 1, that response was immediate. Chris McHugh and Josh Hogue registered back-to-back one-out singles. Justin DeCriscio then pulled a double into the left field corner to put the Pack on the board.

With two on, two out, and a 2-2 count, Brayden Fraasman came through with a game (and likely series) changing hit, returning a ball back up the middle to put State in front, 3-2.

State added another run in the 2nd on a Matt Ossenfort leadoff walk, a wild pitch to move him to 2nd, a Matt Heavner bunt single, and a Ty Head sacrifice fly.

The 3rd inning proved huge with State widening the lead to 7-2. DeCriscio led off with a single and Sosa cranked a double to put two men in scoring position with no outs. As he would do all weekend, Fraasman came through, this time with another single to plate DeCriscio. Luke Nixon then bunted home Sosa for a 6-2 lead.

Ossenfort then wore a pitch to load the bases, and with two outs, Head lifted another sacrifice fly – this one coming up just shy of a grand slam – to bring home Nixon.

In the 4th inning, Sosa and Fraasman hit back-to-back two-out doubles to plate another run and push the Pack’s lead to six.

All the while, NC State starter Dominic Fritton cruised through the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th innings, but Clemson finally got to him in the 5th. Andrew Ciufo led off the inning with a solo home run for the Tigers, which was followed by back-to-back walks to chase Fritton. Anderson Nance came on in relief for State and immediately registered a pair of outs before Jacob Jarrell managed to hit a two-out, two-strike single to plate one more run. That would be the final run of the game for Clemson.

Fritton’s final line: 4.0 IP, 3 H, 4 R, 4 ER, 5 BB, 5 K. Nance, meanwhile, was lights out yet again. In picking up his 7th win of the season, the freshman went: 4.0 IP, 4 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K. Over his last three outings, Nance has a combined line of: 14.0 IP, 5 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 19 K. All while popping 97 mph with his fastball on multiple occasions Thursday night.

With Clemson ace Aidan Knaak also chased from the game early, the Pack responded to the Tigers rally with a run in the bottom of the 5th. Ossenfort walked to lead off the inning and Heavner moved him up a base with a sacrifice bunt. Head flied out to move Ossenfort to 3rd, and he eventually scored on a wild pitch.

Fraasman continued his career night in the 6th. It was a good sell by the Clemson left fielder, but completely unnecessary.

For good measure, Fraasman added another one in the 8th, also scoring Sosa who had led off the inning with a single.

Nixon singled after the Fraasman bomb, eventually scoring on a wild pitch. Head and McHugh notched back-to-back two-out singles, and a Hogue double ended the game early by pushing across Head for the 14-4 final score.

It was quite the offensive showing for State, especially against Clemson ace Knaak (4.0 IP, 11 H, 8 R, 8 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 2 K), handing the sophomore lefty his first loss of the season. Seven Wolfpack batters tallied multiple hit evenings: Fraasman (5-for-5, 2B, 2 HR, 2 R, 7 RBI), Sosa (3-for-5, 2 2B, 3 R), Head (2-for-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI, 2 SF), McHugh (2-for-4, R, 2 HBP), Hogue (2-for-5, 2B, R, RBI, BB), DeCriscio (2-for-5, 2B, 2 R, RBI), and Nixon (2-for-5, 2 R, RBI). Even the two State starters without multiple hits were productive: Ossenfort (0-for-1, 2 R, 2 BB, HBP) and Heavner (1-for-4, SacBunt).

Friday night’s Game 2 was a much closer affair, although State still pounded out 13 hits against a strong Clemson pitching staff to notch an 8-3 win. Again, Clemson jumped out to the early lead via a home run, this time on a Priest solo shot in the top of the 2nd.

It took longer for State to respond as Drew Titsworth blanked the Pack over the first three frames despite State registering a hit in each inning. In the 4th, though, the Pack broke through with a two-out rally.

Sosa walked with two outs and the bases empty, then moved to third on a Fraasman single. Nixon plated the first run of the game with a single to left center which also moved Fraasman to third.

Ossefort then singled to plate Fraasman and give the Pack a lead it would not relinquish.

The next inning saw Head lead off the bottom half of the frame with a double and then Hogue didn’t want to make him cross the plate by himself, so he put on some jogging music.

That was a huge homer as Jarrell led off the top of the 6th with a home run that cut the lead to 4-2. Thankfully, State starter Heath Andrews shut things down from there, part of an outing that was his best in a Wolfpack uniform. The sophomore earned his 4th win of the season with an outstanding effort against the nation’s #2 ranked team: 6.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 1 BB, 1 HBP, 9 K.

Andrew Shaffner came on in the 7th and Clemson was able to scratch a run against him to make it a 1-run game, although Shaffner snuffed out any sense of a tie game by recording back-to-back strikeouts to end the threat.

With the Tigers gaining momentum, State again responded big time. Head led off the bottom of the 7th with a single, advancing to 2nd on a throwing error. Hogue then brought him home on a single.

McHugh singled in the next at-bat to bring on a pitching change. One out later, Alex Sosa broke the game open by breaking the Tigers’ backs.

Shaffner (3.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 1 HBP, 3 K) allowed just one base runner over the final two innings as he picked up his 6th save of the year.

While not quite the offensive onslaught as Thursday night, State still had five hitters tally multi-hit games: Fraasman (3-for-4, R), Head (2-for-4, 2B, 2 R, HBP), Hogue (2-for-5, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), McHugh (2-for-4, 2B, R, HBP), and Ossenfort (2-for-4, RBI). Sosa (1-for-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI, BB) obviously had a huge impact at the dish.

For the third straight game, Clemson took the lead in the Saturday series finale on an early home run, this time off the bat of Jarren Purify in the 1st inning. And that was it for Clemson for the day, the entirety of their scoring for the game in a single swing, with nobody on base.

Ryan Marohn was fantastic from that point on, turning in his 2nd longest outing of the season. Marohn (8.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 5 K) earned his 6th win of the season in the effort. After that first inning – when he also allowed a bunt single and a walk – the sophomore lefty didn’t allow more than a single base runner in any of his other seven innings on the mound. A truly masterful effort. Jacob Dudan came on in the 9th inning, absolutely shutting down any Clemson hopes of a comeback by striking out all three hitters he faced on just 12 pitches. The save was the 5th of the year for the sophomore righty.

On the offensive side of things on Saturday, the Pack tied up the game at 1-1 with a run in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Fraasman singled with one out and advanced to second base on a groundout by Nixon, before moving up to third base on a wild pitch. Ryan Jaros brought him home on an infield single up the middle.

It was a pitcher duel from there with Marohn setting down Clemson hitters like a boss and Tigers starter B.J. Bailey likewise keeping the Pack bats quiet.

But it was State that finally broke through. In the bottom of the 6th, McHugh singled with one out, then with two outs Sosa launched yet another bomb to put the Pack out front.

The homer was Sosa’s 9th of the season and his 4th in the last six games., a stretch during which the sophomore catcher has gone 10-for-25 with 4 2B, 8 R, 9 RBI, and those 4 HR.

Meanwhile, a little Spicy Marohn for the Clemson hitters.

State scratched an insurance run in the 8th for good measure. Hogue doubled to start the inning and Jet Gilliam came on as a pinch runner for him. Gilliam advanced a base on yet another wild pitch from Clemson’s pitchers, and DeCriscio brought him home on a sacrifice fly to make it a 4-1 game. It was a nice insurance run, but not at all necessary with Dudan heading to the mound for the 9th.

Sosa (2-for-4, 2B, HR, R, 2 RBI), Hogue (2-for-4, 2B), Jaros (2-for-3, RBI), and McHugh (1-for-3, R, HBP) were the offensive headliners in the finale.

Fraasman had a monster weekend that should earn him ACC Player of the Week honors: 9-for-13, 2B, 2 HR, 4 R, 7 RBI. McHugh (5-for-11, 2B, 3 R, 4 HBP) pushed his hitting streak to 7 games in the series. Hogue (6-for-14, 2 2B, HR, 3 R, 4 RBI, BB) likewise extended his hitting streak to 7 games.

With the win, NC State firmly enters the NCAA Regional hosting conversation. A lot can change with three weeks left in the season plus the ACC Tournament. Those final three ACC series at Miami (RPI #34 as of Sunday morning), at UNC (#7), and vs Stanford (#46) will go a long way to determining the Pack’s hosting situation, but a 5-4 finish in that stretch should cement a 2025 Raleigh Regional. Anything better than that could push State into contention for a Top 8 national seed.

Before heading to RDU for their flight to Miami, the Wolfpack will welcome UNCW to Raleigh on Tuesday for a 6:00pm game.