NC State sweeps Cal in Berkeley

The Wolfpack have put themselves into the ACC Tournament double-bye position

NC State took the long ACC road trip to California and swept the Golden Bears, potentially changing the trajectory of the Wolfpack’s season in dramatic fashion. Not only does the Pack now sit at 4th in the ACC standings with four weeks to play – a spot that would set them up for a valuable double bye in the ACC Tournament next month in May – but State now sits on the edges of a very real NCAA Regional hosting conversation.

We’re probably getting ahead of ourselves with both of those conversations given the remaining schedule, but the fact that the Wolfpack is in this position with a month to play in the season is outstanding considering the early season struggles this team faced. Excellent work all around.

Thursday’s opener with the Golden Bears was all Pack from start to finish. State jumped on top early with back-to-back home runs from Justin DeCriscio and Alex Sosa in the 2nd inning and never looked back.

State tacked on three more runs in the 3rd inning, the initial two coming off yet another home run, this one from Chris McHugh, driving in himself and Ty Head after head led off the inning with a walk.

You know it’s an absolute tank when the outfielder doesn’t even give his pitcher the courtesy job towards the wall.

Josh Hogue was hit by a pitch in the next plate appearance of the inning, and later came around to score on a Brayden Fraasman single.

Wolfpack starter Dominic Fritton kept the game at 5-0 as he continually worked out of jams with runners on base. Cal put runners at least one runner on base with one out in five innings, but Fritton never allowed a runner to cross the plate. In picking up his 5th win of the year, Fritton (6.0 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 6 K) put together his best start of the month of April.

Andrew Shaffner (3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K) came on to finish off the game and pick up his 5th save of the year, but the Pack offense made sure the game was never in doubt with a 4-spot in the top of the 9th inning. Head led off with a single and McHugh followed with a double to bring him in. Hogue then hit one off the soccer stadium to make it an 8-0 game.

DeCriscio kept the 9th inning going with a walk, advanced on a Fraasman single, and scored on a fielding error to put the final score at 9-0 as Shaffner shut down the Golden Bears in order in the bottom of the inning.

McHugh (3-for-5, 2B, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), Fraasman (3-for-5, RBI), and Luke Nixon (2-for-5) each had multi-hit games. Head (1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB), Hogue (1-for-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI, HBP), and DeCriscio (1-for-3, HR, 2 R, RBI, 2 BB) each reached base safely multiple times.

Friday’s Game Two was a much different affair as State’s offense struggled through the first half of the game while Cal staked themselves to a 6-0 advantage. A 5-run Cal 4th inning that provided the Golden Bears that 6-run cushion seemed to spell doom for the Pack. Thankfully, that wasn’t the case.

The first huge move was a 6-run 5th inning from State. Nixon started the inning with a HBP and Drew Lanphere followed with a walk. Matt Heavner singled to drive in Nixon and get State on the board. Head followed with a single to plate Lanphere. Following an out and a pitching change, McHugh singled to score Heavner and cut the deficit in half.

DeCrisio walked with ball four being a wild pitch that allowed Head to score. Sosa then singled to score McHugh and make it a 1-run game. With two outs, Nixon reached base for the second time in the inning, this time on a single to plate DeCriscio and tie the game.

Meanwhile, the big change on the mound was Anderson Nance coming on in relief of Heath Andrews (4.0 IP, 7 H, 6 R, 6 ER, 0 BB, 4 K). Nance was perfect – literally (15 batters faced, 15 outs) the rest of the way in picking up his 5th win of the season. Cal had no answers for Nance (5.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 7 K), who struck out every batter he faced across the 7th and 8th innings.

Fraasman came through with the winning run in the 7th inning via a 1-out solo home run.

With Nance dealing, that was all State needed to secure the series-clinching win.

McHugh (3-for-4, R, RBI, BB), Sosa (2-for-5, 2B, RBI), Nixon (2-for-4, R, RBI, HBP, 1-1 SB), and Heavner (2-for-4, R, RBI) each put up multi-hit efforts on Friday. Lanphere (0-for-2, R, 2 BB) also reached base safely multiple times.

Saturday’s series finale was another close affair, again with the Pack coming out on top. The Pack and Bears exchanged runs in the 1st inning, with each team scoring their respective runs via sacrifice flies. State’s run came via a Head leadoff walk, Hogue single, and DeCriscio fly out.

State plated two more runs in the following inning with Nixon, Brandon Novy, and Heavner loading the bases on a single, walk, and single, respectively. McHugh brought home Nixon and Novy on a single to put the Pack up 3-1, a lead they would not relinquish.

The score sat there until the top of the 8th inning when DeCriscio reached on an error and Sosa put one onto the soccer field.

That long ball – Sosa’s 7th of the year – gave State more than enough cushion to take things home, especially with the way starter Ryan Marohn was dealing on the mound. The sophomore southpaw was excellent for the second straight start to pick up his 5th win of the year. Marohn (7.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 9 K) put up his second longest start of the year before handing the ball off to Jacob Dudan. Jarren Advincula was the only Cal hitter who could figure out Marohn, accounting for three of the four hits that Bears hitters managed off the Virginia native.

The final Cal run – charged against Marohn – came with Dudan on the mound, although that was the last threat of the day for the Golden Bears. Dudan (1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 K) otherwise kept the opponent at bay, allowing just a 1-out 9th inning walk in picking up his 4th save of the season.

McHugh (3-for-4, 2 RBI, BB) was the lone Pack batter with multiple hits in the game, tallying three for the third time in the series. Sosa (1-for-3, HR, R, 2 RBI, BB) and Head (0-for-3, R, 2 BB) were the other State players to reach base safely multiple times.

NC State currently holds a 1-game lead over North Carolina for 4th place in the ACC standings, sitting just 1 game back of 1st place. The Wolfpack will look to avoid the coast-to-coast travel hangover as they return to Raleigh to host East Carolina for a Tuesday night game, followed by a home series with Top 10 Clemson next weekend. The series with the Tigers will be another Thursday-to-Saturday series.