Pack9 crushes Campbell, 11-1

NC State was dominant in romp of Camels

NC State put together a 3-run frame to break a 0-0 tie in the bottom of the 3rd inning on Wednesday afternoon and never looked back in an impressive 11-1 victory over Campbell.

In an effort to get the struggling preseason All-American some added work and out of his funk, Jacob Dudan started the game for the Wolfpack and was back to his 2024 form. Aside from plunking the first hitter of the 3rd inning, Dudan was dominant in pitching 3.0 hitless, shutout innings, recording 6 strikeouts while facing the minimum over that span thanks to Drew Lanphere erasing the lone baserunner allowed. Dudan earned the win for his efforts, but more importantly looked sharp for the vast majority of the outing, routinely sitting at 96 with his fastball and getting better bite and consistency on his slider.

Jaxon Lucas (2.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 2 K) followed on the bump, allowing a solo home run among some very loud outs. Cam Wimbish (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K) pitched the final two innings in the run-rule shortened game. This marked the second straight game that the Pack’s pitchers have not issued a walk.

Four straight hits led to the 3-run 3rd inning for NC State. Ryan Jaros led off with a bloop single to right field and scored when Ty Head followed him up with a double to right-center. Matt Heavner laid down a bunt single ahead of a Luke Nixon double to right field to plate another run. Heavner would then come in to score on a Chris McHugh groundout to give the Pack all the run advantage necessary in this one.

That wasn’t the end of the scoring for State, though, as the Pack put up a touchdown and the conversion in the 5th inning. Three straight freebies to Nixon (BB), McHugh (HBP), and Alex Sosa (BB) loaded the bases for Josh Hogue, who promptly cleared the bases with his second home run of the season – and second in as many games – this one a grand slam.

After a pair of outs, Jaros reached on a single and Head walked to put a pair on for Matt Heavner, who went ahead and hit his first dinger of the year.

An error, a single from Sosa, and a Brayden Fraasman fielder’s choice scored McHugh in the 6th to put the Pack at the mercy rule span, which Wimbish enacted with a scoreless 7th inning.

Heavner (2-for-3, HR, 2 R, 3 RBI), Fraasman (2-for-4, RBI, 0-1 SB), and Jaros (2-for-4, 2 R) numbered the Pack batters with multiple hits on the day, while all but one State hitter reached base safely multiple times in the game. That included Nixon (1-for-3, 2B, R, RBI, BB), Sosa (1-for-3, R, BB), Hogue (1-for-3, HR, R, 4 RBI, BB, 0-1 SB), Lanphere (1-for-2, 2 BB), and Head (1-for-2, 2B, 2 R, RBI, BB). The lone guy not to reach that threshold (McHugh, 0-for-3, 2 R, RBI, HBP) happens to be the team leader in batting average and still managed to account for three runs in the game. Needless to say, it was a productive day at the dish.

The win puts State at 8-5 on the year, riding a 5-game winning streak heading into a weekend home series with Wright State. First pitch for the opener is Friday at 3:00pm.