Four-and-a-half innings into Friday’s contest between NC State and Virginia Tech, they seemed to be as evenly matched as they were touted to be.
They had different strengths, to be sure, but the teams sat just nine spots apart on the Massey Ratings — Virginia Tech was higher — with matching records, and that showed following a four-inning deadlock in which the Hokies (12-6, 1-3 ACC) were ahead 1-0 in a bona fide pitcher’s duel.
Three outs later, it was 5-1 NC State. Two innings later and it was an 11-1 final in Raleigh as Tech floundered on both ends of the field. The Wolfpack (13-5, 1-0) retired the Hokies’ last 14 batters and hit 13 times (15 in total) across the final three frames. Its stampede could only be halted by a run-rule finish (in seven innings).
Brett Renfrow (1-2) was the losing pitcher after earning nearly all of a five-run fifth inning that saw him surrender four hits — two of which were two-run home runs to Alex McHugh and Ty Head — that broke the game open before Tech had a chance to breathe, much less respond. Preston Crowl relieved Renfrow, hoping to get the inning-ending out, but David Lewis’ fourth error of the season — a dropped routine popout between third and home — plated the last of Renfrow’s four earned runs and warranted Crowl’s removal by head coach John Szefc.
He opted — and hoped — to give redshirt junior Luke Jackman the bulk of post-Renfrow relief, along with the last out, which he earned with a five-pitch strikeout.
Yet, offense was somehow even harder to come by for the Hokies. NC State starting pitcher Dominic Fritton was knee-deep into a streak of eight retired Tech batters — an issue clouded by what was a shutdown outing for Renfrow before the fifth. Now, it was impossible to ignore.
By the time Fritton wrapped up his eight-strikeout, two-hit outing over seven innings — a complete game by Friday’s standards — he’d put away 14 straight. He saw 25 batters all game and allowed just two hits. The first was Jackson Cherry’s RBI single in the opening frame to give Tech an early lead, and the other a Ben Watson single that came just before the 14-hit streak but didn’t advance past first base.
The Hokies had four baserunners all game. All but one of them touched base in the first frame.
Meanwhile, NC State’s offensive trajectory was essentially the inverse of Hokies’, who went down in order in all but two innings, while the Wolfpack did so in just one frame — the first. It boarded four runners across the next three innings, but none made it past second. Before the fifth, only Luke Nixon and McHugh recorded a hit. By the walkoff knock, every NC State starter besides Matt Heavner notched at least one.
The Wolfpack’s multi-hitters were McHugh (3-for-4, three RBI), Justin DeCriscio (3-for-5, RBI), Josh Hogue (2-for-5), Alex Sosa (2-for-4, two RBI) and Drew Lanphere (2-for-3). Each of them had a hand in NC State’s five-run sixth inning — its second straight frame with as many runs — which saw every score come around with two outs.
So, while Jackman retired two of the first four batters in the sixth inning for the Hokies, he allowed just as many singles, giving way for Lanphere to come around following DeCriscio’s RBI knock. Tech freshman Brendan Cowen was handed the ball but permitted two more singles — one to Sosa for two RBI — and hit a batter before his removal after 10 pitches.
Fellow freshman Marcel Kulik, who came in with six appearances to Cowen’s one, fared better, but not by much. He sent his first batter, Nixon, to first base with a five-pitch walk. Facing Brayden Fraasman (.234) and loaded bases next, Kulik hoped to keep the Hokies out of run-rule range.
And he did. Sort of. Fraasman singled to balloon the deficit to nine before the end of the inning, meaning NC State was one short of truncating the game — barring any Tech scoring in the top of the seventh.
The Wolfpack didn’t have much to worry about. Cam Pittman and Henry Cooke grounded out, then Garrett Michel struck out following an eight-pitch struggle. Kulik returned to the mound in the eighth and managed one out before a triumvirate of singles — DeCriscio, Hogue and McHugh — made it 11-1, triggering the Hokies’ humbling run-rule loss.
To sum it all up: In the time it took Tech’s defense to record its final two outs of the afternoon, the Wolfpack stacked seven hits, three walks and five runs. It was that kind of game.
The Hokies will get two more cracks at NC State as the teams finish the weekend with a Saturday doubleheader. First pitch will come at 1 p.m. ET on ACC Network Extra.
Tech’s Jake Marciano (2.45 ERA) and State’s Heath Andrews (2.45) face off in Game 1. The Wolfpack’s Ryan Marohn (1.73) will pitch across from Logan Eisenreich (2.08) — likely still dealing with a flexor tendon injury — Grant Manning (11.57) or Cameron LeJeune (no earned runs in two outings) for the Hokies in Game 2.
Box Score: NC State 11, Virginia Tech 1 (7 innings)