NC State baseball falls short against Miami, eliminated from ACC Tournament

DURHAM, N.C. — The magic apparently ran out in NC State baseball’s second ACC Tournament game despite playing in front of a virtual home-crowd advantage at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park.

Two nights after a thrilling 11-inning win over Duke to avoid elimination, NC State couldn’t replicate the excitement, falling to fourth-seeded Miami 4-2 and officially bowing out of the tournament.

The Wolfpack (35-19, 13-16 ACC) laid it all on the line against the No. 11 team in the country, getting a stellar night from the bullpen and making gutsy defensive plays that kept the team within striking distance, but the Hurricanes (38-18, 18-12 ACC) were just a little bit better.

“I thought we played our tails off — I don’t know if we can play any better,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “The last two games they played in this great ballpark in front of our fans, who packed this place out for us — that’s how much they love these guys — I thought we played great.”

With NC State coming off such an emotional win and playing its fifth game in the last eight days, the game could have easily gotten out of hand early as Miami struck quickly off junior right-handed pitcher Sam Highfill, hitting a two-run homer to go up 2-0 in the top of the first.

But the Pack hung right with the Hurricanes, who were coming off five days' rest and are still trying to prove that they should host a Regional in the NCAA Tournament. With two outs and two men on base, freshman first baseman Eli Serrano stepped up big, hitting a two-run RBI single to tie it right back at 2-2.

It was evident at this point this was going to be a tight ballgame, but what wasn’t evident early on was that this would become a pitcher’s duel of sorts. NC State only managed one hit over the next three innings against Hurricanes’ starting pitcher Gage Ziehl, while Highfill retired all three Miami batters in the second before getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the third unscathed.

That wouldn’t be the last time a Wolfpack pitcher would have to get out of a jam, however, as junior right-hander Justin Lawson found himself in a similar situation in the fourth but got out of the inning without allowing a run. Earlier in the same inning, Miami put one more run on Highfill before he was taken out, retaking the lead 3-2 after four innings.

After Lawson made it out unscathed again in the fifth despite putting runners on second and third, it was NC State’s turn to load the bases in the bottom of the inning. A score would have sent the crowd into a frenzy, but like the Hurricanes, the Pack couldn’t cash in and give the fans what they wanted. The score remained 3-2.

Still, Lawson proved to be a wizard on the mound, only letting up two hits, allowing no earned runs and posting six strikeouts in his 3.1 innings of relief pitching. It was one of Lawson’s best performances of the season, and he was instrumental in keeping his team in the game.

NC State had one more great opportunity to score in the top of the seventh when junior third baseman LuJames Groover and sophomore left fielder Chase Nixon got on base with singles. However, in between their hits, the Hurricanes put star closer Andrew Walters on the mound, who got the final out of the inning and kept the Pack from tying it up.

Faced with yet another bases-loaded jam in the top of the eighth, NC State turned to sophomore right-hander Carson Kelly on the mound. After he struck out one, Miami added an insurance run on a passed ball to make it 4-2, but Kelly struck out the final two batters to limit the damage to one run and added one more strikeout in the top of the ninth, making another impressive relief performance by the Wolfpack bullpen.

While the bullpen did all it could to give NC State a chance to win the game, there was simply nothing the Pack could do against Walters, who retired the final six batters he faced — including the top of the NC State lineup in the bottom of the ninth — to secure the win for Miami and send the Hurricanes to the semifinals.

The Pack left it all out on the field, as evidenced by the stout performance of the bullpen and valiant defensive plays, such as a near-diving catch by junior right fielder Noah Soles and a putout by Serrano in which he took a knee to the back of the head.

However, Miami made just a few more plays and proved to be the better team with an elite pitching staff.

“I thought we faced two of the best pitchers in the country,” Avent said. “We faced [Ziehl] earlier in the year down in Miami — he was incredible down there, and he was good again tonight… They usually don’t go to Walter that early, and I just told our guys, he was as good as I’ve ever seen him tonight.”

With the loss, the Pack is now eliminated from the ACC Tournament and will play the “wait-and-see” game until the NCAA Tournament field is announced Monday. Both Baseball America and D1 Baseball have NC State barely into the field, but the Pack will likely have to sweat it out during the selection show, especially considering the way the team was left out last year after being projected as safely in.

Should NC State hear its name called, there is a belief within the team that the Pack is playing its best baseball of the season right now and has a chance to go deep into the tournament.

“I think if we keep swinging the bats like we’ve been swinging them — we’re in a really good conference, we face some of the top pitching,” Groover said. “As long as we keep putting pieces together, capitalizing on opportunities when we get them and eliminate mistakes, I think we have a chance to go really far.”

Indeed, for someone who knows something about taking his teams far, Avent believes that his team — and Miami, for that matter — has what it takes to make it to the promised land of college baseball.

“You talk about two great teams, two teams that could wind up in Omaha in about a month,” Avent said. “I told them tonight, I didn’t think we always played like it this year, but the last two games on the biggest stage when it matters the most, I thought they showed they can be an Omaha team.”

As evident from the 2022 national champion Ole Miss — the last team in the tournament field, and just ahead of NC State, no less — any team in the field can get hot and make a deep run. 

But for now, all the Pack can do is wait and watch on the edge of its collective seats when the field is announced Monday, May 29 at noon on ESPN2.