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LOUISVILLE, Ky. – No. 23 NC State baseball (25-13, 11-9 ACC) dropped a hard-fought battle in the series finale with No. 11 Louisville (27-12, 11-7 ACC) on Sunday afternoon at Jim Patterson Stadium, 11-7.

Despite the Wolfpack jumping out to a 5-0 lead in the first, the Cardinals battled back to tie things up at 6-6 in the fourth. NC State was able to take a 7-6 lead in the seventh on a Tommy White home run, but a five-run eighth allowed Louisville to rally back and take the series.

NC State’s bats started hot with three homers to plate five runs in the first inning, courtesy of Devonte Brown, White and J.T. Jarrett.

Brown swung at the first pitch he saw to lead off the game with his ninth homer of the season, and then White stepped up and belted his 17th of the season and fourth on the weekend to left field.

With runners at first and second after Josh Hood drew a walk and Noah Soles reached on a sac bunt attempt, Jarrett crushed a three-run homer to left field, his fifth of the year, to put the Pack up 5-0.

Louisville got within one in the bottom half of the first with a pair of 2-RBI singles by Levi Usher and Isaac Humphrey, making it 5-4.

Brown tallied his second RBI of the game in the fourth inning when he drove in Payton Green in from third with his sac fly to center field after an infield single, stolen base and error put him at third, but the Cardinals tied things up at 6-6 in the bottom frame with Dalton Rushing’s two-run homer to right field.

After two scoreless innings for both teams, White broke the tie in the seventh with his second homer of the game and fifth of the week, a solo shot to left center, to put the Pack up 7-6. It was his 18th of the year and fifth multi-homer game of the season.

Starting pitcher Canaan Silver kept the Pack in the game, surrendering just two earned runs after the first inning and went six strong with four strikeouts.

The Cards rallied back in the eighth with five runs to go up 11-7 for their first lead of the day. A bases-loaded ground-rule double by Jack Payton scored the game-tying and go-ahead runs, and then Usher’s RBI single through the left side followed by a Logan Beard sac fly to center field and bases-loaded walk plated the other three runs.

NC State looked to rally back as White led off with an infield single for his third hit of the day and seventh of the series, but a double play followed by a strikeout ended the game.

White now has 18 multi-hit games on the year thanks to his 3-for-5 outing, while Jarrett turned in a 2-for-4 performance with three runs batted in for a combined nine in the series. The pair was responsible for five of the team’s seven hits and five of the seven runs batted in in the contest.

NC State returns home Tuesday to host East Carolina in the second matchup of the season between the squads. First pitch is set for 7 p.m. at Doak Field at Dail Park and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network. There will additionally be an audio stream on WKNC 88.1 and the Varsity Network App