Wake sweeps Pack

NC State suffers a sweep at home against Wake Forest to end the regular season.

RALEIGH – NC State baseball (33-20, 14-15 ACC) suffered a 5-0 loss in its regular season finale with Wake Forest (39-16-1, 15-14-1 ACC) on Saturday afternoon at Doak Field at Dail Park.

It marked the second time this season the Wolfpack has suffered a shutout loss.

Nick Kurtz put the Demon Deacons on the board in the second with his solo shot over the left field wall, giving his team the early 1-0 lead.

In the fourth Wake Forest extended its lead to 3-0 thanks to Brendan Tinsman’s leadoff homer to left field and Jake Reinisch’s RBI single to center field with Kurtz at second after he reached on a single through the left side and moved to second on a wild pitch.

Wake plated two more runs on as many hits and an error in the seventh to take a 5-0 lead. After Tommy Hawke and Pierce Bennett started the inning with back-to-back base hits up the middle, a two-base error followed by a sacrifice fly to left field by Kurtz drove in the runs.

NC State attempted to make a late surge in the bottom of the ninth when Tommy White led off with a single up the middle and Noah Soles drew a one-out walk, but the squad couldn’t bring the runners home.

The Demon Deacon pitching trio of Teddy McGraw, Crawford Wade and Camden Minacci combined to hold the Pack to three hits in shutout fashion, as Devonte Brown (2-for-3) and White (1-for-4) were responsible for the three hits.

NC State will now turn its attention to the ACC Championship, which will run May 24-29 at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C. The official bracket with matchups, game times and TV designations will be released Sunday, as the pool play portion will be May 24-28 with the semifinals and finals being held the 28th and 29th, respectively.