How NC State avoided total meltdown after blown ninth-inning lead to sweep Notre Dame

After watching a four-run lead evaporate in the top of the ninth, NC State could have given up once freshman outfielder Rett Johnson’s laser off the bat was caught by Notre Dame’s diving Brandon Logan in center field, robbing a sure hit.

This team, after all, struggled to generate consistent offense last weekend at Georgia Tech, and it squandered four straight innings of its leadoff hitter reaching in the series finale against the Irish. 

Human nature would have led many to give in. NC State already took the series with a pair of convincing wins over Notre Dame in the previous two days, and it seemed like the team’s luck had run out after the web-gem of a play in center. 

Even Wolfpack skipper Elliott Avent thought that could have caused his team to get in its head about a late-inning collapse with the Irish in town. 

“That should have done it,” Avent said.

But it didn’t. Instead, NC State’s top of the order manufactured the two runs it needed in the ninth. Luke Nixon singled before Chris McHugh doubled three pitches later to put a pair of runners in scoring position for the uber-talented sophomore outfielder Ty Head. 

And Head, an ever-confident player that rarely goes down on strikes, worked a 2-2 count before poking a single to right center. The defensive standout put enough behind it to allow both runners to score, earning a 7-6 win to sweep Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon at Doak Field. 

For Head, who has started each of the first 89 games of his collegiate career to this point, the comeback victory after nearly imploding just minutes prior showed immense growth for a ballclub that was on the brink of turning in its first eight-game losing streak since 1941 just 48 hours prior.

“It shows how tough we are,” said Head, whose white vest jersey was covered in dirt and eye black after being mobbed in celebration afterwards. “It’s awesome to see us compete like this. We’ve always known that we’re ready for any type of situation.”

NC State needed to find a way to win the Notre Dame series. That was given going into the weekend, and a mentality shift in practice seems to have done the trick. The Wolfpack didn’t have many poor at-bats, instead it was calm and confident throughout the game to find a way to win late. 

That, in itself, was exactly what Avent was looking for from his team in a crucial ACC series that allowed NC State to return to .500 in league play. The walk-off win being just the latest example of such.

“It says an awful lot,” Avent said. “It shows what two days of winning, and probably some things we talked about [as a team] a few days ago, coming into play.”

NC State’s offense, which was the backbone of the squad in non-conference play with 11 10-plus run efforts, picked up the pieces of what seemed to be the worst-case scenario in the bullpen. 

Junior right-hander Jacob Dudan turned in a gem with just one run allowed on five hits with a walk and six strikeouts in 116 total pitches. He was laboring late, but still clocked a 97 mph fastball after passing the century mark. 

It was a start that NC State couldn’t waste. But the bullpen, which has been a roller coaster for most of the season, struggled to close it out. 

The Wolfpack needed to use three relievers to record an out in the ninth inning, and by that time its four-run lead was erased after a rally by the Irish’s up-and-down lineup at the plate. And the go-ahead run? That was via a passed ball as sophomore right-hander Collins Black looked to go inside and it got away from junior catcher Drew Lanphere. 

Avent, even though he was gleeful after earning the sweep, was quick to point out his pitching plan didn’t work out well in the ninth. 

“We’ve got to figure this bullpen out, and part of that is my fault,” said Avent, who noted junior lefty Cooper Consiglio lobbied to pitch for the second straight day after two scoreless frames Friday night. “Some guys have got to step up in the bullpen because we’re a little thin there.”

Avent tried to ride sixth-year senior righty Danny Heintz into the ninth after he used a quality fastball and slider to pick up a critical strikeout on his lone batter of the eighth, but he allowed a solo homer, four-pitch walk and double before being pulled. 

The 30th-year skipper then turned to freshman lefty Luke Hemric, but he had a quick yank after five pitches conceding an RBI single — though Avent, looking back on it, felt like he should have left him in longer. The manager, however, put sophomore righty Anderson Nance in to finish it, but his 44-pitch effort from Thursday’s win was evident as he allowed a two-RBI double on his fourth pitch of the outing. 

Black, who was on the mound for the go-ahead run, was able to post a pair of strikeouts to limit the damage to a five-run frame. And, after that, his offense was able to rally in short order to come up with the clutch hit off Head’s bat. 

With the walk-off win to cap a quality series sweep over Notre Dame, a team that was ranked 23rd last week, NC State appears to be trending back in the right direction. It’s no longer riding a near-historic losing streak, rather it is building confidence — and doing so in a battle-tested way. 

For a team that has aspirations to play deep into May and June, wins like its most recent one are critical. The Pack proved it’s capable of channeling an approach that works in games it plays with a clear lead — the first two of the series — and in a situation where the squad’s back is against the wall in the final frame. 

Avent can work with that moving into the heart of league play.

“I think we’re on the right path to getting better,” Avent said. “I don’t think this loss would have devastated us. This win is good. But it just lets us know that if we keep doing things this way, we’ll have a chance.”