NC State’s pitching is laboring through injuries. Anderson Nance proved he can carry the bullpen in Miami series win

Anderson Nance found himself in a bases-loaded situation twice across the final two innings against Miami on a chilly Saturday night in Raleigh. But even though the Hurricanes appeared to be threatening to jump back in front, NC State’s right-handed sophomore reliever didn’t seem panicked against the more-than-capable power lineup.

Instead, he did what he always does on the mound: Take a deep breath and fire strikes. 

Nance began the adventure in the eighth, falling into the high-leverage situation with the Wolfpack clinging to a one-run lead. He, however, induced Hurricanes designated hitter Alex Sosa to ground out to close the frame with no damage. 

After NC State added a quartet of insurance runs via a Sherman Johnson grand slam in the home half of the eighth, Nance fell into trouble once again. An error at third was followed by a pair of singles to load the bases once again, this time with no outs and his pitch count rapidly approaching the century mark. 

Nance, though, was calm once again. He attacked the next three hitters with a purpose, striking out a pair with a game-ending groundout to close NC State’s 12-7 win over Miami at Doak Field. 

It was an impressive showing for any pitcher to get out of back-to-back jams like Nance was able to, but he managed to do so as he capped a career-long 5.2 inning relief appearance to help the Wolfpack to its first ACC series win since it took two of three from Duke four weeks ago. 

Nance, who hadn’t thrown more than 67 pitches in an outing this spring, turned in a career-high 113 as he gave up two runs on nine hits with a walk, while he struck out the most he’s ever fanned with nine going down via his elite repertoire on the rubber. 

It was a performance that seemed to stop NC State coach Elliott Avent in his tracks afterwards.

“Anderson was phenomenal,” Avent said. “I’ve been here a long time, seen a lot of things I thought were incredible, and I saw one tonight.”

Nance’s performance wasn’t just critical, it was nearly required for the Wolfpack to emerge with the much-needed series win over the Hurricanes. 

NC State’s pitching staff has been depleted by injuries as its top two starters — Jacob Dudan (out for the season) and Ryan Marohn (week-to-week) have been sidelined due to arm injuries. Those two absences have taxed the Pack’s bullpen options, forcing left-handers Cooper Consiglio and Luke Hemric to enter the weekend rotation. 

With that in mind, and a postseason push ongoing, Avent and pitching coach Clint Chrysler determined the best course of action was to see if they could get into a spot where Nance could close out the rubber match on his own Sunday night on a nationally-televised broadcast. 

And while his fourth-inning entrance was a frame earlier than expected, Nance was able to rise to the occasion with the deepest outing of his two-year career with the Pack. It, after all, is what he has been hoping to do in his long reliever role.

“I want to be in there doing the best I can, putting the team in the best possibility to win,” Nance said. “I’ve just always wanted to be out there, competing and doing my thing.”

Nance, whose previous career-most pitches was 89 across five innings of work at Duke on March 29, 2025, cruised through the outing. Even when he ran into trouble with runners on the base paths, he made it look easy to escape mostly unscathed, except the two-run sixth that the reliever felt like actually helped him settle in the rest of the way.

The Eden, N.C., native clicked on all cylinders. His cutter hit 97 mph in the ninth, while the changeup and slider were the best they’ve looked in quite a while. In a way, Nance’s best outing of the season arrived when his team needed it the most. 

“That’s who Anderson is. You don’t make the USA team if you’re an everyday righty,” Avent said. “He believes in himself. … He has love for his teammates that he keeps in the back of his mind, that can get you over a hump sometimes. It was unbelievable to watch today.”

Speaking of those teammates, they have the utmost belief in their second-year bullpen arm. Nance was a critical part of the relief squad a year ago on an NCAA Regional team, and his role has expanded to become the key cog of the unit. 

His latest outing just validated that to everyone involved, including those wearing the same white home vest uniform with red undershirts. 

“Whenever he’s on the mound, I feel like we always have a chance to win, no matter what the score is or anything,” said junior second baseman Luke Nixon, who helped spark the offense with a two-homer night Saturday. “When he’s on the mound, I know we’ve got a chance to win.”

Added Johnson, one of Nance’s closest friends on the roster: “Anderson’s tough as nails.”

If NC State is going to make noise coming down the stretch of the spring with a road trip to Stanford before closing the regular season at home against North Carolina, Nance is going to be a critical reason why. He’s always known he could put the bullpen on his back to save a game, but his ability to do it against Miami sent his confidence to a new sky-high level. 

There’s not much that can faze Nance on the mound. His breakout performance came in front of a hostile crowd at East Carolina a year ago. And the right-hander has been one of NC State’s most-steady relief options ever since. 

Since Marohn was sidelined three weeks ago, Nance has given up just three runs with only five walks and 21 strikeouts over 15.2 innings across four appearances. He, in a sense, has reached a new level out of the bullpen — one that was evident with the Hurricanes in town.

The two bases-loaded jams he got himself into against Miami were a challenge he was more than capable of defeating. And, well, he did just that to propel NC State to the crucial weekend victory, backed by an elite run-scoring performance from his hitters to close the door on the Hurricanes. 

“I wanted to put my team in the best spot,” Nance said. “The offense took care of that and I did my job, so I was very thankful.”

NC State is equally appreciative of its high-end stopper that more than proved himself on the mound once again. It might just be what helped propel the Wolfpack into a sure NCAA Tournament bid in a few weeks.