RALEIGH, N.C. - A pair of crooked innings cost the Cardinal on Thursday night as No. 13 NC State scored three in the fifth and four in the seventh to earn a 7-2 come-from-behind victory over Stanford in the opener of a three-game ACC series from Doak Field.
Jimmy Nati’s fourth home run in the last three games put the Cardinal on the board first in the second inning. The Cardinal second baseman now leads the team in home runs with 14 this season.
Outside of the Nati homer, Stanford had managed just a walk from Charlie Bates over the first four innings as it led 1-0 headed to the fifth.
The Cardinal offense broke through once more against NC State starter Ryan Marohn in the fifth inning, as Temo Becerra doubled with one out before coming around to score on a two-out RBI-single on a 3-2 pitch from Ethan Hott.
The Cardinal used a bullpen day with the ACC Baseball Championship tournament set to begin on Tuesday in Durham, N.C. Sophomore ace Joey Volchko got the start on Thursday and looked sharp, tossing two scoreless innings before turning the ball over to the bullpen.
Austin Steeves was the first reliever used and contributed one scoreless inning before Ryan Speshyock pitched a clean fourth.
NC State finally broke through in the fifth inning, plating three runs on four hits to take a 3-2 lead after five. Singles from Brandon Novy and Matt Ossenfort put runners at the corners before Matt Heavner drove a deep fly ball to center field to chase home the first run on a sacrifice fly. Following a strikeout and a single that chased Speshyock from the game, Justin DeCriscio delivered a clutch two-RBI triple off reliever Sam Garewal to cap the inning.
The three-run fifth catapulted Marohn in line for victory, as the left-hander improved to 7-3 on the season after working 5 1/3 innings and allowing two runs on four hits and a walk with four strikeouts.
Liam Golden was next Cardinal to emerge from the left field bullpen, tiptoeing out of a jam to hang a zero in the sixth. The right-hander walked three batters, but induced a ground ball to second base to end the threat and strand the bags loaded.
Still leading 3-2 headed to the bottom of the seventh, NC State took advantage of a costly error charged to Trevor Haskins at third base to score four runs on a pair of homers and extend the lead to 7-2. Senior Ty Uber bookended a walk with a pair of fly ball outs, but a two-out chopper to third base was fielded and thrown away by Haskins on the ensuing play as the inning continued for Ty Head. Head made the most of the extra out, lining a three-run home run out to right field – his fourth long ball of the season. The Cardinal elected to make another call to the bullpen following the homer, summoning freshman Cohen Gomez, but the right-hander issued a towering home run to Novy on the first pitch he threw to add another run as NC State went back-to-back.
The home run was the first of Novy’s career, and the freshman was a late add to the lineup following an injury pregame for NC State.
Ben Reimers was the eighth and final pitcher used by Stanford on Thursday night, striking out a pair over a scoreless eighth inning.
Thursday’s eight-pitcher effort marked the second time this season the Cardinal has used eight arms in a game, matching the eight from an April 1 game vs. Santa Clara.
Speshyock was saddled with the loss and dropped to 1-3 after being charged with three runs over his 1 2/3 innings, while Anderson Nance earned his first save while pitching the final 3 2/3 scoreless innings in relief for NC State.
The Cardinal will continue the three-game series with NC State on Friday at 3 p.m. PT.