RALEIGH, N.C. – Knotted at three runs apiece in the 10th inning, Stanford (26-24, 10-19 ACC) earned a 4-3 victory at No. 13 NC State (33-17, 17-10 ACC) on a Jimmy Nati RBI-double to bring home Charlie Bates, as the Cardinal evened a three-game ACC series from Doak Field.
Bates led off the top of the 10th with a single the other way off NC State reliever Jacob Dudan. A sacrifice bunt from Tatum Marsh moved Bates into scoring position, setting the table for a hot-shot from Nati to shortstop that skipped off the glove of Justin DeCriscio and trickled into left field, allowing Bates to turn the bag and score what proved to be the game-winning run.
Stanford starter Nick Dugan kept the Cardinal in the game over his Friday night outing, going 5 1/3 innings and allowing three runs on five hits and four walks with three strikeouts.
The Wolfpack jumped out to a 1-0 lead after two innings as a two-out walk to Ty Head came back to bite Dugan when Matt Ossenfort laced a double into right-center field to chase home Head.
Dugan held the line until the bottom of the fifth when Brandon Novy turned on a pitch and lined it off the wall in left field for a one-out double. The ninth-place hitter Matt Heavner followed suit with a double of his own to stretch the advantage to 2-0, but Ethan Hott made a stellar running catch at the wall in left field to help Stanford strand the bases loaded and limit the damage.
Trailing 2-0 but carrying some momentum from the defensive side, Stanford got a jolt of offense from Nati in the top of the sixth. Stanford’s hottest hitter, Nati followed up a double from Marsh with a 400-foot game-tying home run to left-center field. The round tripper was Nati’s fifth in the last four games and his 15th on the season. Stanford’s second baseman has now homered in four straight games.
After allowing a leadoff double to Brayden Fraasman in the bottom of the sixth, the Cardinal seemingly erased the threat on a fly ball to left field on the ensuing play. The catch was made and Fraasman took off from second, but was ruled to have left early as the Cardinal routed the ball to second base. NC State appealed for a review, and after the umpires returned from the monitor, the call was reversed. Ossenfort drew a walk to put runners on the corners with one out, with that free pass spelling the end of Dugan’s night. Toran O’Harran inherited the jam and got a chopper to shortstop, but Temo Becerra had trouble getting a grip on the ball and his double play feed was delayed, throwing the timing off for Nati at second as the Cardinal had to settle for just the one out. That slow turn also allowed Fraasman to scamper home from third with the go-ahead run as NC State reclaimed the lead at 3-2.
NC State reliever Andrew Shaffner opened the top of the eighth by hitting Marsh and Nati as the Cardinal mounted a quick rally. A Rintaro Sasaki ground ball to first moved the runners up 90 feet and Becerra lofted a sac fly to right field to chase home Marsh to tie the game at 3-3.
With the game even headed to the bottom of the eighth, Stanford summoned its closer Aidan Keenan. The right-hander worked the final three innings and faced the minimum while striking out two to earn the victory following Nati’s double in the 10th. Keenan improved to 2-3 on the season with the win, and combined with O’Harran to post 4 2/3 scoreless innings in relief of Dugan.
Stanford will look to win the series at NC State on Saturday when the two teams conclude the regular season with the rubber game of the set at 10 a.m. PT.