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RALEIGH, NC - MARCH 15: Chris McHugh #27 of the NC State Wolfpack makes the catch at first during the college baseball game between the Boston College Eagles and the NC State Wolfpack on March 15, 2026 at Doak Field at Dail Park in Raleigh, NC. (Photo by Nicholas Faulkner/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) | Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
NC State’s stay at the ACC tournament came to a swift end on Tuesday as its pitching completely unraveled in the late innings and Duke ran away with a 21-12 victory. NC State actually held an 8-6 lead on Duke heading into the seventh inning, but from there made the questionable decision to begin throwing batting practice balls to the Blue Devils’ hitters.
It was a good game up to then, at least! The Pack held a 4-2 lead heading into the fourth thanks to long home runs from Dalton Bargo and Ty Head, when Duke put up a four-spot to take the 6-4 advantage, and NC State clawed its way back ahead of the next three frames.
NC State had an opportunity to do some real damage with the bases loaded in the sixth and extend its 8-6 lead, but no big inning was forthcoming, and Duke had its way from there. So it went. The Blue Devils did tons of damage with two outs, finishing with 11 two-out knocks to just one for NC State. In the many ways this morning was frustrating for State’s pitching, this was the most prominent of the troubles—they simply could not close out innings.
The result was a bit more extreme than anticipated but goes to show the danger of a quick turnaround between the end of the regular season and the start of the conference tournament for those not wise enough to avoid the situation. Neither Anderson Nance nor Cooper Consiglio were going to be available to help today. Luke Hemric threw 40 pitches on Saturday, and perhaps worse for wear as a result, had a rough go of it in Charlotte. As did Ryder Garino, who was the guy State really needed to step up here.
Or maybe morning baseball simply disagrees with the pitching constitution generally.
It’ll be a long wait for the NCAA tournament selection show, with this team’s fate looking pretty cloudy. It’s tough not to see this loss as the swan song for this season. But this team isn’t playing well enough—isn’t healthy enough—to win a regional, so it’s not worth worrying about.
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