NC State lost its 5th game in a row Wednesday and I don’t know what you’re worried about

If I’ve learned one thing from years of honed sports-pain, it’s that baseball is a distinct animal that nonetheless pulls us back to the unfitting tropes of most other team games. Most of the time, baseball is a one-on-one proposition, which includes the events that happen before, during, and after a batter hits the ball. This is why the whole deal is tough to figure, and also why it’s the best sport there is.

NC State has lost five games in a row, three of them by one run. NC State entered that stretch with an undefeated record in one-run games. This is the harsh nuisance of randomness in sports, and it’s far more a bother in baseball, especially in college baseball’s short seasons.

Nothing is wrong. State dropped three games this weekend to UNC by a combined four runs and stranded roughly eight thousand guys on base. It lost Wednesday night with the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth. The breaks bounce about, with no obvious purpose.

State’s had a rough week, but that rough week also started with a loss at Duke after securing another series win. None of this is easily processed, but don’t panic when it’s just baseball that’s happening. There is no larger meaning, no big season-long story arc that needs placement. You don’t have to search for meaning where there is none. That’s just baseball, man.