NC State completes series sweep of Pittsburgh with 10-3 win

NC State thoroughly outplayed Pitt on Sunday afternoon and the result is a 10-3 win and a series sweep of the Panthers. The Wolfpack was the better team all weekend, capitalizing on mistakes, winning with pitching where necessary, and mashing Pitt pitching over the final two games.

On Sunday, NC State hit five home runs, getting two from Terrell Tatum and one apiece from Jonny Butler, Devonte Brown, and Jose Torres. None of those homers were cheapies, either. Tatum’s first dinger was a bomb to dead center that went over the batter’s eye.

And Torres’ homer was a laser shot that smacked the foul pole in left.

Torres had a big day at the plate, going 3-5 with four driven in. He got the scoring started in the first with an RBI single, then added the above solo shot, and plated two more with a double in the fifth that extended State’s lead to 7-1.

The Pack was in complete control at that point thanks to an excellent outing from Matt Willadsen, who struck out eight and walked one in seven innings of work. He allowed one run in the first and was clean until the top of the eighth, when Elliott Avent ran him back out there despite a pitch count over 100.

After giving up a two-run homer in that inning, Chris Villaman came in to shut the door with authority—all six of the outs he recorded came via strikeout.

It’s fun to watch when everything is clicking, and State got both good pitching and some big performances from the heart of its batting order.

Thanks to the sweep, NC State moved into the RPI top 30 and improved to 10-9 in quad-one games. State also leapfrogged Louisville in the Atlantic, taking sole possession of third. If the ACC tournament started today, State would be the four seed.