Curtain Closes on #Pack9 in 2015

Monday, June 1

Fort Worth, Texas

8:05 PM

NC State

36-23

TCU (NCAA Regional)

47-12

NC State

TCU

6/2/2015 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

June 1, 2015

Box Score | Box Score | Play-by-Play

Top Performers:
Jake Fincher (1-for-4, 2 R, 2 RBI), Will Gilbert (2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K)

	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	R	H	E
NC STATE	0	0	3	1	0	0	0	4	0	0	8	11	6
TCU	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	6	1	1	9	10	1

Chasing its third Super Regional appearance in the last four years, NC State baseball allowed fourth-ranked TCU to escape with a 9-8, 10th inning victory on Monday night in the championship game of the Fort Worth Regional.

The Wolfpack (36-23) built an 8-1 lead through the top eighth behind a sterling effort from Johnny Piedmonte, who worked the first 3 2/3, holding the Frogs (47-12) to one earned on four hits with five strikeouts. Will Gilbert mowed down seven of the next eight batters, four on strikeouts in 2 1/3. The Pack pitching staff fanned 13 on the night, surrendering just two earned runs of the nine scored. A rash of miscues and some poor luck sent the scoreboard spiraling in the home team's favor.

Eight different Wolfpack batters contributed hits, with Logan Ratledge, Andrew Knizner, and Bubby Riley supplying two each. Six players scored at least once in the game. Riley blasted his third homer of the year. Josh McLain picked the perfect time to unleash his first collegiate extra-base hit, a leadoff double to spark State's three-run third.

Despite the adversity that knotted the score 8-8 in the bottom ninth, State forced extras against a team with just three losses on its home turf, one to the Wolfpack. In the bottom of the 10th, a walk-off single through the right side extinguished the most memorable NC State baseball season in recent memory.

Ratledge captured Regional MVP honors. Gilbert and Chance Shepard joined him on the All-Regional team. Jake Fincher went 1-for-4 with two runs and two RBIs in his 236th and final game in Wolfpack red, seven shy of fifth in school history, with 233 starts.

Starters since their freshman seasons in 2012, Fincher and Ratledge depart NC State the caretakers of the most prosperous four-year window in the history of Wolfpack baseball.

The MLB Draft awaits the pair, along with members of the 2013 College World Series team Jake Armstrong and Travis Orwig. Bubby Riley caps his two-year career with a season-ending hot streak that leaves him an unlikely candidate for one of the most beloved Wolfpackers of all time.

A host of draft-eligible juniors will choose between the professional ranks and a senior year in Raleigh. In 2016, the Pack hands the keys to rising juniors Andrew Knizner and Preston Palmeiro, second-year men Brock Deatherage, Joe Dunand, and Josh McLain, as well as a fearsome pitching staff helmed by Brian Brown, Tommy DeJuneas, Joe O'Donnell, Johnny Piedmonte, Cory Wilder, and Ryan Williamson.