NC State headed to College World Series after win over Georgia in Athens Super Regional
N.C. State is headed back to the College World Series.
This time, the Wolpack hopes, it will only be about baseball.
The Pack will make the prized trip to Omaha, Nebraska, for the second time in the past four years after an 8-5 victory Monday over Georgia in the third and deciding game of the Athens Super Regional at Foley Field.
The Pack, led by center fielder Eli Serrano III, smacked four home runs in the hitter-friendly ballpark on the Georgia campus. Serrano III, who had three hits, had one homer and narrowly missed another, and Garrett Pennington, Alec Makarewicz and Alex Sosa each went deep for the Pack (38-20).
The 2024 Colllege World Series begins Friday in Omaha, Nebraska, and in essence is an ACC/SEC challenge. The Wolfpack will face Kentucky in its opener Saturday at 2 p.m. at Charles Schwab Field.
The Pack made it to Omaha in 2021 and was peaking at the right time after beating top-seeded Arkansas in the Super Regional. But COVID-19 issues caused the NCAA to rule N.C. State had to forfeit a game to Vanderbilt and be out of the College World Series — a bittersweet inning.
But the Pack is back.
One of the biggest questions Monday was which team would get the strongest pitching in the win-or-else third game? The best pitchers in both bullpens were rested after the Pack won the opener 18-1 and the Bulldogs bounced back with an 11-2 win Sunday. But what about the starters?
The Pack started right-hander Logan Whitaker, who pitched into the fifth before the Wolfpack turned to Jacob Dudan and then Derrick Smith out of the pen. Georgia got just three innings out of its starter, Zach Harris.
Dudan, a freshman left-hander, entered the game with the tension thick at Foley Field.
With the Pack leading 4-2 in the fifth, the Bulldogs loaded the bases with one out. That ended the game for Whitaker and brought in Dudan, making his first appearance of the Super Regional.
At bat for Georgia: Charlie Condon.
The 2024 SEC player of the year is soon to be a top-five pick in the MLB draft, and the third baseman leads the nation in batting average and homers. But Condon struck out on a 1-2 pitch and Dudan ended the inning — and the big threat — with a groundout.
Condon was mostly quiet in the Super Regional for Georgia (41-17) but did have a solo homer Monday in the ninth.
Serrano homered in the sixth for a 5-2 lead but the Bulldogs picked up a run in the bottom of the inning as Tre Phelps scored on a sacrifice fly.
Serrano had just missed a leadoff homer to start the game, the ball hitting high on the wall for a double. He didn’t miss in the sixth.
The Bulldogs, after their big win Sunday, jumped to a 2-0 lead in the second Monday on Phelps’ homer. Phelps had an early three-run blast Sunday and now had another.
But the Pack quickly responded. After Serrano III singled to lead off the third, Pennington took the first pitch deep for a home run and a 2-2 tie.
New game. New life for the Wolfpack.
The Pack then picked up two runs in the fourth to take the lead. Matt Heavner doubled and later scored on a passed ball, and Makarewicz singled in Noah Soles to make it 4-2.
The Bulldogs started right-hander Zach Harris but lifted him in the fourth — after Heavner’s double — for Kolten Smith, the starter in the opening game Saturday. Smith, another right-hander, had been battered for 10 runs in that game — the Pack scoring 11 in the second inning — but had thrown just 38 pitches and was available.
Smith gave up the solo homer to Serrano, then another to Alex Sosa in the top of the seventh. That brought on Brian Zeldin.
Makarewicz had a two-out, two-run homer off Zeldin in the eighth after Pennington had doubled. It was 8-4, Pack.
