Behind a gem from starting pitcher
Matt Willadsen and a two-homer day by
LuJames Groover III, NC State baseball (28-13) clinched its final nonconference series of the season on Saturday evening thanks to its 10-0 shutout win over Radford (13-29) at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Willadsen tallied a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven innings of work while Groover drove in a career-high five runs batted in to shine in the Pack's third shutout victory of the year.
Saturday marked the Wolfpack's third series win against a nonconference opponent and sixth overall this year. Additionally, the result marked the 11th-straight win at home for the squad.
The scoring started early for the Wolfpack with
Devonte Brown leading off the bottom of the first inning with a single, his sixth leadoff hit in Pack's last seven games. Brown was immediately followed by a two-run shot to left field by Groover on the first pitch of the at bat, his fifth of the season, giving NC State an early 2-0 lead.
Groover's impact shifted to the defensive side of the field in the top of the second, when he cleanly fielded a chopper to first base with runners at the corners and threw out Radford's James Taussig at home to keep the Highlanders off the board.
The Pack's offense added to its lead in the fourth frame, plating three runs to go ahead 5-0. After
Noah Soles led off with an infield single,
Payton Green walked and
Jacob Godman was hit by a pitch to load the bases for Brown, who picked up his second hit of the contest with a double to the right-center gap to score Soles and Green. After an intentional walk was issued to Groover,
Josh Hood hit into a double play which drove home Godman to cap off the inning's scoring effort.
NC State added another run in the seventh inning after
Dominic Pilolli singled, then moved to second and later third base on a pair of wild pitches.
Will Marcy proceeded to draw a four-pitch walk to move to first, followed by a double steal in which Marcy swiped second and Pilolli stole home to put the Pack ahead 6-0.
An impressive offensive performance was rounded out by back-to-back home runs in the eighth inning from Groover and Hood, with Groover following up Godman being hit by a pitch and Brown drawing a full-count walk with a three-run missile over the left field wall for his sixth of the season. Hood succeeded Groover with a nearly identical ball that served as a solo home run, his ninth of the year, to push NC State's lead to 10-0.
A stellar performance in the batter's box was complemented by a career day from Willadsen (2-3) on the mound. Willadsen tossed seven shutout innings, allowing just three hits and striking out a career-high 13 batters. The 13-strikeout outing was tied for the second-most by an ACC pitcher in any game this season, and it was the most by an NC State pitcher since May 20, 2021, when
Reid Johnston fanned 13 against Florida State.
Carson Kelly relieved Willadsen in the eighth inning, fanning three over two innings and finishing off the Wolfpack's third-straight win.
With Groover and Hood's combined three home runs, it marked the seventh-straight game and the 22nd this year that the Pack has hit multiple home runs in a game.
With the series now in hand for NC State, the Pack and Highlanders will meet on Sunday at 1 p.m. in the weekend's finale at Doak Field at Dail Park. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX and an audio stream will be provided on WKNC 88.1 and the Varsity Network App.
https://gopack.com/news/2022/4/30/baseball-pack9-shuts-out-radford-clinches-series.aspx 
