The No. 13 NC State baseball team dropped its ACC road opener 8-5 at Georgia Tech on Friday night at Russ Chandler Stadium.
Georgia Tech (13-4, 1-0 ACC) erased NC State's early 2-0 advantage and captured the lead for good with three runs in the bottom of the fifth, handing the Wolfpack (12-4, 3-1 ACC) its first league defeat of the season.
The Wolfpack's late comeback attempt fell short, scoring two runs in the top of the ninth to bring the game to its final score at 8-5. Georgia Tech's Cam Jones recorded the final three outs to earn the save. Jones entered the game with the bases loaded and nobody out, inducing a groundout to the pitcher and a flyout to center field to score a pair of Wolfpack runs before a groundout to second base ended game one in Atlanta.
Garrett Pennington broke the scoreless deadlock with a two-run home run to left-center in the bottom of the third. Pennington's second homer of the season scored
Carson Falsken, who opened the inning with a leadoff single to right field. Falsken battled back from an 0-2 count in his at-bat before lining the seventh pitch from Georgia Tech starting pitcher Mason Patel over the second baseman for his first hit of the season.
Georgia Tech answered the Wolfpack's two-spot in the top of the third with one run in the home half of the inning. Trey Yunger's RBI groundout trimmed the Yellow Jackets' deficit to 2-1 before Wolfpack starting pitcher
Sam Highfill struck out Georgia Tech catcher Matthew Ellis to strand runners at the corners.
The Yellow Jackets took their first lead with three runs in the fifth behind a pair of home runs. Carson Kerce tied the score at 2-2 with a solo shot to left field before freshman Drew Burress broke the tie with a two-run shot to left-center for a 4-2 lead.
Chase Nixon's pinch-hit RBI single with two outs in the sixth made it a one-run game at 4-3. Nixon dropped in a single to shallow left field to score
Drew Lanphere from second.
Georgia Tech again answered the Wolfpack's score with three runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Payton Green's two-run homer to right field extended Tech's lead to 6-3. An RBI groundout from Kerce and a two-out single from Younger capped off the Yellow Jackets' scoring to make it 8-3.
Sam Highfill (1-1) suffered his first loss of the season, allowing five runs over 5.0 innings pitched with three strikeouts. Georgia Tech reliever Tate McKee (2-1) notched the win for the Yellow Jackets.
UP NEXTThe Wolfpack continues its series at Georgia Tech on Saturday. First pitch at Russ Chandler Stadium is set for 4 p.m. and will be broadcasted on ACC Network Extra.
https://gopack.com/news/2024/3/15/baseball-13-wolfpack-drops-acc-road-opener-at-georgia-tech 
