NC State Wolfpack opens NCAA baseball regional with 9-2 win over Bryant

One key to winning an NCAA baseball regional can be to have a basically stress-free first game, pick up a victory and call it a day.

N.C. State, hosting a regional for the first time since 2018, did just that Friday in rolling past Bryant 9-2 before a packed, raucous crowd at Doak Field.

The Wolfpack (34-20), advancing to face South Carolina (37-23) on Saturday, got a strong, quality start from righthander Sam Highfill, timely hitting throughout the lineup and solid fielding in a complete-game win.

Noah Soles had the biggest single hit — a two-run homer to right — in the sixth inning as the Wolfpack, the No. 10 national seed, scored four times to break it open. Soles also had a big bat slip after admiring his long fly, drawing a warning from the umpires.

Third baseman Alec Makarewicz had four of the Pack’s 11 hits, including three doubles, and knocked in three runs. Garrett Pennington and Brandon Butterworth each had a pair of hits for State, Butterworth with two RBIs and Pennington — who also doubled twice — scoring two runs.

Highfill always has been a battler, whether overcoming injuries or the bitter disappointment of the Pack’s College World Series exit during the pandemic in 2021. A graduate, the Apex native took the mound Friday for his first NCAA game at home, calling the environment at Doak “incredible,” and pitched into the seventh inning.

Highfill allowed a solo homer to Bryant catcher Jackson Phinney in the second inning — the first run of the game — and a run in the seventh. His pitching line: six innings, four hits, two runs and four strikeouts.

“I’m really happy for Sam,” NCSU coach Elliott Avent said. “He’s given so much to our program. He has given us a career of competing at a high level.

“There’s nobody else I’d rather see ou there on a night like tonight. He got us six innings, which was huge.”

Freshman righty Jacob Dudan took over from there, pitching three hitless innings and fanning six for his sixth save of the season.

“It’s big to win that first one,” Avent said. “To claw your way out of a four-team tournament, losing that first one, it’s not impossible but tougher. And more taxing on the pitching.”

Righthander Austin Wainer, a 5-8 senior, started for Bryant and pitched into the sixth, allowing seven earned runs. The Bulldogs, the America East champions, are making their first NCAA tournament appearance since 2016.

The Bulldogs came within a few feet of tying the score in the top of the sixth. But Pack centerfielder Eli Serrano III made a leaping catch, high on the fence, on a long fly by Gavin Noriega.

“They’re big, they’re physical,” Bryant coach Ryan Klosterman said of the Pack. “I thought Sam (Highfill) threw the ball extremely well today and Jacob (Dudan) has a special arm. It’s a very talented club that can beat you in multiple ways.”

In the first game of the regional, the Gamecocks faced some serious stress. They were down to their last out against James Madison when Cole Messina smacked a two-run homer to tie the score 7-7 in the ninth.

The Gamecocks, seeded second in the regional, then snatched the walkoff win in the 10th when Will Tippett’s sacrifice fly scored Dylan Brewer to knock the third-seeded Dukes (34-24) into the loser’s bracket.

The Dukes and Bulldogs will play at noon Saturday in an elimination game. The Pack and Gamecocks then face off in the second game at 6 p.m.

Avent said ACC competition the last month of the regular season prepared the Pack for the postseason. The Pack had series wins over North Carolina, Clemson, Virginia and Wake Forest before bowing out early in the ACC tournament in losing to Duke — a loss the Pack players said was quickly forgotten.

Now, it’s South Carolina of the Southeastern Conference.

“Obviously they had the big comeback win today and that can give you a lot of energy,” Avent said. “It should be quite a game.”