RALEIGH — NC State appeared to be steaming with relative ease toward a sweep of the visiting Notre Dame Fighting Irish, but things can unravel quickly on a baseball diamond. With a four-run lead heading into the top of the ninth inning, the Wolfpack bullpen completely collapsed, blowing the lead and forcing the offense to try to pick up the pieces.
Luckily for the Pack, the top of the order came up in the bottom half of the inning and proved to be clutch. Sophomore outfielder Ty Head played the role of hero, serving a single to right-center field, which scored two runs to win the game for NC State, 7-6. It had the feel of a turning point in the season for the Wolfpack.
The bullpen issues
Got all of that one! Bino Watters with a solo shot!#GoIrish ☘️ pic.twitter.com/cUoiNqwRPm
— Notre Dame Baseball (@NDBaseball) April 4, 2026
After seven-plus strong innings for Jacob Dudan, the talented NC State righty, head coach Elliott Avent turned to his exhausted and struggling bullpen to try to get the Wolfpack over the hump against the Fighting Irish. Senior righty Danny Heintz finished off the eighth for Dudan and had the trust of his coach to finish the job.
“Danny comes in with a big strikeout in the eighth with good stuff,” Avent said. “Had a good slider, good fastball and gets the first guy (Bino Watters) to 3-2 and the guy gets one out to left field. Good hitter, good player. Then (Heintz) walks the guy.”
Freshman lefty Luke Hemric was the next out of the bullpen for Avent. He didn’t record an out, but got unlucky with what would’ve been a broken bat single in the majors, but aluminum bats don’t usually break. Anderson Nance became the third pitcher to enter the game, riding just one day off after a lengthy outing in the Thursday game. He was the first arm to record an out in the inning…