For the first six innings Friday afternoon, it looked like NC State was going to cruise to an impressive win over Notre Dame in the ACC opener for both clubs. Wolfpack starting pitcher Sam Highfill had thrown six scoreless innings, allowing just three Fighting Irish batters to reach base (two hits and a walk).
Then the 7th inning happened.
With Highfill already at 95 pitches and this being just his fourth appearance of the year, the Wolfpack coaching staff decided to run him out to the mound for another inning to try and squeeze another three outs from him and limit the bullpen’s usage.