NC State will need to sweep Saturday’s doubleheader against Wake Forest to extend its recent dominance in the series. The Pack entered Friday’s ACC opener against the Demon Deacons with a six-game winning streak against their rivals from Winston-Salem and hadn’t dropped a series to them since 2002, but the Deacs took the opener 6-4 behind homers from Grant Sheets and Johnny Aiello and a lights out relief outing from Griffin Roberts.
Sheets and Aiello, who both finished with two hits and two RBI, homered off State starter Sean Adler in the third to put the Pack in a 5-1 hole.