FINAL: NC State advances to College World Series with 3-2 win over Arkansas
After staving off elimination with a 6-5 win on Saturday afternoon over No. 1 Arkansas in game two of the Super Regional, NC State baseball defeated the Razorbacks 3-2 in a winner-take-all game three Sunday to advance to the College World Series.
The appearance in Omaha marks the second of head coach Elliott Avent's 25-year career at NC State.
The Wolfpack will face Stanford in game one of the College World Series, which begins Saturday, June 12.
Here if the full recap from the Super Regionals win over Arkansas:
Bottom of the ninth
Welch and Opitz ground out for a quick two outs.
Battles ground out to the catcher.
FINAL: NC State 3, Arkansas 2
Top of the ninth
Torres sends a moon ball over the left field bleachers to give the Pack a 3-2 lead with no outs in the top of the ninth. Tresh and Brown ground out.
Mensik hits a double to right field and advances to third, but Jarrett grounds out to third to end the top half of the inning.
NC State 3, Arkansas 2
Bottom of the eighth
Left-handed pitcher Evan Justice enters the game to replace Villaman.
Franklin strikes out swinging for out No. 1. Moore flied out to left field, and Smith strikes out swinging to end the inning.
NC State 2, Arkansas 2
Top of the eighth
Jarrett singles to the left side. Murr bunts and is thrown out at first, Jarrett advances to second. McDonough flies out to left field for out No. 2.
Butler is intentionally walked, leaving a runner on first and second.
Tatum strikes out swinging to end the top half of the inning.
NC State 2, Arkansas 2
Bottom of the seventh
Battles grounds out and Goodheart flies out for a quick two outs, but Wallace hits a two-out solo homer to left field to tie the game at two.
Slavens grounds out to second base to end the inning.
NC State 2, Arkansas 2
Top of the seventh
Tresh strikes out looking. Brown hits a deep liner to right field, but Arkansas fields it for out No. 2. Mensik strikes out looking to enter the seventh-inning stretch.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Bottom of the sixth
Arkansas flies out three times in a row to center field.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Top of the sixth
Kopps retires the side 1-2-3.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Bottom of the fifth
Freshman lefty Chris Villaman enters the game to replace Willadsen. Villaman has a season ERA of 4.42 in 57.0 innings pitched, 68 strikeouts and 16 walks.
Wallace singles to left field with no outs, but Villaman strikes out the next three batters swinging.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Top of the fifth
Jarrett singles to right field with no outs, but Murr grounds into a double play and McDonough strikes out looking to end the top half of the inning 1-2-3.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Bottom of the fourth
Arkansas gets a runner on a two-out bunt single, which was followed by a four-pitch walk. NC State freshman pitcher was able to get out of the jam with a swinging strikeout on a full count pitch.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Top of the fourth
After making Arkansas star Kevin Kopps work for three innings, an aggressive Pack went in order 1-2-3 on just nine pitches.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Bottom of the third
NC State freshman pitcher Matt Willadsen issued a two-out walk to Arkansas center fielder Christian Franklin, who then stole second base. A grounder to first thought stranded the runner in scoring position.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Top of the third
After nearly hitting one out in the first inning, junior left fielder Jonny Butler this time was able to get it just past the glove of leaping center fielder Christian Franklin for a two-run, two-out homer to put the Wolfpack up.
NC State 2, Arkansas 1
Bottom of the second
Sophomore third baseman Vojtech Mensik bobbled a grounder to third to allow the leadoff batter junior center fielder Christian Hamilton to reach. After advancing to second on one-out grounder towards first, he scored on Arkansas red-hot junior designated hitter Charlie Welch's double down the right field line.
After back-to-back walks to load the bases, NC State freshman pitcher Matt Willadsen was able to get a grounder to second to end the threat.
Arkansas 1, NC State 0
Top of the second
A leadoff walk to sophomore catcher Luca Tresh was erased by a double-play off the bat of junior right fielder Devonte Brown. Sophomore third baseman Vojtech Mensik ended the inning with a swinging strikeout.
NC State 0, Arkansas 0
Bottom of the first
NC State freshman Matt Willadsen gets the start for NC State and begins the game with a swinging strikeout as part of a quick 1-2-3.
NC State 0, Arkansas 0
Top of the first
NC State is the visiting team in game three and bats first. Arkansas ace Kevin Kopps quickly went to work, striking out leadoff batter junior first baseman Austin Murr. Sophomore center fielder Tyler McDonough though was able to work the count full before singling to right.
Junior left fielder Jonny Butler crushed a ball to the warning track in dead center for a loud second out. Junior designated hitter Terrell Tatum reached on an infield single to advance McDonough into scoring position at second. Freshman Jose Torres ended the inning however with a fielder's choice grounder to third.
Good news for NC State is Kopps threw 21 pitches to work through the inning.
NC State 0, Arkansas 0
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