The first pitch Carlos Rodon threw on Saturday night was a ball. And right away, the staff ace for No. 6 N.C. State (34-11, 15-8 ACC) had a meeting on the mound with his catcher. Facing the No. 1 team in the country in North Carolina (41-4, 19-3 ACC), Rodon knew that he couldn’t afford to throw first-pitch balls.
He proceeded to strike out five of the first 11 batters he faced, throwing 19 strikes in his next 34 pitches and retiring nine in his first three innings of work. The lefty Rodon (5-2) has a particularly nasty slider that gave UNC’s hitters a particularly hard time, and it was his dominance that led to a 7-3 win for N.C. State, tying up the series at a game apiece.
“Most guys’ fastballs are 88 (mph) and (Rodon’s) slider is 87, 88,” UNC’s Michael Russell, a righty, said. “On top of that, it’s sharp as can be. Tough to pick up.” Rodon would finish with 10 strikeouts in 6 2/3 innings, walking four batters and allowing two earned runs.
But as is the case when two good teams get together, nothing was easy. UNC’s ace Kent Emanuel was tested by a few N.C. State rallies on Friday night, and Rodon would be tested as well. In the top of the fourth inning, UNC’s Colin Moran reached base on a walk and very nearly tied the game at one, but N.C. State catcher Brett Austin hung on to the ball for the third out in a collision at home plate.
As UNC’s hitters saw Rodon more and more, they stretched out at-bats as much as they could and got his pitch count up. In the top of the sixth and N.C. State up 7-0, Rodon walked UNC’s Parks Jordan to load the bases with two outs. He thought he’d rung up Jordan with a slider for strike three, but the umpire thought otherwise. Then he had to rally to face lefty pinch-hitter Tom Zengel.
“I threw that slider in and it was a close call and (the umpire) called it a ball. That happens. You miss a call,” Rodon said. “(UNC) came up with a pinch hitter and another lefty. I was just like, ‘All right, I’m going to go after him.’ I think we went two fastballs. (Zengel) swung through, fouled it back and the next pitch was a fastball low and away and he took it for a strike. And then I came with a hard curveball and struck him out.”
Just like that.
Like all elite pitchers, there is another gear Rodon is able to find when the lights are brightest, or when the situation is seemingly the most dire. And as the crowd of 3,123 -- a Doak Field record -- rallied behind him, he let that energy carry him and give him a little bit of a boost for the most important pitches he threw.
“The crowd helps too when they’re clapping and it gets your adrenaline going,” Rodon said. “The crowd pumps me up, and I’ll reach back for something more.”
In Rodon’s last two starts, at Georgia Tech and then this weekend, he has allowed just four earned runs and struck out 20 while walking just four. Just two weeks ago at Boston College -- a team that was winless in the ACC until recently -- he went just two innings, allowing four hits and five earned runs, walking four. He struck out just two.
“We’re getting back there. That last outing against Georgia Tech was a good one, and this one was not a bad outing,” Rodon said, drastically understating it. “It was a good outing against a high-caliber team, No. 1 team in the nation. I think it’s a pretty good outing. So I’m getting back on track, building confidence again."
Rodon couldn’t pitch the whole game, obviously. After his 129th pitch, he went out for lefty Grant Sasser, who promptly allowed UNC’s Cody Stubbs to hit a three-run home run and cut the lead to 7-3. The Tar Heels would get no closer.
But UNC head coach Mike Fox liked the way his team responded. “I find out a little bit about (the team) while we’re losing, not after you lose, because then it’s over,” Fox said. “During the game when you’re down 7-0, we haven’t been in that position too much before and so I’m just kind of watching to see. I was proud of the fact that we hung in there, but we got outplayed.”
Neither team would be on the winning streaks they’ve been on -- N.C. State has won 16 of its last 17, while North Carolina has won 17 of its last 18 -- without a combination of luck and good play. And N.C. State head coach Elliott Avent now has his team in position to win a series against the No. 1 team in the country in Sunday’s rubber match (which is at 7:00 p.m.).
Sure, it would help the Wolfpack in the hunt for a national seed. But it’s more than that. “This series prepares you for that weekend when you’re playing in a Regional and playing for a chance to go to Omaha,” Avent said. “This weekend gets you ready for that."
