Big Time Performances Lead Wolfpack to Series Win Over Miami

Saturday, May 2

Raleigh, NC

7:00 p.m.

NC State

30-17, 12-12

Miami

33-14, 13-11

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Miami FL	0	0	0	5	0	2	0	0	0	7	14	3
NC State	0	2	0	0	3	0	3	4	X	12	14	2

Big Time Performances Lead Wolfpack to Series Win Over Miami

5/2/2026 11:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C.- For the first time since 2019, NC State claimed a series victory over the Miami Hurricanes, as the Wolfpack (30-17, 12-12) won Saturday's rubber match 12-7. Miami came to Raleigh having won its last six ACC series, while the Wolfpack returned to .500 in conference play. The teams combined for 28 hits to cap a high-scoring weekend.

NC State had to battle back from a deficit twice, first from 5-2 and then from 7-5, as Luke Nixon and Sherman Johnson led the Wolfpack with long balls. Nixon sent two over the fence – his seventh and eighth of the season – and finished the night with four RBIs. Johnson put the game out of reach in the eighth with a grand slam, giving the Pack a five-run advantage late, and went 3-for-5 at the plate and five RBIs

The winning run came on a single by freshman Christian Serrano, who, in just his fourth career start, singled in the winning run in the bottom of the seventh, making it 8-7. The Wolfpack would not trail the rest of the night. Serrano finished the series leading the Wolfpack with a .462 average, six hits, six runs scored, his first collegiate home run, and four RBIs.

Rett Johnson went 2-for-5 on the night to extend his team-leading hitting streak to 21 games.

With the bases loaded and nobody out in the top of the ninth while trying to protect a 12-7 lead, sophomore RHP Anderson Nance (3-1) dug deep to get the next three batters, two via strikeouts, to secure the victory.

Nance went a career-high 5.2 innings on the mound with a career-best nine strikeouts on 113 pitches. With the Pack leading 8-7 in the eighth, Miami loaded the bases with two outs. Former NC State player Alex Sosa had the chance to reclaim the lead for the Hurricanes but failed to do so with a ground out to shortstop on the first pitch of the at-bat.

Luke Hemric started the game on the mound for the Pack; he allowed five runs – four earned – on five hits before being chased in the fourth inning. Nance took over from there and went the rest of the way.

While the Wolfpack only used two pitchers, Miami used a total of six. AJ Ciscar went 6.1 innings, allowing 10 hits and six runs with one walk and four strikeouts. The Pack would score on every Hurricane reliever that followed.

The Pack struck first with two runs in the bottom of the second inning, thanks to two Hurricane errors and Brayden Fraasman's 28th RBI of the season – his fourth straight game with an RBI.

Hemric retired eight straight before running into trouble in the fourth, when Miami loaded the bases with no outs. The Hurricanes came out of the inning with a 5-2 advantage. Nance was brought in to stop the bleeding, recording the final two outs of the inning while allowing one of his inherited runners to score.

Nixon brought it back to even in the seventh with a three-run, 366-foot shot to left field, driving in three runners – his seventh long ball of the season.
The back and forth continued with the Hurricanes reclaiming the lead their next time up with a two-run double from Max Galvin.

The scoring frenzy continued with the fourth lead change in as many innings. Nixon started the Pack off with a leadoff blast, his second home run of the contest. Johnson and Serrano followed with an RBI each, giving the Wolfpack an 8-7 advantage heading into the eighth. It was Nixon's first career multi-home run game.

In the bottom of the inning, Johnson launched a grand slam to left to give the Pack a 12-7 advantage, putting the game away.

The Pack will return to action on Tuesday, May 5th, at 6 p.m., with a weekday matchup at Doak Field against North Carolina A&T.