No. 9 NC State certainly had to work for head coach Elliott Avent’s 800th career victory, prevailing 7-6 over Virginia with a wild walk-off finish after two Wolfpack comebacks to win the series Sunday at Doak Field at Dail Park.

State (19-7, 8-4 ACC) rallied from a 3-0 deficit to take a 5-3 lead into the ninth, only to have that evaporate before two runs in the bottom half sealed the win. The Pack loaded the bases in the bottom of the ninth with one out, tied the game on Logan Ratledge’s RBI single, then won it on the next at-bat when Virginia catcher Keith Werman was pulled off the plate by an errant throw home. See video highlights.

“Unbelievable game,” said NC State head coach Elliott Avent. “I’m so proud of the way these guys battled. The [800th] win is special, I didn’t know until after the game, but it makes me think of all the people that have come through this program, and all the former players that still keep in touch. It puts a smile on my face to think about that.”

Ratledge hit his first collegiate homer earlier in the ballgame to kickstart the Pack’s first comeback, and finished 2-for-3 with two RBIs and a run. Jake Fincher went 3-for-4 with a run and two stolen bases to improve to 12 for the season. Danny Canela came through with an RBI on a sac fly to give NC State the lead in the seventh, part of his 1-for-2, one RBI, one run, two walk effort. Chris Diaz went 2-for-5 with a run. Tarran Senay hit the Wolfpack’s lone double in a 2-for-4 day. Trea Turner, Brett Austin, and Andrew Ciencin each had an RBI.

Reliever Danny Healey (3-0) represented the last man standing out of the Wolfpack bullpen on a day that saw State use a season-high seven pitchers. Healey went 2/3 of an inning, holding Virginia hitless. Starter Logan Jernigan left after four innings, allowing three runs, all earned, on four hits, with one walk and three strikeouts. Vance Williams went 2 2/3 shutout innings as the third pitcher of the game, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Justin Thompson (2-1) took the loss for Virginia (18-10-1, 6-6 ACC) after pitching the final inning, surrendering two runs, one earned, on four hits and two walks. Starter Artie Lewicki lasted 5 1/3 innings, holding State to two runs, both earned, on five hits and one walk, while striking out four.

Virginia broke through for a 1-0 lead in the top of the fourth, scoring on a fielding error. Branden Cogswell led off the inning with a single to left. After a failed bunt attempt for the first out, Jared King singled through the right side on a perfectly executed hit and run to put runners on the corners. A one-out grounder to second fell out of Matt Bergquist’s glove as he tried to make the toss to second, plating Cogswell. Jernigan induced another double play ball from the next batter to end the inning.

The Cavs added a pair in the fifth. Nate Irving started the inning with a flare to right, then advanced to second on a wild pitch. Jernigan walked the next batter and left the game. Travis Orwig came in, walking one to load the bases for Williams. A sac fly scored one, and a squeeze play added the second to make it 3-0.

Ratledge led off the bottom of the fifth with his first collegiate homerun to cut the lead to 3-1. Fincher followed one out later with a single to right, went to second on a sac bunt, and stole third, but ended up stranded there.

State continued its comeback bid in the sixth, trimming the lead to 3-2. Canela scored the run after driving a one-out single to center. Senay pushed him to third with a double between the fielders in deep left center. Ciencin drove in the run on a foul ball to right, which Colin Harrington tracked down on a tremendous effort, flipping over the bullpen wall.

The Wolfpack leapt in front, 4-3, in the seventh. Fincher led off with a single, then stole second. Turner grounded out to move him to third. Austin fell behind 1-2, but fouled off five-straight before grooving a groundball under the diving third baseman’s glove for the game-tying RBI single. A hit and run helped Diaz single through the right side to put runners at the corners with one out. Kyle Crockett came in for Shane Halley, and gave up a sac fly to Canela to score the go-ahead run.

Virginia loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but Chris Overman helped the Pack escape with the lead intact. A lead-off single, followed by a wicked hop on a grounder to third for an error put runners on first and second. D.J. Thomas relieved Ryan Wilkins there, striking out his first batter before giving up a single to load the bases. Overman came in after the single, and struck out his first batter, then popped up the next to end the threat.

The Pack stretched the lead to 5-3 in the eight. Ciencin led off the inning with a single to left. Ratledge bunted him over, and Bergquist made it runners at the corners with an infield single to first. A popped up bunt attempt gave Virginia the second out, but Turner chopped a ball over the third baseman’s head to score Ciencin.

The Cavaliers scored three runs in the ninth to retake the lead. Overman walked the first two batters of the inning, and a sac bunt moved them both into scoring position. Stephen Bruno came up with the game’s biggest hit to that point, a triple off the wall in right center to tie it up, 5-5, with one away. Healey entered the game, walking one and giving up a sac fly to score Bruno from third for the go-ahead run.

State had a few more bullets left in the chamber, though, scoring a pair in the bottom of the ninth for the win. Diaz rocketed a single up the middle, narrowly missing the grasp of Virginia’s shortstop. Canela walked behind him, and Bryan Adametz entered to pinch run. John Gianis bunted the pair into scoring position. Virginia intentionally walked Ciencin to load the bases with one out. Ratledge looped a single to right for the game-tying RBI. Bergquist finished the deal with a chopper to third, with Adametz scoring as the errant throw home pulled Virginia’s catcher off the plate.

– News release

The NC State Gymnastics program has been selected to host a 2012 Collegiate Women’s Gymnastics Championships regional, according to an announcement by the NCAA on Monday. The Wolfpack will also compete and be joined in the Raleigh Regional by Florida, Kent State, North Carolina, Ohio State and Penn State.

The action will get under way on Saturday, April 7 at 4 p.m., in Reynolds Coliseum. NC State will begin the meet on vault and then have a bye before competing on bars and beam. The Pack will then have another bye followed by competition on floor to close out the day.

NC State enters the regional currently ranked 20th nationally with a Regional Qualifying Score of 195.870, which is used for seeding. Florida is the top seed nationally with a RQS of 197.445. Ohio State and Penn State are the 12th and 13th seeds with an RQS of 196.245 and 196.230, respectively. Kent State is ranked 26th with a RQS of 195.400, while North Carolina has a 195.010.

In addition to the six teams that will be competing to advance to the team finals, five all-around competitors and one individual event specialist for every event have also been invited to the regional for a chance to advance as an individual. The gymnasts that are not on a qualifying team were selected to participate in the regional by having a RQS of 9.4 or better.

The top two teams, along with the top two all-around competitors (from teams who are not already advancing) will advance to the national championships in Duluth, Ga., held at the Gwinnett Center April 20-22.

Five of the eight teams in the East Atlantic Gymnastics League (EAGL) received bids to the NCAA tournament, including Maryland, West Virginia, North Carolina, New Hampshire, and NC State.

– News Release

After NC State’s defeat at the hands of Kansas, Coach Mark Gottfried said he and the team was crushed but he said he hopes the team focuses on where the team started compared to where they ended up. The first year coach took the Wolfpack to the Sweet 16 for the first time in nearly a decade and to the NCAA Tournament for the first time in six years.

“I’m extremely proud. One thing I said to our guys was the entire Wolfpack nation, whether alumni, the city of Raleigh, our community, these guys helped generate some excitement for our school. And I said thank you for that. We were disappointed today but we’ll step back and look at what was accomplished.”

– Mark Gottfried, NC State head coach

“Much of the talk leading into the Midwest Region semifinal between No. 3 seed Kansas and No. 11 seed North Carolina centered around the Wolfpack’s late-season resurgence, a run that had conjured up memories of Jim Valvano and the school’s glory days. But what became apparent Friday night after Kansas held on late for a 60-57 victory is that the Jayhawks are in the midst of their own resurrection – progressing from a team many felt would be Coach Bill Self’s least talented since coming to Lawrence, Kan., in 2003 into a squad that suddenly finds itself on the cusp of the Final Four.”

– Mark Giannotto, The Washington Post

“N.C. State (24-13) went from one of the last at-large teams in the NCAA tournament field to the Sweet 16 but could not get back to its first Final Eight appearance since 1986. N.C. State, riding a rocket of confidence, led by 10 points early and 33-32 at the half, with 12 first-half points from sophomore forward C.J. Leslie. Foul trouble early in the second half for Leslie, in perhaps his last college game, derailed the Pack’s upset hopes. Kansas started the second half with a 12-2 run to take control of the game.”

– J.P. Giglio, The News & Observer

“We knew we could be a really dangerous team and we started to click near the end of the year. We ended up making it to the Sweet 16 but especially from the guys we are not satisfied. We have some good talent coming in and some good talent returning so hopefully next year we can build on this.”

– Scott Wood, NC State player

“Sunday’s win against third-seeded Georgetown proved that this program doesn’t have to wait until the arrival of its heralded Class of 2012 to return to national relevance. N.C. State earned its first Sweet 16 appearance since 2005.”

– Jeff Goodman, CBSSports.com

“Eleven months ago, N.C. State was a program without a coach, ridiculed by the national media as the little brother to national powers North Carolina and Duke and as a job no one wanted, except Mark Gottfried. Gottfried, the first N.C. State coach since Jim Valvano to win 24 games in a season, beamed as he walked off the court at Nationwide Arena arm-and-arm with Brown. He took a team that went 15-16 a year ago into the Sweet 16 for the first time since 2005 and only the second time since 1989.”

– J.P. Giglio, Raleigh News & Observer

“John Wooden once told me, ‘Coach, don’t give them too much too fast, they might start expecting that every year.’ Well, we failed in that category already.”

– Mark Gottfried, NC State head coach

“One of the first things I said to Coach Gottfried when I met him was, ‘I don’t want this to be a rebuilding year. I don’t want to just play to get better. I think we’ve got talent and the pieces that we could be a dominant team.'”

– Scott Wood, NC State player

“After five miserable seasons away from the tournament, the Wolfpack is making the most of this trip. First, it dispatched of an overmatched San Diego State team. Then it excelled inside and out against a tough Georgetown group that entered the tournament as the nation’s No. 15 team.”

– Clark Leonard, The Shelby Star

Most analysts thought going into the ACC Tournament that the NC State Wolfpack, despite a 9-7 record in the ACC, would need a couple of victories to earn a birth into the NCAA Tournament. After the No. 5 seeded Pack defeated the No. 4 seeded Virginia Cavaliers, they got that second win – and one over a good team.

The Wolfpack defeated the Cavaliers 67-64 despite making just eight of 18 free throw attempts.

The win in the first round against Boston College may have been enough to get State into the tourney depending on what happens with other games across the country but the win against the Cavaliers gives the Wolfpack a very strong case. One of the things the selection committee looks for is how a team finishes the season, and a good showing the ACC Tournament is helpful. An upset of No. 1 ranked North Carolina on Saturday afternoon would erase any doubt about the Wolfpack getting into the NCAA Tournament.

State now stands at 22-11 and will likely go to the tournament, under first-year coach Mark Gottfried, for the first time in nearly a decade.