JACKSONVILLE, FLA. - After a sloppy loss in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament, the N.C. State baseball team came out firing on all cylinders Thursday night.

Clayton Shunick pitched a shutout, and the Wolfpack banged out 17 hits and dominated from start to finish on its way to a mercy-rule shortened 10-0 victory over Clemson in seven innings.

"[Wednesday] night was obviously hard for our whole ballclub, and we had to live with it for all night and most of the afternoon and all day today," N.C. State coach Elliott Avent said. "It was nice to get back on the field today, and obviously when you have Clayton Shunick going that makes you feel pretty good."

The win gives fourth-seeded N.C. State (38-19) a chance to advance to Sunday's championship game with a win over Miami at 1 p.m. on Saturday, but it will need a little help. The Wolfpack needs a Clemson win over Georgia Tech to avoid falling into a three-way tie with Miami and Tech. If all three teams finish pool play at 2-1, Miami will win the tiebreaker and advance as the highest seed.

"The tournament is tough, and it's a lot of tough teams in it, and we also need a little help in it right now," Avent said.

With the sting of Wednesday's loss certainly fresh on the players' minds, the Wolfpack exploded for six runs in the first inning. State had already scored two runs when Chris Schaeffer's single brought home Marcus Jones and Pat Ferguson to make it 4-0. Tommy Foschi, who was ejected from Wednesday's opener for running over Georgia Tech catcher Jason Haniger, followed with his first homer of the season to make it 6-0.

"We had great at-bats tonight," Avent said. "Hopefully they can continue through the rest of the season."

It was more than plenty for Shunick. The first-team All-ACC pitcher was stellar. He carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning and allowed only two hits while striking out eight.

Clemson threatened in the fifth, when Doug Hogan singled and Wilson Boyd doubled. But Shunick got Matt Sanders to line out to shortstop, and he needed just three pitches to strike out John Hinson and end the inning.

"The way Shunick was pitching tonight, it was going to be tough to scratch any runs at all," Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.

Jeremy Synan walked to open the second, and Ryan Pond singled behind him. Ferguson drove home Synan with an RBI single, and Jones' towering sacrifice fly to center allowed Pond to score to push the Wolfpack's lead to eight.

Foschi led off the third with a single, advanced to second on Drew Martin's sacrifice bunt and then scored when Dallas Poulk singled up the middle. Ferguson's sacrifice fly to center in the sixth scored Synan, giving the Wolfpack the necessary 10-run lead for the mercy rule.

Each N.C. State starter recorded a hit in the game, and Synan, Pond, and Schaeffer each contributed three hits.