Starling's Cycle Lifts Pirates Past Wolfpack

No. 21 NC State (22-16, 12-9 ACC) fell on the road to No. 7 East Carolina (32-8, 11-4 American) Tuesday evening at Clark-LeClair Stadium, 10-6.

The Pirates’ Jacob Starling provided the most offense for the game as the Orlando, Fla. native hit for the cycle. Starling drove home four of ECU’s 10 runs while scoring just once to cap off the 4-for-4 showing at the plate.

On an evening in which the Wolfpack utilized seven total pitchers, Jacob Dudan (2-2, 6.00 ERA) picked up the loss after allowing four runs on five hits and one walk over 1-1/3 innings of relief. Jaxon Lucas got the start against the raucous home crowd while Shane Van Dam pitched the longest for the boys from Raleigh, racking up three innings of work.

The Pirates drew first blood with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Jacob Jenkins-Cowart plated Ryley Johnson on a sacrifice fly to left field before Starling tripled off the wall in right-center field to drive Carter Cunningham home. The lead would hold for ECU until the top of the third inning when State would start to turn the tide.

Garrett Pennington reached base on a one-out, full-count walk. Josh Hogue then drilled a two-run home run over the wall in right field to tie the game. Alec Makarewicz and Jacob Cozart would keep the homer train rolling with back-to-back solo shots to right-center field and right field, respectively, for three straight hits to clear the ballpark for the Wolfpack who led to that point, 4-2. However, the next frame saw Starling hit a solo home run and Bristol Carter drive Dixon Williams home with an infield single to tie the game at four runs apiece.

One inning later, the Pirates regained the lead. Starling continued his hot evening with an RBI single to bring Johnson home, followed by Cunningham crossing the plate on a groundout by Williams. East Carolina would tack on two more runs in the sixth. After a leadoff triple by Johnson, Cunningham drove him home with a double down the right-field line. A groundout back to the mound moved Cunningham to third base, putting him in position to score on a sacrifice fly by Starling to make it an 8-4 ballgame.

The Wolfpack chipped away at the deficit with a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning. Hogue led off with a base hit. Makarewicz followed with a single of his own with Hogue, after racing to third on the play, scoring as a result of Jenkins-Cowart’s throw sailing into the East Carolina dugout. With Makarewicz at third base at the end of the play, Cozart drove him home with a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat.

Justin Wilcoxen would extend the Pirates’ lead back to three with a solo home run following the seventh-inning stretch. The final run of the game came in the bottom of the eighth when Williams drove Nathan Chrismon home with a single to right field after the latter entered as a pinch-runner following Starling’s cycle-clinching double.

The Wolfpack returns home for a three-game series against Ball State beginning Friday, April 26. First pitch from Doak Field is scheduled for 6 p.m.