PACK9 WEEKLY RECAP: Pack Sweeps Panthers to Open ACC Play
No. 5 NC State (15-0, 3-0 ACC) continued the best start in program history last weekend against Pittsburgh (6-7, 0-3 ACC), sweeping the Panthers to remain one of only two undefeated teams left in the country.
FRIDAY — NC State 4, Pittsburgh 3
The Wolfpack opened its series against Pitt with a comeback win Friday afternoon to take the series opener at Doak Field, 4-3.
Despite five shutout innings from junior right-handed pitcher Jason Parker, the Panthers took the lead in the sixth inning and padded its advantage one inning later with runs off of freshman right-hander Baker Nelson and sophomore left-hander Evan Justice. However, after the Wolfpack regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh, junior righty Michael Bienlien (2-0, 0.00 ERA) and junior southpaw Kent Klyman dispatched the Pitt offense with an inning apiece to pick up the win and save, respectively.
Freshman center fielder Tyler McDonough drove in the game’s first run in the bottom of the first with a bases-loaded fielder’s choice that brought junior shortstop Will Wilson home to score. The Pack was held in check until their three-run seventh inning rally.
With NC State again in a bases-loaded situation, senior first baseman Evan Edwards reached on a fielder’s choice that included a Pitt error that allowed both junior right fielder Lawson McArthur and redshirt freshman pinch-runner Thayer Thomas to score. Shortly thereafter, sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey drove in sophomore left fielder Jonny Butler with a fielder’s choice of his own.
SATURDAY — NC State 21, Pittsburgh 3
The Panthers started stronger than they had the previous game with three runs in the first inning, but after that mishap the Wolfpack bludgeoned the Pitt pitching in a game with a score more indicative of a football matchup, 21-3.
With sophomore southpaw Canaan Silver getting pulled after just 2/3 of an inning of work, junior right-hander Andrew Blake (1-0, 6.43 ERA) stepped up with a strong showing to pick up the win after 4.1 innings of shutout baseball. The Lewisville, N.C. native struck out five batters while only giving up one hit and two walks.
Bailey led the way for the NC State offense with a 3-for-3 performance in which he tripled once, doubled twice, scored three times, and drove in two runs. Sophomore second baseman J.T. Jarrett also went 3-for-4 at the plate with an RBI and two runs scored.
Thomas and freshman catcher Luca Tresh also hit their first collegiate home runs in the bottom of the seventh in Saturday’s slugfest. For Thomas, that was the first homer for an NC State football player since current Seattle Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson last did so in 2010.
After the Panthers’ three-run first inning, the Pitt defense committed an error that allowed Butler and Wilson to score, cutting the Steel City cats’ lead to just a run. Junior designated hitter Brad Debo tied the game with an RBI single to plate Bailey in the bottom of the third.
The floodgates broke open in the fourth with eight NC State runs getting tacked onto the scoreboard. The Wolfpack sent 13 batters to the plate, the Panthers made two pitching changes, and all but two batters who came to bat had at least one hit during the frame.
After McDonough singled Bailey home in the fifth and the back-to-back bombs by Tresh and Thomas in the seventh, the Pack sent seven more runners home in the eighth. Continuing their success from the inning before, Tresh and Thomas both had RBI hits and scored in the inning.
SUNDAY — NC State 6, Pittsburgh 5
Pitt managed to negate an early NC State lead in the series finale, but the Wolfpack managed to secure the sweep Sunday afternoon by holding on for the win, 6-5.
Sophomore righty Reid Johnston started on the mound and pitched for five innings before sophomore southpaw Nick Swiney (1-0, 11.12 ERA) and redshirt sophomore right-hander Dalton Feeney finished the rest of the way. Swiney picked up the win while Feeney earned his third save of the season.
Bailey kicked off Sunday’s scoring with a two-run double in the first that brought Butler and Wilson home. Sophomore second baseman David Vazquez then scored in the second inning on a Panther balk. Pittsburgh’s David Yanni tied the score in the sixth inning with a three-run home run.
After Yanni’s bomb, NC State broke the tie in the home half of the sixth. McArthur drove freshman third baseman Vojtech Mensik home with a single. Later in the inning, Wilson drew a bases-loaded walk to bring Tresh home. In the next innning, McArthur replicated Wilson’s feat with a walk that plated Bailey. Though Pitt managed to score twice in the top of the eighth, NC State held on for the Wolfpack’s 15th win of the season.
NC State returns to action Tuesday at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte as the Wolfpack takes on the 49ers. First pitch is set for 7 p.m.