In a wild, back-and-forth game that featured a combined 36 hits and 26 runs, the NC State baseball team beat UNC-Asheville 15-11 Tuesday night at Doak Field.
Junior left fielder Brett Kinneman and junior catcher Jack Conley each hit a home run, which gave the Wolfpack (14-3, 2-1 ACC) its 33rd on the season, second most in the NCAA.
The top four hitters in the Wolfpack’s lineup, Kinneman, senior center fielder Josh McLain, sophomore shortstop Will Wilson and junior first baseman Evan Edwards all had three or more hits, going a combined 14 for 21.
“I think we had a really good day offensively,” Kinneman said. “A lot of resiliency, having good at-bats all day.”
NC State cycled through six different pitchers, none of which reached three innings.
Freshman Evan Justice started the game for the Pack, allowing seven earned runs on six hits in his one-plus inning. Sophomore Mathieu Gauthier let up one earned run on four hits in his 2.1 innings, while redshirt junior Nolan Clenney, who was credited with the win, allowed two runs, one earned, in 2.2 innings on the mound. Sophomore Michael Bienlien allowed one earned run on one hit in his 1.2 innings and sophomore Kent Klyman struck out the lone batter he faced.
Redshirt senior Joe O’Donnell finished the game for the Wolfpack, retiring the side in order in the ninth inning. Head coach Elliott Avent didn’t think his pitchers pitched as poorly as the box score might indicate.
“I thought everyone pitched OK,” Avent said. “We had 15 [strikeouts].”
The Bulldogs (3-12) got the scoring started, plating four runs in the top of the first. A bases-loaded walk followed by a passed ball from sophomore catcher Brad Debo started the scoring and an RBI double by designated hitter Tyler Serricchio plated another run before left fielder Joe Zayatz drove in the fourth run of the inning with a groundout to first base.
The Wolfpack answered right back, scoring three runs of its own in the bottom of the inning thanks to RBI singles from Debo and right fielder Brock Deatherage, and a bases-loaded RBI walk from designated hitter Terrell Tatum.
UNC-A scored four runs again in the top of the second inning on the back of a grand slam from third baseman Brandon Lankford.
An RBI single from Edwards cut the Bulldogs lead to 8-4 at the end of the second inning before a third-inning RBI double from McLain and a two-run home run by Kinneman, his NCAA-leading 10th bomb of the year, cut into the lead even further, bringing the score to 8-7.
In the fourth inning, an RBI single by redshirt sophomore third baseman Dillon Cooper tied the game up at 8-8. Cooper then scored three batters later when Kinneman crushed a triple to straight-away center field, giving the Pack a 9-8 lead.
The Wolfpack extended its lead to 10-8 in the fifth inning with a home run from Conley, the first of his NC State career, who entered the game for Debo in the third inning.
UNC-A tied the game up at 10-10 in the sixth inning when two runs scored on a sacrifice bunt due to a throwing error by Clenney.
For the sixth inning in a row, the Wolfpack scored, plating three runs in the sixth inning. A Kinneman double down the right-field line scored one and moved McLain to third base. McLain then scored on a wild pitch, with Kinneman advancing to third. Wilson proceeded to drive in Kinneman with a double down the left-field line to put the Wolfpack on top 13-10.
The Bulldogs cut into the Wolfpack’s lead in the eighth, scoring one run on an RBI groundout from Serricchio to trim the score to 13-11.
NC State stretched its lead to 15-11 in its half of the eighth on the back of an RBI single from senior infielder Shane Shepard and a sacrifice fly by Deatherage.
Avent thought about giving his team a fiery speech after being down 4-0 and 8-3 in consecutive innings, but decided against it.
“I thought about losing it,” Avent said. “I thought about going crazy … take them back in the locker room so I can really be loud.”
Ultimately, Avent let his team outscore UNC-A by a score of 13-3 after falling behind 8-3.
“[The game] was incredible,” Kinneman said. “That was something else, for sure.”
The Pack returns to action Wednesday at Doak Field against UNC-Asheville at 3 p.m.
