Greenville, N.C.–With an NCAA at-large bid already out of its reach, the Wolfpack entered Wednesday night’s game with No. 17 East Carolina with nothing to lose other than the pride of a program playing one of its in-state rival. But the Pack (19-18) failed to score as it fell 7-0 at East Carolina (27-10) in front of a packed crowd of 4,902 in Clark-LeClaire Stadium.
Freshman Cory Mazzoni (1-4), who seemed like he was back on track after allowing only one run in six innings against UNC Wilmington last week, struggled in his start against the Pirates. Mazzoni allowed three runs and six hits in four innings of work Wednesday night. According to coach Elliott Avent, Mazzoni is starting to return to his early season form.
“Cory [Mazzoni] was a lot better pitcher in the fall. Unfortunately, he’s gotten off to a rough start with us. That guy’s got good stuff. He’s going to be a great pitcher at N.C. State. He just got off to a bad start in the spring,” Avent said. “He had a great outing last week. This was a good outing, but it’s a tough night to pitch. There is a great hitting ballclub at East Carolina, and this is a hitterís ballpark.”
East Carolina’s first two runs followed a costly misjudgment in the second inning. With a runner on second and one out, Dallas Poulk stopped a ball hit to the left side of the infield, but failed to recognize that the runner on second was halfway to third base. Instead of trying to get the lead runner, he threw late to first, and as a result, both base runners were safe at the corners. Freshman left fielder Pratt Maynard said practice would not be fun today.
“It’s going to be bad, [coach Avent is] going to be mad,” Maynard said. “We’re going to have a hard practice, but hopefully we’ll clean it up this weekend and finish strong.”
State brought in reliever Joey Cutler to replace Mazzoni in the fifth inning. Cutler, who carried a 3.80 ERA into the contest, was only able to manage one out after allowing four runs on five hits. Meanwhile, East Carolina starter Kevin Brandt threw for a career-high 6.2 innings allowing three hits and no runs while striking out three Pack Batters.
State scattered four hits during the shutout while allowing the Pirates to hit thirteen. Maynard, one of four State players to record a hit, said the Pack did not have enough energy in the game.
“I don’t think we came ready to play,” Maynard said. “We didn’t have a lot of energy at the start of the game, and I think it just carried over from there.”
Redshirt freshman Russell Wilson saw action for just the 10th game this season, pinch hitting for third baseman Drew Martin. Wilson, who carried a .222 batting average into the game, grounded out to shortstop.
Now just one game above .500, State’s only hope to make the postseason is through conference play. The Pack’s record of 7-11 in the ACC has the team in 10th place in the conference standings. State must finish in the top eight to qualify for the ACC Tournament.
“We’re putting more emphasis on the conference,” Avent said. “Obviously, it looks like [ECU] is putting more emphasis on the week. They pitched a lot of their weekend starters against us, and we’re trying to get ready for the weekend, so it’s a little bit of a difference.”
The Wolfpack will take on No.15 Florida State at Doak Field Friday afternoon at 6:30 p.m.
