Coming off a disappointing loss to Campbell Tuesday night, the NC State baseball team came up with its best performance of the season Friday night, beating No. 1 Louisville 3-1 at Doak Field.
The Pack (13-10, 4-3 ACC) got a strong performance from senior starting pitcher Sean Adler. In 5.2 innings pitched, he gave up four hits and one earned run and struck out seven Cardinals (19-2, 6-1 ACC) batters on 85 pitches. Louisville starter Brendan McKay, who came into the game leading the conference in both ERA at .36 and batting average at .466, gave up six hits and three earned runs–the most he has surrendered this season–and struck out a whopping 14 batters in seven innings pitched.
“It’s the best we’ve played all year,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “You have to play like this to beat Brendan McKay and beat Louisville. That’s a really good ball club and he’s a really good pitcher; as a matter of fact, if he doesn’t get Player of the Year, I know it’s early, but I can tell you he is the leading candidate for National Player of the Year.”
The Pack managed to dent McKay early; junior first baseman Stephen Pitarra chopped one to second that Louisville second baseman Devin Mann bobbled, allowing Pitarra to get on with what was ruled an infield single.
McKay struck freshman second baseman Will Wilson and junior center fielder Josh McLain out looking, but freshman designated hitter Brad Debo roped an RBI double to to the left-field wall to give the Pack a 1-0 lead.
“Everything [McKay] throws is for a strike,” Debo said. “So you’re going to get something to hit.”
NC State tacked on another run in the opening inning, as junior third baseman Evan Mendoza smacked an RBI double to center that scored Debo and put the Pack up 2-0. Mendoza was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a triple and take third, ending the inning with the Pack up two runs.
“It was good,” Avent said. “[Pitarra] gets on [base] to lead the game off; he gets to second. We got a couple big doubles. You don’t want to make the third out at third, but I’ll tell you what, I love the way we played tonight. Mendoza going to third base and getting thrown out, I loved that. Being aggressive, he smashed that ball and ran hard, you’ve got to have that kind of enthusiasm and aggressiveness. I think we lost some of that; it was good to see that come back.”
The Cardinals threatened in the top of the second when junior first baseman Drew Ellis reached on a single with one out and was moved to second on a groundout. With two outs, sophomore Josh Stowers hit a single to leftfield, appearing to bring Ellis home.
Wolfpack sophomore left fielder Brett Kinneman rifled a throw to home for his second outfield assist of the season and the fifth runner the Pack has thrown out at the plate this year.
Adler cruised through the third, fourth and fifth innings, only allowing one Louisville batter to get on base with a walk.
“As the game progressed, I got a better feel,” Adler said. “It was looking better. I was happy with the slider; fastball command was huge. For the most part, I felt good with my stuff.”
The Pack tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth; junior catcher Andy Cosgrove smashed a solo home run over the left-field wall to make it 3-0 NC State.
Louisville got on the scoreboard in the top of the sixth, as junior shortstop Devin Hairston lined a double into the right-field corner to score junior catcher Colby Fitch from second and cut the Pack’s lead to 3-1. Adler then walked McKay to put runners on first and second with no outs, ending the Southpaw’s night after 5.2 innings as Avent brought in senior reliever Joe O’Donnell.
O’Donnell induced a groundout to short from Ellis to end the threat and keep the Pack up by a pair.
“That was a huge win for us,” O’Donnell said. “We’ve been preparing all week for it. We were ready to play today and it’s really big for our confidence for the rest of the year.”
The Cards pressured again in the top of the seventh, getting a single from senior right fielder Colin Lyman to lead it off. Lyman stole second and freshman third baseman Tyler Fitzgerald singled to third with two outs to put runners on the corners. O’Donnell came up big, however, striking out senior center fielder Logan Taylor looking to end the threat and keep the Wolfpack’s lead at 3-1.
Stowers tripled off O’Donnell with two outs in the bottom of the ninth. Senior outfielder Ryan Summers came in to pinch hit with Stowers on third, but O’Donnell struck him out swinging, giving him the 3.1-inning save. The righthander allowed three hits and struck out five on 52 pitches, sealing the win in game one against the top team in the country.
The Wolfpack will continue its series against Louisville at Doak Field at 1 p.m. Saturday.
