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Sliding in to home, second basemen Landon Warren scores another run for the Wolfpack Wednesday evening. Warren scored four runs on the evening, setting a new school record, and helping the pack secure a 24-1 victory over the North Carolina Central Lady Eagles. Photo by Jordan Moore
It was a rough welcome to N.C. Central for N.C. A&T transfer Aurora Baker.
N.C. State embarrassed the sophomore in her first start for the Eagles and third-ever collegiate pitching appearance, scoring a school-record 24 runs in a 24-1 win.
The win kept the Wolfpack (3-2) perfect in home openers since the opening of Curtis & Jacqueline Dail Softball Stadium in 2007, while Central lost its first game of the season in the team’s third-worst loss in program history.
“This is our first game so we have some kinks to work out,” N.C. Central coach Mike Charlton, who was a member of State’s football team before graduating in 1997, said. “We had to handle the small things, and that’s kind of where we faltered in this game.”
The small things started piling up early for the Eagles as Baker rolled her ankle during her delivery to State’s Alyssa Allbritten, just the third batter of the game. Despite this, Charlton said, Baker wanted to stay in the game.
“She wanted to stay in and continue and push through it,” Charlton said of his decision to leave her in.
Junior Allbritten made the most of her delayed at-bat, reaching base on a single with senior Claudia Cooper following with a walk. A Baker throw to first after a Stephanie Call chopper to the mound went awry, and the Pack put its first two runs on the board.
But the scoring hardly stopped there.
After State’s Morgan Peeler fanned three straight batters, Baker returned to the mound for the longest of her 5.1 career collegiate innings, which began with back-to-back doubles by sophomores Toni Ann Williford and Landon Warren. Seven hits and three errors later, Baker finally recorded her sixth out on her 101st pitch, escaping to the top half of the third with her team down 15-0. Charlton said the responsibility for the big inning didn’t rest solely on Baker’s shoulders and certainly not on her ankle, since of the 15 runs she allowed, only three of them were earned against her.
“We made some fumbles behind her too which could have gotten her out of the inning earlier,” Charlton said. “I think that had more to do with that than it did with the ankle thing.”
Cooper, who had the Pack’s lone home run in the contest along with a game-leading three RBIs, said though Baker may have been a bit off due to her ankle, the hits were carryover from the team’s weekend games.
“She looked like she struggled a little bit, but I mean we were just hitting the ball really well,” Cooper said.
And Peeler, who pitched two-hit ball in the five inning affair, appreciated the offensive output.
“It’s alwasy good when the offense shows up,” Peeler said. “It’s easy to pitch with that. You have such a good cushion and you’re not afraid to go after the hitters.”
Peeler’s only mistake of the game lost her the no-hitter and the shutout as she gave up a solo homer to Desanbra Franklin, but coach Lisa Navas was happy with her team’s play.
“We would like to take that home run on their behalf back, but I think we overall played well, especially for a cold night,” Navas said.
State plays this weekend in Tampa, Fla. in the La Quinta Inn & Suites Tournament, opening up against North Dakota State Friday at 11:15 a.m.