The NC State baseball team defeated the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks 11-3 in an offensively dominant performance Tuesday evening at Doak Field.
The bats were the story of the game as the Wolfpack (34-12, ACC 14-10) scored 11 runs on 13 hits, including four home runs. Senior first baseman Evan Edwards had two home runs to bring his season total up to 13, sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey picked up his ninth and sophomore right fielder Terrell Tatum picked up his second to top the Seahawks (23-24).
The bottom three of the lineup combined for five hits and six RBIs to carry the Wolfpack offense.
“Every ball club has to have that,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “You’re not going to have murderer’s row, you’re not going to have the top of the lineup carry you all year. McDonough’s having an unbelievable year. Luca Tresh has done some unbelievable things. When we were playing so well, after about those first 10 games, we got it from everybody … It came from everywhere. Through the injuries and some unforeseen circumstances in some of those series, we kind of lost that a little bit.”
NC State scored the first runs of the evening in the second inning after a double by junior third baseman Dillon Cooper sailed over the glove of the UNC-W second baseman and allowed two runs to be plated.
The Pack had been in scoring position on second and third after a wild pitch by UNC-W pitcher Rian Haire advanced the two runners, junior designated hitter Brad Debo and sophomore second baseman J.T. Jarrett, who had gotten on base with a single and a walk, respectively.
The Wolfpack kept things rolling in the third with a trio of homers. Edwards connected just enough with a pitch for a one-out home run over the left-field wall and then Bailey cracked one over the right-center-field wall to give NC State a 4-0 lead over the Seahawks.
After a walk and a single following the back-to-back home runs, Tatum crushed another home run for the Wolfpack to right-center field just below the scoreboard to score three more runs for NC State.
“I feel like I’ve been seeing it a lot better than I have recently,” Tatum said. “I felt like it was time for coach to give me another opportunity. He gave me another chance, and I took the most of my opportunity. I saw a fastball down and in, and I was ready to hit fastball because that’s what the report said and my teammates before me showed me that the fastball was very hittable.”
UNC-W managed to close out the inning with the bases loaded after the Wolfpack went through an entire rotation of batters.
In the fourth inning, Debo hit an RBI double to deep left-center field to plate freshman center fielder Tyler McDonough. Right after, Tatum picked up his fourth RBI of the game with a single directly over second base that scored Debo.
The Seahawks broke the shutout in the fifth inning as shortstop Greg Jones hit a single with an error to score an unearned run and advance to third. UNC-W also plated Jones as the next batter hit an RBI single.
Edwards picked up his second home run of the evening in the fifth inning as he crushed the 3-1 pitch well over the left-center-field wall to push the Pack into double digits.
Cooper added another run for NC State in the sixth inning, his third base hit of the evening, when after he cracked a triple down the first-base line a wild pitch allowed him to run home and score.
“It feels great just to come back home and play,” Cooper said. “I feel good. We’ve been struggling a bit, but just being able to help the team win is the most important thing.”
UNC-W picked up the final run of the evening after a series of hits in the ninth inning by the Seahawks, but the Wolfpack closed it out on a double play by Tatum who caught the line drive and hurled a one-hop throw to freshman catcher Luca Tresh for the final out.
“I’ve actually never done that before, so it was one of the coolest things I’ve done in a long time,” Tatum said. “I’m just happy that Luca was able to hold onto it and put the tag on the guy so we could end the game.”
The win marks off a strong start to what the Wolfpack hopes will be a successful eight-game homestand as the season moves closer to the ACC Tournament.
“It’s always a great feeling to come home and play at the Doak, because it’s such a wonderful atmosphere for baseball,” Tatum said. “All of the fans that come to the games, they love us, and the ones who stay are the ones that really want to be here whether or not we are winning or losing. So, going through a tough stretch it’s great to see that we still can draw a crowd like we drew tonight.
NC State baseball returns to action Friday, May 3 as it takes on the Radford University Highlanders at 6:30 p.m. at Doak Field.
