CHAPEL HILL– NC State baseball secured the third seed in the ACC tournament with an 11-0 win over archrival UNC-Chapel Hill on Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. The win also secured the team’s seventh ACC series win of the season, one less than the team managed last season.
The Wolfpack (41-15, 18-12 ACC) dominated the game with 11 hits, while the Tar Heels (38-17, 17-13 ACC) could only create problems for themselves, committing four errors on the day, which led to five unearned runs.
“When you press on the other team like that on the base path it definitely puts some pressure on them,” senior first baseman Evan Edwards said. “It makes them have to make quick throws and it gets away from them sometimes. We just keep playing hard it is going to be hard on other teams.”
The Wolfpack got off to a fast start, scoring two in the first inning as Edwards hit an RBI double off the wall to score junior shortstop Will Wilson and move sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey to third. Bailey then scored to put the Wolfpack up 2-0 thanks to a ball put in play by freshman center fielder McDonough. McDonough was thrown out at first and when the first baseman went for the double play at second, Bailey took the opportunity to run home.
Right fielder Devonte Brown helped his pitcher out in the bottom of the first making two of the three outs in the inning by himself, including an impressive diving catch for the second out of the inning.
“Devonte [Brown] made a heck of a play, Jonny [Butler] ran down some balls,” Bailey said. “McDonough, I mean that kid played centerfield a week before the season and he looks like he has been there his whole life.”
The Tar Heels looked likely to answer in the bottom of the second, but with runners on first and second and two outs, Dallas Tessar hit one all the way to the warning track where it was caught by sophomore left fielder Jonny Butler.
Butler then led off what would be a high scoring third inning for the Pack. The Wolfpack added five runs, two of which were unearned, in the top of the third. The Wolfpack offense was generated by a mix of good hitting and poor fielding as the Pack recorded four hits in the inning, but the Tar Heels committed two errors.
Redshirt freshman reliever Cameron Cotter came into the game to start the third inning. Harrison gave up just one hit during his two innings pitched, largely due to some fantastic play in the outfield by Brown and Butler.
With both coaches electing to go to their bullpens early, many would think that the starting pitchers, Will Sandy and David Harrison pitched poorly, but both had decent outings on the day.
“Today is Saturday but today is Sunday’s pitching and everybody scrambles on Sunday a little bit,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “…Sandy pitched just as good as David Harrison, he got some unfortunate breaks, with the couple errors there… [Tar Heels head coach Mike Fox] had a plan, we had a plan and the errors cost him a bit.”
The Tar Heels nearly answered the Wolfpack’s emphatic inning with back-to-back singles to start the inning, but a 6-4-3 double play followed by a fly out stopped the Tar Heels in their tracks.
The double play was an excellent example of one of the things that makes this Wolfpack team so good, the fielding.
“We are fielding over .980,” Avent said. “Probably a handful of teams are fielding over .980 in the country and we are one of them. We were playing unbelievable defense during that stretch [March] where the pitchers were throwing strikes. When they didn’t throw strikes we started kicking a little bit.”
The Wolfpack was poised to add to its lead in the top of the fifth with runners on the corners and just one out. Redshirt junior third baseman Dillon Cooper went for the bunt, but the first baseman for the Tar Heels was ready and made a great diving catch on the play and threw to third to double up Brown and end the inning.
Sophomore pitcher Nick Swiney came in to relieve Cotter in the bottom of the fifth. Cotter went 2.1 innings, allowing three hits and giving up a walk during his stint on the mound.
The Wolfpack added another four runs in the seventh inning thanks to RBIs from Brown, Cooper, Butler and sophomore second baseman J.T. Jarrett.
Redshirt sophomore Dalton Feeney came in for Swiney to pitch the eighth, and would be replaced by junior Kent Klyman in the ninth. Swiney, who recorded the win for the game, pitched 2.2 innings giving up two hits, walked one batter struck out two.
With back-to-back weekend series wins over Clemson and Carolina it seems that the Wolfpack is hitting its stride at just the right time.
“I have been here for 23 years and except for one season we usually play our best baseball at the end,” Avent said. “I’m not saying we are playing our best baseball but I think we are getting there.”
With the win the Wolfpack secured the three seed in the ACC Tournament which will take place between May 21 and May 26. The schedule for the tournament should be announced Sunday morning.
“Last year we were in a good spot and it didn’t work out,” Bailey said. “You just gotta take every game and every pitch and win them one at a time.”
