The NC State baseball team topped Bucknell 8-2 in its season opener at Doak Field on Friday afternoon behind great pitching and an explosive offense.
Offensively, senior first baseman Evan Edwards led the team going 3 for 4 with a walk while driving in three RBIs and scoring three times. Pack junior starting pitcher Jason Parker threw five innings, giving up just one run on four hits while striking out four.
“I felt pretty good, was a little nervous before,” Parker said. “I said yesterday I really wasn’t going to be nervous. I had a little butterflies in my stomach, but after my warmup pitches I settled in and felt good.”
Edwards got the Pack on the board early to start the game. With two outs in the first inning, Edwards launched a frozen rope into deep center field. With sophomore Jonny Butler already on first with a walk, the home run put the Pack up 2-0.
“It was one of those ones when you hit it, you kind of know, but then again you never know with the so-called Doak stream,” Edwards said. “You never know which way it will be blowing so you just got to run it out either way.”
After two hitless innings, Bucknell’s Chris Cannizaro got things rolling for the Bison with a leadoff double. The Pack retired the next two batters, but a bloop single by Evan Madigan gave Bucknell its first run of the game.
The Pack wasted no time responding to Bucknell’s run. Junior shortstop Will Wilson led off the third with a stand-up double, which was soon followed with an RBI single by sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey.
Then, Edwards followed up his home run in the first inning by batting in Bailey with an RBI triple. Three walks later in the inning by Bucknell pitchers Jeff Gottesman and Nate Grisius would give the Pack a 5-1 lead heading into the fourth inning.
After a scoreless fifth inning, the Pack continued to pour in the runs. Edwards continued to use his hot bat and led off the inning with a double. Junior designated hitter Brad Debo followed Edwards with an RBI single. Edwards finished the day a single short of the cycle.
A one-out walk to freshman center fielder Tyler McDonough brought up freshman pinch hitter Thayer Thomas, who singled to center field to load the bases. Then, sophomore second baseman J.T. Jarrett popped up to the second baseman in shallow right field, but the Bucknell fielder lost control on the transfer allowing Debo to tag up from third base to make it 7-1. However, after Debo scored, McDonough was doubled off second base to end the inning.
Sophomore pitcher Dalton Feeney continued the strong pitching performance in the seventh inning. Feeney was perfect through two innings of work in the sixth and seventh, striking out four batters.
“I thought Dalton was phenomenal. He was a guy coming back from Tommy John [surgery]. He was highly touted out of high school,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “[The] guy could’ve gone to college to play football, he’s a phenomenal athlete.”
With a sacrifice fly in the eighth inning, McDonough brought fellow freshman outfielder Marek Chlup in to score. Although the Pack did not record a single hit in the frame, it was able to finish the inning with their lead increased to 8-1.
After the Pack hit two batters to put Bucknell base runners on first and second in the ninth, JohnPaul Bell raked a single into left field that narrowed the score to 8-2. Senior pitcher Nolan Clenney was able to end the game by recording a strikeout and popping out the last Bison batter.
The NC State pitching staff showed the depth today, rotating five players on the mound while striking out nine and allowing no walks. The depth included freshman Baker Nelson who pitched the eighth inning before being pulled in the ninth.
“No walks is the big key there,” Avent said. “We hit a couple guys in the ninth, on a 1-2 breaking ball, shouldn’t have happened and two strikes on another guy. That can’t happen, but the no walks thing was huge and no errors. If you can go through college baseball and not walk anybody and not make any errors, you’re going to have a chance to be in some ball games.”
After opening up the 2019 campaign with a solid win, the Pack looks to continue its strong start tomorrow against Bucknell at 2 p.m. Sophomore pitcher Canaan Silver will take the mound for the Pack.
Junior pitcher Jason Parker warms up between innings against Bucknell on Friday, Feb. 15, 2019 at Doak Field. Parker pitched five innings, striking out four and giving up four hits and one earned run on his way to recording the win in the Wolfpack’s 8-2 victory.
