The NC State baseball team was smoked by the No. 1 Arkansas Razorbacks 21-2 in the first game of the Fayetteville Super Regional on Friday, June 11.
The Wolfpack (33-18) got on the board first with a solo home run, but it all went downhill from there as the Razorbacks (50-11) scored 21 straight runs.
“Our players knew what happened tonight, and we gotta play a lot better tomorrow,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “This is not only a veteran group — it’s a smart group… Basically I said, ‘Forget this game as quickly as you can. It’s nothing to think about, nothing to dwell on. We came down here with two wins to go to Omaha, we still have two wins to go to Omaha.’”
After a scoreless first inning by both teams, the Pack drew first blood in the top of the second as freshman shortstop Jose Torres (1-4, RBI, HR) hit a solo home run to put the Pack up 1-0.
The Razorbacks responded in the bottom of the inning with a two-run home run and an RBI double to go up 3-1. After the Pack didn’t score in the top of the third, the Razorbacks hit a two-out grand slam in the bottom of the inning to go up 7-1. That inning was the last for junior starting pitcher Reid Johnston (3.0 IP, 6 H, 7 ER, 5 K).
“[Johnston] just didn’t seem like himself tonight,” Avent said. “I don’t know exactly what it was… We pulled him much earlier than normal. He just didn’t seem like typical [Johnston], so we got him out of there, and that’s when it fell off a little bit.”
The Pack had an opportunity to cut into the lead in the top of the fourth as it loaded the bases, but it couldn’t convert that scenario into any runs.
Meanwhile, the Razorbacks scored three runs in the fifth, six runs in the sixth and five runs in the eighth. The Pack was able to score one more run in the top of the ninth as junior first baseman Austin Murr (2-5, RBI) hit an RBI triple that scored freshman pinch hitter Eddie Eisert (BB) for the Pack’s second run of the game.
The Pack will now need to win the next two games to keep its season alive and avoid elimination. The next game will be Saturday, June 12 at 3 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2.
