NC State baseball fell 8-2 in the series opener on the road to ACC opponent Louisville on Friday at Jim Patterson Stadium.
The Cardinals (20-9, 6-7 ACC) held the Wolfpack (23-6, 9-4 ACC) to three hits, and the Wolfpack could not recover after senior starting pitcher Johnny Piedmonte gave up a grand slam in the third inning.
The first two innings were uneventful but in the bottom of the third, Piedmonte walked two batters to load the bases when Cards first baseman Logan Wyatt hit a grandslam to put the Cardinals on the board first.
In the bottom of the sixth, the Cards tacked on a pair of runs to increase their lead to 6-0.
The Pack tried to respond in the seventh as sophomore infielder Will Wilson reached third on an error from outfielder Drew Campbell. The inning did not result in any other offense from the Pack.
Senior center fielder Josh McLain was responsible for the Pack’s only offense of the night with a two-run homer over the left field wall in the top of the eighth inning to make it 6-2 Louisville.
The Cardinals responded in the bottom of the eighth with two more runs before the Pack showed no life in the ninth and Louisville won 8-2.
The Pack and the Cardinals face off in game two tomorrow from Jim Patterson Stadium at 1 p.m.
