Behind yet another offensive outburst, the NC State baseball team finished off a weekend sweep of Furman on Sunday with a 9-0 victory at Doak Field.
The Wolfpack (7-1) outscored the Paladins (3-4) 28-2 in the three-game series, and has now scored at least nine runs in five straight games. Junior left fielder Brett Kinneman homered in his third straight game Sunday, finishing the series hitting 9 for 14 with four home runs, eight RBIs and six runs scored.
“I’m just being fortunate to have guys getting on base in front of me,” Kinneman said. “All of our guys, one through nine, have been having great at-bats all week. Just as a team, it’s much easier to hit individually when the whole team is hitting well.”
Senior right fielder Brock Deatherage also carried some of the load offensively Sunday, going 3 for 4 with two RBIs and two runs scored, including his third home run of the season in the fifth inning. Freshman shortstop David Vazquez went 2 for 4, picking up his first career hit in the fourth inning before launching his first collegiate home run in the seventh. Vazquez tallied three RBIs and scored twice.
“It’s hard to swing the bats that good this early,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “[Kinneman] is special for me to watch every day. I just think that he’s a great baseball player. Not just a great baseball player, but he plays the game the right way. That guy has done it since he’s been here.”
Freshman left-hander David Harrison (0-1, 4.91 ERA) started on the mound, and struggled with his command despite not allowing any damage on the scoreboard. Harrison lasted just three innings, striking out four batters and allowing only two hits but also walking three hitters; throwing only 29 of his 55 pitches for strikes.
Junior righty Nolan Clenney (1-0, 1.35 ERA) picked up his first win at NC State, tossing 3.1 scoreless innings in relief of Harrison. Clenney also struggled with his command, walking four batters. Sophomore lefty Kent Klyman (1-0, 0.00 ERA) closed things out for the Pack, throwing 2.2 scoreless frames, but walked two. For the Paladins, lefty Matt Lazzaro (0-1, 7.00 ERA) started and took the loss, allowing six earned runs and 10 hits over four innings of work.
“I thought they pitched good,” Avent said. “Nine walks. That’s disappointing, and three hits. That explains it. Nine walks, you should probably give up a lot more runs than zero, and we will if we continue to do that. That’s one thing we haven’t done this year, walk anybody. Today that was disappointing.”
After an empty first inning, State scored in four consecutive frames to jump ahead to a 7-0 lead through five innings. Deatherage and redshirt sophomore third baseman Dillon Cooper scored in the second, both coming around on sacrifice outs from junior catcher Jack Conley and Vazquez, respectively.
Kinneman blasted a 1-0 pitch over the wall in right-center field in the third for his fourth home run of the series. Junior designated hitter Evan Edwards also came around to score in the third inning, tagging-up from third on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Deatherage. Hitting a home run in three straight games is an impressive feat, and something Kinneman isn’t sure he’s ever done before.
“I don’t know, I’m not really sure,” Kinneman said. “Maybe when I was younger, but that might be the first time for that.”
NC State added two more runs in the fourth inning, the third straight two-run frame for the Wolfpack. Vazquez led things off with a double and came around to score on a sac fly from senior center fielder Josh McLain. Kinneman added the other run to make it 6-0; singling, stealing second and scoring on an Edwards double.
Deatherage added the lone tally in the fifth inning, sending just the second pitch from Furman reliever Nik Verbeke over the right-field fence for his third home run of the season, matching his total from 2017 in just eight games this year.
Vazquez fully connected on a 1-1 pitch in the seventh inning, launching the ball over the wall in deep left-center field for his first home run to put the Pack up 9-0. Conley scored on the long ball after hitting a single through the left side of the infield.
“It feels great. It’s the best feeling in the world,” Vazquez said. “I saw he had two fingers on the slider grip, so I knew it was some kind of slider or slurve coming up the next pitch. Lucky for me I just saw it and he left it hanging. Put a good swing on it.”
NC State will get right back to it Monday, as the Wolfpack hosts Air Force at Doak Field at 2 p.m.
