For the fourth straight year, a regional final has brought an end to the NC State baseball team’s season, as Auburn throttled the Pack 15-7 at Doak Field Sunday night.
The Wolfpack (42-18) went down 7-0 early, and was never able to catch up to Auburn (42-21), which booked its ticket to a super regional. Tigers’ first baseman Josh Anthony led the way offensively, going 4 for 5 with 5 RBIs. Freshman catcher Patrick Bailey stayed hot for NC State, going 3 for 5 with two doubles.
“Obviously any loss, anyway to end the season is heartbreaking,” senior outfielder Brock Deatherage said. “You’re going to feel the same regardless. Tip of your hat to Auburn. They swung the bat well; they made the plays. Their staff did their job.”
Freshman left-hander David Harrison got the start for the Pack, but it didn’t last long. After tacking on a run in the first frame, the Tigers jumped on the Rocky Mount, North Carolina native early in the second, doubling down the left field line, reaching on an error and scoring on a sac fly to push the lead to 2-0. Another double scored Auburn’s third run of the game and chased Harrison from the game.
Harrison threw only 1.1 innings, surrendering four runs, two earned runs, three hits and a walk.
Redshirt senior closer Joe O’Donnell entered the game much earlier than usual in the second inning to try and get the game under control, and fared no better than Harrison. In his last game as a member of the Pack, O’Donnell got touched up for four hits and three runs in 2.1 innings, exiting with the bases loaded in the fourth inning and the Pack down 7-0.
“Joe started a couple of years ago. He’s played every role,” Avent said. “That’s a role he hadn’t been in in a while. He pitched great, but right now Auburn’s got an offensive ball club. Unfortunately, a couple of the errors we made … there were a couple of errors we made that cost some runs. We knew we were going to have to use everybody tonight; we knew we were thin.”
Sophomore Michael Bienlien entered for O’Donnell, working a six-pitch strikeout to leave the bases loaded. Bienlien was able to settle things down for NC State for a bit, pitching three strong innings before exiting in the eighth.
Auburn starter Andrew Mitchell cruised through three frames and even brought a no-hitter into the fourth inning, but ran into trouble as the Wolfpack bats came alive.
Junior left fielder Brett Kinneman walked to start the inning and advanced to second on a groundout. Bailey continued his hot streak as he ripped an automatic double to drive in Kinneman and break up the no-hitter.
Junior first baseman Evan Edwards followed up a walk in his first at-bat by singling to center field and Deatherage roped a two-RBI triple to pull NC State within four runs at 7-3.
Auburn answered right back, getting one run back in the fifth inning to make it 8-3. A perfectly executed hit-and-run scored a runner from first on a double down the left-field line, giving the Tigers a run for the fifth straight inning to start the game.
NC State squandered a golden opportunity to get back into the game in the seventh inning, as Kinneman watched strike three with the bases loaded to end the inning and leave the Pack still trailing 8-3.
Auburn took advantage, piling on five more runs in an error-filled eighth inning.
In what ended up being his last at-bat in an NC State uniform, senior Shane Shepard took Auburn pitcher Cody Greenhill deep to right field for a three-run home run to cut the lead to 13-6.
Auburn tacked on two more runs in the ninth and NC State plated a run of its own before the game ended, but it wasn’t enough as the Tigers took the game, 15-7 to eliminate the Wolfpack from the regional.
Sophomore infielder Will Wilson embraces senior infielder Stephen Pitarra before playing Auburn at Doak Field on Sunday. The game would be Pitarra’s last with NC State, as the Wolfpack lost 15-7 and were eliminated from the NCAA Tournament.
