The No. 13 NC State baseball team defeated No. 17 UNC-Chapel Hill 6-4 Thursday night on Doak Field at Dail Park.
Despite some unsteady Wolfpack (33-17, 14-12 ACC) pitching early on, putting the team in a 2-0 hole, a large NC State pitching staff kept the Tarheels (33-20, 12-16 ACC) from doing any more damage until the offense finally came around.
Wolfpack junior starting pitcher Cory Wilder (4.91 ERA, 3-3) struggled in what ended up being a short night of work. While he only gave up one hit, he hit two UNC batters, walked one and gave up one run before being pulled with the bases loaded and two outs in the top of the first inning.
“Cory has been very, very good for us for three years and he’s been very good lately,” NC State head coach Elliott Avent said. “He just got off to a slow start where he couldn’t get in a rhythm. I couldn’t give him time, this time of the year, to get in a rhythm.”
Senior righthander Chris Williams (1.98 ERA, 2-0) took the mound, striking out the first batter he faced and getting the Wolfpack out of the jam, only trailing 1-0. Just like Wilder, Williams struggled with command at times, hitting one batter, allowing two hits and one run in just one full inning of work.
Senior lefty Travis Orwig (0.63 ERA, 1-0) became the third State pitcher to take the mound in the first two innings. After throwing a wild pitch and walking the first batter he faced to load the bases, he struck out the next to get out of the inning down 2-0.
“When we got out of those first two innings 2-0, I thought we were very fortunate,” Avent said. “I thought Chris Williams did a great job. That was a good sign, and our guys just stuck with it like they always have.”
Orwig became the first Pack pitcher to find a consistent groove and have some sustained success, retiring eight of nine batters he faced and allowing just one hit in 2.2 innings of relief. Freshman righty Austin Staley (2.66 ERA, 1-1) replaced Orwig in the fifth inning.
The Wolfpack relievers did a good enough job to hold serve, keeping it a 2-0 game, until the bats got going. After only managing two hits — both infield singles — through the first five innings, the NC State offense showed signs of life in the sixth, putting up four hits and three runs to take a 3-2 lead.
“I thought our relievers were the story of the game,” Avent said. “I thought our relievers, and I thought our bats, were so good that we actually were able to cash in, [in the sixth and seventh].”
With two outs and a runner on third, junior first baseman Preston Palmeiro singled, scoring a run, and beginning a string of two-out hits. Sophomore shortstop Joe Dunand followed suit with a double to right center, where a fielding error allowed Palmeiro to score all the way from first. A double by sophomore right fielder Brock Deatherage scored Dunand, giving the Pack its first lead of the game.
“I was looking fastball,” Deatherage said. “He threw me first-pitch changeup, [I] saw it well, it was kinda low, called it a ball. And then I knew, right after that, he was coming at me with a fastball. [I] just tried to let it get deep, hit it the other way, and I barreled it pretty good.”
The Pack carried over its offensive success to the seventh inning, tacking on three additional runs. A one-out RBI single to center by sophomore second baseman Stephen Pitarra, a sacrifice fly to left center by sophomore third baseman Evan Mendoza and Dunand’s second two-out RBI double in as many innings, gave NC State a comfortable four-run lead.
Things got dicey in the top of the ninth as the Tarheels put their first two batters on with no outs. Two Carolina singles plated two runs to cut the score to 6-4, before back-to-back fielder’s choice’s ended the game.
