The N.C. State baseball team (25-10, 8-7 ACC) survived a pitcher’s duel Tuesday night as it shut out non-conference rival East Carolina (15-18, 1-5 C-USA) in front of a midweek attendance record 2,951 fans, 2-0.
“It is a great eastern North Carolina rivalry,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “Through the years, they have always been close games, and there are always great crowds. It means a lot to the fans and it is always nice to win.”
“The crowd was awesome,” senior first baseman Tarran Senay said. “It looked like it was a full stadium. Hopefully we can get more of those crowds for the rest of the season.”
Freshman pitcher Karl Keglovits started the game and allowed two hits with one strikeout in 4.2 innings in his third start for the Wolfpack.
In the fifth, Keglovits gave up a leadoff single. After two groundouts moved the runner to third, Avent pulled the plug on him.
“If we would have scored in the last inning where he would have qualified for the win, we would have let him face [East Carolina junior first baseman Chase] McDonald,” Avent said. “McDonald had a decent at bat against him last time, and we wanted to go with a fresh arm that McDonald had not seen in that situation.”
Junior pitcher Andrew Woeck (3-1, 3.47 ERA) took over where Keglovits left off and only allowed a hit in 1.2 innings. Woeck struck out one Pirate batter en route to the win.
Sophomore pitcher Travis Orwig entered the game with one out in the seventh inning and finished the inning with a strikeout. In the top of the eighth, he walked the leadoff hitter, forcing Avent to replace him with senior pitcher Josh Easley. Easley allowed a hit and struck out one in his only inning of work.
Redshirt senior pitcher Grant Sasser came to the mound and pitched a one-hit, one-strikeout ninth to record his third save of the season.
Neither team earned the edge on the other as both team were held to the minimum nine batters through three innings as well as having one baserunner caught stealing.
Sophomore shortstop Trea Turner, who reached first base on an error by East Carolina junior third baseman Zach Houchins with two outs in the first inning, stole second base but was caught stealing third base for the third out.
Turner stole another base in the fourth inning and is now three steals away from tying Tom Sergio’s school record of 73 career bases swiped set in 1997.
It was not until the sixth inning that the only runs of the game were scored.
Senior center fielder Brett Williams was hit by a rogue pitch from the Pirates’ starter, freshman pitcher Nick Durazo (0-3, 7.04 ERA), and moved to second on a wild pitch. Sophomore Jake Fincher walked in the next plate appearance, forcing East Carolina head coach Billy Goodwin to pull Durazo for Pirate redshirt junior pitcher Brett Mabry.
After Mabry struck out Turner and sophomore catcher Brett Austin swinging, Senay came to the plate and hit a bloop single into left-center field. Fincher and Williams, who had moved up to second and third base on a passed ball, both scored on the play.
“When the ball was hit off the bat, I was not sure it was going to get over the shortstop’s head,” Avent said. “Luckily for us, it did.”
“It was a big hit,” Senay said. “It was good to get those two runs since we were struggling for a little bit.”
The Pack will be on the road for the next two weeks starting on Friday when State will face the Boston College Eagles in a three-game series in Chestnut Hill, Mass. The team will return to Doak Field on Apr. 23 to face Davidson at 6 pm.
