The baseball team suffered a 14-4 loss at the hands of rival East Carolina Wednesday night at Doak Field. The Wolfpack (15-13) allowed 11 hits, including a seven run third inning, which allowed the Pirates to gain the momentum.
The Wolfpack would never recover as ECU (22-5) burnt through State’s bullpen. In total, the Pack used 10 pitchers during the night.
“They obviously are swinging the bat very well,” coach Elliott Avent said. “With us going to Boston College this weekend, you don’t want to work anybody too much with a big conference series coming up.”
Avent noted that the Pirates were utilizing every weapon in their arsenal to take down his team.
“It looks like we saw a lot of their best arms tonight,” he said. “They threw some weekend guys out there in a game that was seemingly comfortable.”
Left-handed pitcher John Lambert (1-1) got the start for the Wolfpack, but would only stay in the game for one inning before junior right-handed pitcher Sam Brown took the mound.
After the Pirate’s Jared Avchen was hit by a pitch and leftfielder Austin Homan singled to center, center fielder Trent Whitehead sent the ball sailing into the left center field scoreboard. Whitehead’s home run in the top of the third put the Pirates ahead early 3-0.
Brown walked the next batter, and sophomore Grant Sasser came into the game for the Wolfpack.
The onslaught of scoring continued as Sasser allowed Stephen Batts to steal third and then score on a subsequent single by Schieber. Then, on a 1-2 count, the Pirates sent another three-run homer into left center field to boost the spread to 7-0 in the top of the third.
“It got out of hand in the third inning,” Avent said. “There were a few things that happened, and the next thing you know, they exploded.”
The Pirates’ bats stayed hot going into the fourth inning, as Whitehead slugged his second home run of the day. As the leadoff batter, he would finish the day 3-for-6 with five RBIs and three runs.
Whitehead’s third inning home run was his first this season.
“We left one right down the middle for him and he went with it,” Avent said. “He may not have had any home runs coming in, but when you make contact enough, you’re going to get a couple out.”
Redshirt senior Joey Cutler (0-2) took the loss for State while starting pitcher Brad Mincey (6-1) picked up the win for ECU.
“You can put the loss completely on my shoulders today,” Cutler said. “ECU is a good team, but I was falling behind in counts and I just didn’t execute today.”
The Wolfpack’s first score came in the fifth inning when freshman Pratt Maynard doubled on a full count driving in freshman John Gianis.
Later, in the sixth inning, center fielder Kyle Wilson made a diving attempt at a deep hit ball, but barely missed, allowing ECU to gain three more runs.
State put together a short rally in the seventh inning when Andrew Ciencen doubled to left field driving in Drew Poulk and Kyle Wilson.
“This team is never going to give up, not until the last pitch is thrown in the game, not until the last pitch is thrown of the season,” Cutler said. “We were fighting all game, but some things just didn’t go our way.”
On an infield fly in the eighth inning, Ciencen missed the easy out, allowing ECU to bring home two runners.
