The NC State baseball team was swept by Boston College in a three-game ACC series this weekend.
The Wolfpack (20-20, 8-13 ACC) offense was abysmal throughout the three games, managing to score only four runs over the course of the weekend. The Eagles (15-22, 6-15 ACC) picked up their first series sweep of the season, and just the second ACC series victory with the dismantling of the Pack.
After Friday night’s game was postponed due to rain, the series kicked off Saturday with the teams battling in historic Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox, for the Sixth Annual ALS Awareness Game. The Eagles came out on top, 8-3, inside the confines of the oldest ballpark in the major leagues.
The game was played in honor of Chris Combs and Pete Frates, who both suffer from ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s Disease. Combs played baseball for NC State from 1994-97 and was diagnosed with ALS in 2016. Frates was a captain for the Eagles’ baseball team, and started the viral “Ice Bucket Challenge” to help raise awareness for the disease.
BC started the game off hot, putting up four runs in the first inning to jump to a 4-0 lead. Senior Sean Adler had a rough outing on the mound, giving up four runs and four hits in less than one inning pitched before being relieved by redshirt senior Johnny Piedmonte.
Piedmonte settled things down for State, keeping the Eagles off of the scoreboard for the next four innings. The Wolfpack fought back to make it a 4-3 game thanks to an RBI groundout from sophomore Brett Kinneman in the fifth inning and a two-run double off the bat of freshman Brad Debo in the sixth inning.
The Pack was not able to keep that momentum, as Boston College struck back with four runs in the bottom of the sixth off of Piedmonte and senior Joe O’Donnell to extend its lead to 8-3. State’s offense was unable to crack the scoreboard again as the game came to an end with the score unchanged.
Game two of the series, and the first of a Sunday doubleheader, saw Boston College edge out the Pack, 2-1, in a pitcher’s duel at Shea Field. Junior Brian Brown put together a masterful performance on the mound, allowing just one run over 6.2 innings and striking out 11 batters.
State’s offense didn’t offer Brown much support, as the Pack only managed three hits on starting pitcher Dan Metzdorf, who threw eight innings allowing just one run on a sacrifice fly out in the fifth inning to pick up the win.
The Eagles found the game-winning run in the eighth inning on a double from Gian Martellini that scored Jake Palomaki from third. Redshirt sophomore Austin Staley was on the mound for the Pack, and was credited with the loss.
The final game of the series was another low-scoring affair, as Boston College completed the sweep with a 1-0 victory. Eagles’ starter Brian Rapp tossed a complete-game shutout, limiting the Wolfpack to just three hits.
Freshman Michael Bienlien was nearly as good for State, throwing six innings and allowing five hits and one run. Bienlien was given the tough loss for the game, as he hit the first batter of the seventh inning with a pitch. The runner would come around to score the only run of the game with freshman Dalton Feeney pitching.
This was the first time this season that the Wolfpack has been swept. State will have two nonconference games this week against North Carolina Central and East Carolina, before hosting Virginia Tech for a series at Doak Field next weekend.
