The NC State baseball team took a three-game series with the Hawaii Rainbow Warriors on opening weekend. The Wolfpack won the first and third games of the series, using dominant pitching to stifle the Hawaiian bats.
Game one started well past many fans’ bedtimes on Friday night, but the Wolfpack (2-1) went right to work in the opening game of the season.
Sophomore outfielder Brett Kinneman laced a double down the left-field line to lead off the inning, and freshman designated hitter Will Wilson ripped a double to the nearly identical spot to open the scoring. With two outs in the inning, junior center fielder Josh McClain used his speed to beat out an infield single to bring in the second run of the ballgame.
While the Wolfpack offense was busy opening the scoring, senior left-hander Sean Adler was shutting down the Hawaii lineup. Adler pitched five scoreless innings, striking out one and giving up only four hits. After being primarily a reliever last season, Adler dazzled in his first start of the 2017 campaign.
The game was sealed in the eighth inning, when Wilson again doubled over the right fielder, scoring two more runs to bring the score to 4-0. Wilson finished the contest 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a run.
The bullpen picked up right where Adler left off, as sophomore Austin Staley and junior college transfer Zach Usselman combined to finish off the final four innings for the Wolfpack shutout.
For as well as the opening game of the series went, the second game was the exact opposite for the Wolfpack. Hawaii (1-2) jumped on junior Cody Beckman, scoring in the first two frames to take a 2-0 lead on the Wolfpack.
Hawaii continued to pressure at the plate and eventually the Wolfpack broke, giving up three runs in the fourth and another three in the sixth, making the NC State deficit 8-0.
Beckman was the main Wolfpack pitcher tagged by the Rainbow Warrior hitters, as the lefty gave up five runs in three-plus innings of work. Freshman Mathieu Gauthier gave up two in two and two-thirds innings.
The Wolfpack tried fruitlessly to claw back into the game, as Kinneman and junior first baseman Shane Shepard blasted home runs in the eighth inning to pull the game to 8-3 but it would be as close as the Pack would get.
Game three nearly mirrored game one, as the Wolfpack jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning, as an error and an RBI single by junior shortstop Joe Dunand jump-started the Wolfpack offense.
The score would stick at 2-0 for a few innings, as both pitchers traded scoreless frames. The Wolfpack opened the game up with back-to-back scoring innings, adding two runs in the sixth and seventh to go ahead 6-0.
NC State again got a good pitching performance from a converted reliever on Sunday, as junior righty Tommy DeJuneas earned the start and pitched five and two-thirds scoreless innings, giving up only one hit.
Although the end result is undoubtedly good for DeJuneas, he didn’t quite get over the control issues that plagued him last season, as he walked five batters and uncorked two wild pitches. He threw a total of 46 strikes out of 91 total pitches, showing he was consistently out of the zone.
The bullpen was again stellar, finishing the game without allowing a hit, although the Rainbow Warriors did add a run in the eighth on a wild pitch. The Wolfpack added two more runs in the ninth to bring the final score to 8-1.
The Wolfpack debuted several freshmen in a tough opening weekend road series. The additions of Wilson and catchers freshman Brad Debo and sophomore Jack Conley seem to improve the lineup considerably.
The Wolfpack will return to Raleigh for much needed rest to combat the jetlag before facing Austin Peay in the home opening series next weekend.
