The NC State baseball team opened up its 2017 home slate with a commanding 9-3 win over Austin Peay Friday on Doak Field at Dail Park.
The Wolfpack (3-1) was led by an outstanding performance from junior Brock Deatherage, who went 4 for 4 with three RBIs and three runs, including a two-run homer in the second inning. The Governors (3-2) got what little offense they had from Dre Gleason, who hit a ninth inning two-run homer.
The Pack also got a great outing from starting pitcher senior Sean Adler (2-0, 0.87 ERA), who threw five and one-third innings, giving up just one run on six hits while striking out 10 batters en route to picking up the win. The strikeout total for Adler was a career high for the recently converted starter.
Redshirt sophomore Austin Staley also had a solid pitching performance, throwing one and two-thirds innings out of the bullpen and giving up no runs or hits.
“We played very, very well today,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “I think Adler pitched very, very well, Staley pitched very well, because they can really swing it. We did everything well today. We actually played a really complete baseball game today.”
The Pack got the scoring started off early in the first inning. Deatherage hit a double to the wall, followed by a bloop single from freshman Will Wilson, who finished 2 for 3 with a run scored, that moved Deatherage to third. Sophomore Brett Kinneman picked up an RBI on a slow grounder that scored Deatherage.
State rallied again in the second inning. After two quick outs, junior Josh McLain singled on a hard grounder to the left side of the infield. On the next pitch, Deatherage blasted a two-run homer over the right field fence to give the Pack a 3-0 lead.
“It definitely helps,” Adler said about the offense getting off to a hot start. “It gives you a little more weight off your back because you’re pitching with some insurance runs, which is always good. I feel a little bit more comfortable, I can go further. Having offense is definitely big.”
Austin Peay found its first run in the third inning. With two outs in the fourth, Robles crushed a first-pitch fastball from Adler over the left field wall. Adler hit the next batter with a pitch, followed by a single from catcher Alex Salas. Adler was able to work out of the jam with a big strikeout, his seventh of the day.
State got the run back in the bottom of the fourth. Junior Stephen Pitarra walked to start off the inning, followed by a fielder’s choice groundout by McLain. Deatherage came through for the Pack again, hitting a double to the left-field wall, driving in McLain from first and picking up his third RBI of the day.
The Wolfpack doubled its lead in the sixth inning on a three-run homer from Kinneman, who finished the game with four RBIs. McLain led the inning off with a single, followed by yet another hit from Deatherage, his fourth of the day. Two batters later, Kinneman got a hold of a pitch and crushed it well past the right-field fence for his second home run of the year to give the Pack a 7-1 lead.
State added two more runs in the seventh. With the bases loaded, Wilson hit a deep fly ball that barely stayed in the ballpark, scoring Pitarra from third on the sacrifice fly. Later in the inning, junior Joe Dunand hit into a fielder’s choice with the bases loaded, scoring a run.
Austin Peay made the score slightly more respectable in the ninth inning, as Dre Gleason hit a two-run homer off of junior Evan Braband, making the score 9-3. The Governors failed to build on this late momentum as the game drew to a close.
Dail Park was almost full for the game, with a sizeable crowd taking in the Wolfpack win.
“That’s probably the best opening day crowd I’ve ever seen here,” Avent said. “That’s a real tribute to have such a big opening day crowd because you don’t think about baseball yet this time of the year. The success this program has had the last four or five years, people here do think about baseball earlier now.”
The Pack will be back in action Saturday, as it hosts Austin Peay on Doak Field at Dail Park at 2 p.m. for game two of the weekend series.
