The NC State baseball team is on to a regional final for the fourth time in the last five years after defeating regional host and one-seed, Kentucky, 5-4 Saturday night at Cliff Hagan Stadium in Lexington, Kentucky.
Senior Sean Adler was the story for the Pack (38-24, 16-14 ACC), throwing 7.2 innings in relief and picking up the win on the mound over the Wildcats (40-21). Freshman Michael Bienlien started and recorded one out before being removed in favor of Adler, who came in with the bases loaded in the first inning.
Adler gave up a sacrifice fly but escaped without any further damage. Adler also gave up a home run in the third inning to Tristan Pompey and danced around trouble in the fourth.
Junior first baseman Stephen Pitarra hit the first home run of his career to lead off the game, and junior centerfielder Josh McLain followed his up with a line drive over the right center field fence for back-to-back home runs before the Pack ever made an out.
State continued to hit the ball hard all night but struggled to find holes in the defense and couldn’t find a big hit after the first inning. That changed in the fifth inning when junior third baseman Evan Mendoza came up with two outs. Mendoza smoked a line drive right at the centerfielder, who dove for the ball and missed it completely.
Junior shortstop Joe Dunand scored from second and freshman second baseman Will Wilson scored all the way from the first, while Mendoza wound up on third base giving the Pack a lead it would not relinquish. Junior catcher Andy Cosgrove drove in Mendoza with a line drive single to left field, giving the Pack a 5-2 lead after five innings.
Adler continued to cruise until he issued a one out walk in the seventh. Kentucky came through with back-to-back, two out singles, cutting the deficit to 5-3 before Adler escaped without further damage by getting a pop out to Dunand.
Adler completed the eighth inning to finish his 7.2 innings pitched, in which he allowed two runs, six hits, three walks and five strikeouts, to improve his record to 6-6. Redshirt sophomore Austin Staley came in for the ninth inning and gave up a one out home run to Evan White, before retiring the next two batters to record his fifth save of the season.
While the starters have struggled this weekend, only recording two outs in two games, the State bullpen has been dynamite, throwing 20.1 innings, allowing six runs and 14 hits to go along with 22 strikeouts and eight walks. State now has the upper hand in the regional with a 2-0 record and only needs one more win to advance, while the winner of Sunday afternoon’s elimination game between Kentucky and Indiana will have to beat the Pack twice in a row.
The Pack will have a chance to move on to the super regionals when they face the winner of the of the Kentucky and Indiana game. Junior Brian Brown (4-2, 3.38 ERA) will likely get the start on Sunday night looking to erase the demons of the past two years and advance to super regionals for the second time in the last five years.
