The NC State baseball team followed up a tough loss against Campbell Tuesday night with a strong ACC win by beating Clemson 6-1 Friday night at Dail Stadium.
The Pack (38-13, 15-10 ACC) now only needs one more win to take the series from Clemson (29-21, 12-13 ACC) and clinch its first ACC series win since taking two of three games from Boston College on April 5-7. The team, previously mired in a relative slump, has now gone 5-1 over its past six games and looks to be rounding into form as the postseason approaches.
The Wolfpack struck first with two runs in the first inning. Sophomore outfielder Jonny Butler hit a leadoff single and was immediately brought home by junior shortstop Will Wilson after he clobbered a two-run home run to left field.
NC State tacked on two more runs in the second inning when junior designated hitter Brad Debo led off the inning with a double and moved over on a single by sophomore second baseman David Vazquez.
Redshirt junior third baseman Dillon Cooper notched an RBI bunt single to make it 3-0 and later scored on an error by the Clemson third baseman. Butler hit a grounder to the fielder at third who stepped on the bag to get the force out but his throw to first was well off the mark, rolling to the wall.
Both teams were held scoreless from the third inning to the seventh when another pair of runs came in when freshman outfielder Tyler McDonough crushed a two-out triple to right-center field, bringing in two previously walked batters, Butler and Wilson, and increasing the Pack lead to 6-0.
The pitching duo of junior right-hander Jason Parker and sophomore righty Nick Swiney dominated and completely shut down Clemson’s hitters, striking out nine and keeping the Tigers off the board until the ninth inning.
Parker struck out three batters and let up just three hits in 4.2 innings of work, while Swiney fanned six hitters and gave up one hit in his 4.1 innings.
Clemson’s only run came in the ninth inning from a solo home run by designated hitter Chad Fairey. The Tigers also only mustered five hits and never got more than one in an inning.
The Wolfpack will play Clemson again on Saturday at noon, moved up from the original time, at Doak Field in the second game in the three-game weekend series.
