The NC State baseball team beat the No. 6 Miami Hurricanes 11-5 on Friday, March 5 at Doak Field for the team’s first ACC win of the season.
The Wolfpack (4-4, 1-3 ACC) fell behind 2-1 after the first two innings but scored 10 runs between the third and fifth innings, which was due in large part to four home runs.
“We know we’ve got a good offensive club,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “If we can get on base, we know we’ve got a club that can cause problems for the other team’s pitching staff.”
The Hurricanes (3-4, 1-3 ACC) got on the board in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly. Then in the bottom of the first, a pair of errors aided the Pack as sophomore center fielder Tyler McDonough (2-5, 2 RBI, HR) reached third base on a fielding error by the Hurricanes and scored on a passed ball to tie the score at 1-1.
The Hurricanes scored again in the top of the second as a groundout brought in a runner from third to make the score 2-1. The Pack did not score in the inning.
After keeping the Hurricanes off the board in the top of the third, the Pack came alive with back-to-back solo home runs by McDonough and sophomore catcher Luca Tresh (2-4, 2 RBI, HR) to begin the bottom of the inning. The Pack scored two more runs in the inning as junior left fielder Jonny Butler (2-5) scored on a sacrifice fly by junior second baseman J.T. Jarrett (0-2, RBI), and junior designated hitter Terrell Tatum (0-2) scored on a passed ball to make the score 5-2 after three innings.
The Hurricanes responded in the top of the fourth with a three-run home run to tie the score 5-5, but the Pack answered with another big inning from the plate, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth.
Freshman shortstop Jose Torres (2-4, 2 RBI, HR) led off the inning with a solo home run, which was followed by an RBI single from Tresh that drove in McDonough. Junior right fielder Devonte Brown (1-4, 2 RBI, HR) capped off the inning with a two-run home run that scored Tresh to put the Pack up 9-5.
“We really swung the ball today, all the way around,” Tresh said. “When we’re going big, we just gotta keep putting more fire in there, just keep chipping away and putting runs up there, because they’re gonna score too. We just gotta keep going offensively.”
The Pack scored two more runs in the fifth after keeping the Hurricanes off the board in the top of the inning as sophomore third baseman Vojtech Mensik (1-5) scored on a double by Torres, who scored himself after a sacrifice groundout by McDonough to make the score 11-5.
That was all the scoring that would be done as the Pack held the Hurricanes off the scoreboard for the final five innings. Junior pitcher Evan Justice (6 IP, 4 ER, 3 H, 9 K) earned the win and junior pitcher Reid Johnston (3 IP, 0 ER, 1 H, 5 K) earned the save.
After allowing four earned runs in the first four innings, Justice settled down and had one of his best pitching performances of his college career, which came on a whopping 124 pitches.
“I thought I finished off the game pretty well,” Justice said. “I put myself in a few tough spots early by giving up free bases… A lot of credit goes to the defense behind me… I know my pitch count got up there, but I wanted to give the team as much as I can, and then [Johnston] came in and did a great job after me.”
After a rough week last week that included a loss to UNC-Greensboro and a series sweep at the hands of Georgia Tech, this was a great win for NC State over one of the highest ranked teams in the country.
The Pack will look to continue its stellar play on Saturday when it continues the series with the Hurricanes at 2 p.m. That game will be broadcasted on ACC Network Extra.
Junior outfielder Jonny Butler dives back to first base after a pickoff attempt at Doak Field on Friday, March 5, 2021. Butler had 2 hits and 1 run scored in the Wolfpack’s 11-5 win over the Miami Hurricanes.
