The No. 7 NC State baseball team demolished Coastal Carolina 24-7 in just six and a half innings. Behind a 10-run first inning, the Wolfpack took just three innings to top its previous season high for runs in a game. 

The Wolfpack (12-0) got production from all over the lineup while the Chanticleers (8-4) pitchers struggled to find the strike zone. All nine Pack starters reached base within the first two innings, and everyone except freshman shortstop Jose Torres (2 for 4, 2 RBI) and junior right fielder Devonte Brown (2 for 3, 2 RBI, HR, 2B) scored twice. 

“It helps to have everybody rolling,” said junior catcher Patrick Bailey (1 for 2, 4 RBI, HR). “When everybody is hitting together I feel like it is a lot easier to hit. When some guys are struggling sometimes it kind of becomes contagious. It’s been a lot of fun these past couple of weeks.”

In just his third start of the season, sophomore DH Luca Tresh had the best game of his NC State career, going 4 for 5 at the plate with four runs scored, two doubles and two RBIs.

“Luca was a big key, we lost him early in the year,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “Getting him back this quickly this good right now. He is probably going to have some setbacks, it was a broken hand, he had surgery, but he works his tail off to rehab… Having Luca back is big.”

Battling it out with Tresh for the best performance by a Wolfpack batter in the game was junior second baseman J.T. Jarrett who went 4 for 5 with four RBIs, hitting three doubles and scoring four times.

“I started off in the eight-hole today,” Jarrett said. “By the time I got to the plate some guys had seen a lot of good pitches and made good contact. We talk to each other. When guys come back to the dugout from an at-bat and tell each other what we are seeing out there. I had a good report on the guy.”

Avent started a freshman on the mound for the third time this season, this time handing the ball to the mountain of a man, righty Austin Pace (3 IP, 5 K, 0 ER, 0 H). The 6-foot-10 freshman impressed in his lone inning of action prior to the start, striking out two in the eighth inning of the 15-1 demolition of Tennessee Tech. 

In his first career start, Pace matched the batters’ pace with a stellar start of his own. Throwing three perfect innings, Pace took just 37 pitches to retire all nine of the Chanticleers batters, picking up five strikeouts along the way.

“His stuff was really good,” Avent said. “… In a game like this where you are going to pitch everybody you want to get off to a good start.”

While the Pack got a solid start from its freshman pitcher, Coastal’s got lit up by the entire NC State batting order. Jonathan Blackwell (0.2 IP, 8 ER, 4 BB, 3 H) walked four, gave up three hits and hit a batter en route to giving up eight earned runs before being pulled after junior leadoff batter Austin Murr (1 for 2, 4 RBI, HR) came to the plate for the second time in the inning.

The Pack’s offensive onslaught was highlighted by a pair of homers, the first was a two-run shot from Brown, who came into the game tied with Bailey for the team high in home runs at four. 

“He has just grown,” Avent said. “Baseball is a game of growth. It is a game of repetition. You have to have a certain number of at-bats before you can truly start to understand this game. This is a hard game. He and [assistant head coach Chris Hart] work constantly an his swing. He is comfortable with his swing right now… Summer ball was a big help for Devonte Brown… Right now, he is the whole package.”

Bailey not wanted to be outdone by his fellow junior, tied the home run race back up at five, crushing his third grand slam in 11 days off of the right-field scoreboard in his second at-bat of the inning. Bailey’s first at-bat, where he walked, saw the catcher set up as a righty but when he came back up to bat, after the Coastal pitching change, Bailey lined up on the right side of the plate, showing off his switch-hitting ability.

The Pack’s other runs in the inning came from a variety of places, sophomore center fielder Tyler McDonough (0 for 1, RBI, 2 BB) scored on a throwing error after stealing third, two runs were walked in and Jarrett singled with the bases loaded.

Refusing to take its foot off the gas in the second inning, the Pack added another five runs in the second with sophomore third baseman Vojtech Mensik (2 for 4, 2 RBI, 2B) and Jarrett both knocking in a batter apiece. Murr came to the plate for his third at-bat of the game and decided to join Brown and Bailey in the home run party, crushing a two-run shot over the right-field wall.

The Wolfpack had four different players pinch hit or pinch run during its four-run third inning, senior catcher Brad Debo (1 for 2) pinch hit for Bailey, junior Terrell Tatum (1 for 2) replaced McDonough and freshman Noah Soles (1 for 2 RBI) pinch ran for junior left fielder Jonny Butler (0 for 0, 3 BB). All three slotted into the players they replaced starting positions going into the fourth. Freshman DeAngelo Giles (1 for 1, RBI) pinch-hit for Murr, picking up his first collegiate hit, but he was replaced at first by freshman Sam Highfill (0 for 2) going into the fourth.

Pace was also replaced heading into the fourth with sophomore righty Andrew Tillery (0.1 IP, 3 ER, 2 H, HR) coming into pitch. Tillery did not make it out of the inning as he was replaced by junior righty Logan Bender (0.2 IP, 3 ER, 2H, HR) after giving up a three-run homer. The Chanticleers added four more in the fifth, but NC State was too far ahead already, and it only barely slowed down. 

The Pack continued to rack up runs as the game went on, adding three in the fourth and two in the fifth before being held scoreless in an inning for the first time in the sixth. The game was called a mercy rule after the top of the seventh.

The Wolfpack will be back in action over the weekend as it travels up to Charlottesville, Virginia to take on Virginia in its opening series of ACC play.