NC State baseball completed a comeback, beating Minnesota 11-7 Sunday night in the final game of the Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis, Minnesota.
Power Surge
The Wolfpack continued its power surge this season with two home runs in the second inning. Sophomore Luca Tresh started the scoring with a home run followed by freshman Jose Torres hitting another home run two batters later. That was Tresh’s first home run of the season and Torres’ first of his young college career. The scoring continued in the third inning with an RBI single by junior Jonny Butler.
Pitching Woes
Freshman Chris Villiman started the game on the mound and breezed through the first two innings with three strikeouts but ran into trouble in the third allowing the first two runners aboard. Freshman Matt Willadsen was the first man out of the bullpen and allowed all three men he faced to reach and allowed both of the men Villiman left on base to score. He gave up an RBI single to Minnesota third baseman Jack Wassel and hit Easton Bertrand with a pitch to allow another run. Junior lefty Canaan Silver came in to an impossible situation of bases loaded and no one out and allowed two more men to score before working out of the jam.
Silver came back out for the fourth and allowed three men to reach and a run and got two outs before being replaced by freshman Sam Highfill. Highfill allowed a two run home run to Bertrand before finishing the inning.
The Comeback
The Wolfpack had a big fifth inning with an RBI triple from Butler and an RBI single by Thresh to bring them within one. The Wolfpack tied the game in the eighth on a wild pitch. Freshman Noah Soles finished off the Wolfpack’s impressive comeback with a pinch hit two-run single in the top of the eighth. Sophomore Tyler McDonough added some insurance with a two-run home run in the ninth.
The Stopper
Junior David Harrison entered in the fifth inning and calmed the Gophers’ offense by throwing five shutout innings and striking out six while throwing 68 pitches and collecting the win. Harrison is 2-0 on the season now and is having a very strong start to his season and lowered his ERA to a miniscule 0.44.
The Wolfpack will look to remain undefeated on Wednesday against Coastal Carolina at home.
