The No. 13 NC State Wolfpack baseball team continued its recent string of inconsistent play Tuesday, as it fell to the UNC-Wilmington Seahawks 6-4 in Wilmington.
The Wolfpack (16-7, 3-3 ACC) had an offensive explosion over the weekend, scoring 29 runs to take two out of three games against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish. Meanwhile, the Seahawks (12-6) swept the Iona Gaels over the weekend.
Despite the series win for the Wolfpack, the team has been playing inconsistent games. Including the loss to the Seahawks, the Wolfpack has gone 4-5 in its last nine games, with the prominent theme of alternating wins and losses. Prior to the stretch, the Wolfpack went on a nine-game winning streak, including a 2-1 win over the No. 23 Alabama Crimson Tide.
The Seahawks struck first in the game following a 2-1 pitch to first baseman Zack Canada. Canada hit a double to centerfield to drive in Daniel Stack to put the Seahawks up 1-0 going into the third.
The Wolfpack struggled early on offensively, after getting over 30 hits over the last two games, had no hits through three innings and struck out twice. The Seahawks had no such problem early on.
After getting an RBI single from UNCW second baseman Brian Mims, Seahawks catcher Nick Feight hit a two-run home run over the right field wall. Right fielder Casey Golden popped out to shortstop Evan Mendoza to end the inning, but the Wolfpack trailed 4-0 after three full innings of play.
Following a walk by sophomore right fielder Brock Deatherage and a single by sophomore second baseman Stephen Pitarra, junior first baseman Preston Palmeiro smacked an RBI single into right field to drive in Deatherage. While the Wolfpack did get on the board, it trailed the Seahawks through three and a half innings, 4-1.
After blanking the Seahawks in the bottom of the third, the Wolfpack started the fifth with walks to sophomore left fielder Shane Shepard and freshman third baseman Xavier LeGrant to put two runners on base early. Despite getting two base runners early, the Wolfpack couldn’t do anything with them, and the score remained 4-1 through four and a half innings.
After walking UNCW left fielder Steven Linkous, junior reliever Cory Wilder surrendered a two-run home run to Mims, putting the Wolfpack in deeper hole with only the game halfway over. Wilder got the next three batters out to stop the bleeding at 6-1.
The Wolfpack got two more runners on base again in the sixth, but once again failed to bring any of them home. The Wolfpack hit 4 for 19 with runners on base and 2 for 15 with runners in scoring position for the game, both of whom were large contributors to the Wolfpack’s 6-1 deficit going into the bottom of the sixth inning.
The Wolfpack offense got heated up again in the top of the second. After getting two outs quickly in the seventh, Deatherage got on base after getting hit by a pitch, and catcher Andrew Knizner brought him home on a two-run home run. Pitarra grounded out to end the top of the seventh. The Wolfpack trailed 6-3 heading into the seventh-inning stretch.
For the third time in the game, the Wolfpack got two runners on base but was unable to drive them home. Shane Shepard struck out swinging and LeGrant flied out to right field to end the inning to keep the Wolfpack behind 6-3 with only one frame left to play.
Sophomore center fielder Josh McLain got the top of the ninth started with a leadoff double, to get a runner in scoring position early in the ninth. Knizner brought McLain home with a one-out double to bring the game within two.
The rally came to an end as the Pitarra lined out to second base and senior designated hitter Chance Shepard registered his third strikeout of the game to split the home-and-home series with the Seahawks.
The Wolfpack will make a quick turnaround as it heads to Tallahassee, Florida to take on the Florida State Seminoles this weekend in a three-game series for the Wolfpack’s first major road test in conference play.
