NC State hammers UNCW with 11-0 win

NC State took UNCW to the woodshed on Tuesday afternoon, jumping out to an early lead and pounding the Seahawks to the tune of an 11-0 win.

The Wolfpack jumped on UNCW starter Brody Lawson in the 1st inning. Tyler McDonough had a one-out single followed by the first of two Patrick Bailey doubles on the day, setting the stage for a massive 3-run dinger by - who else? - Devonte Brown.

McDonough extended the lead in the 4th, plating Jose Torres from second base on a single through the left side of the infield. Torres had reached on a walk and moved up a bag on a passed ball.

The Pack blew the game wide open in the 5th inning. Lawson McArthur pushed the lead to 5-0 on an RBI single that scored Terrell Tatum from second base. Tatum, who had himself quite the game, reached on a single and then stole second base to get into scoring position. The next batter was Luca Tresh, who is working his way back from a hand injury. That’s going pretty good for him.

State plated two more runs in the 6th on a Jonny Butler double, bringing in Bailey (double) and Brown (walk). McDonough doubled in the 7th inning to score Tresh (single) from first base. The final run of the game came across the plate in the 8th on a David Vazquez single that scored Marek Chlup, who had reached on a pinch-hit double earlier in the inning.

All told, Pack hitters plated the 11 runs on 15 hits and 5 walks, with just 4 strikeouts on the day. McDonough (3-4, 2B, R, 2 RBI), Bailey (2-5, 2 2B, 2 R), Tatum (2-3, 3B, R, HBP, SB), and Tresh (2-4, HR, 2 R, 2 RBI) all had multiple hits on the day while Austin Murr (2 BB), Brown (HR, BB), Butler (2B, BB), and Torres (2B, BB) all reached base safely twice.

UNCW 3B Cole Weiss (1B, BB) and LF Trevor Marsh (2 1B) were the only Seahawks hitters to reach base multiple times.

David Harrison (4.2 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 6 K) was great again in his second start of the season. The only gripe with Harrison has nothing to do with him, but rather with Elliott Avent taking him out with two outs in the fifth inning and Harrison being at just 58 pitches. Harrison had just induced what should have been an inning-ending double play, but thanks to a bobble at second base ended up in just a 4-6 fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning. As well as he had pitched to that point (and with State up 4-0), Harrison deserved the opportunity to get one more out and be in line for the win - especially with a left-handed hitter coming to the plate and Avent bringing in another left-handed pitcher to face him.

It’s a small thing, but these things do matter. Let the kid get the ‘W’.

The rest of the State pitchers on the day were just as good as Harrison, with Canaan Silver (0.2 IP), Matt Willadsen (1.2 IP, 2 K), Logan Bender (1.0 IP, 2 K), and Andrew Tillery (1.0 IP, 1 K) combining to throw 4.1 innings of scoreless ball, allowing just two hits and one walk while striking out five.

The Wolfpack hit the road this weekend for the first time this season, heading to Minnesota to take part in the ACC/B1G Challenge that will pit NC State, UNC, and Duke against Iowa, Minnesota, and Purdue. State opens with Iowa on Friday at 12:00pm.