Saturday, March 11
Winston-Salem, N.C. (David F. Couch Ballpark)
1 PM
NC State
8-7, 1-1
8
at
5
Wake Forest
11-5, 1-1
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
R
H
E
NC State
0
0
0
1
3
4
0
0
0
8
11
1
Wake Forest
1
0
0
4
0
0
0
0
0
5
11
2
Photo by: Brian Westerholt
No. 20 NC State Baseball Splits Doubleheader at Wake Forest
3/11/2017 10:02:00 PM | Baseball
Wolfpack battles, but drops ACC series to Demon Deacons
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – The 20th-ranked NC State baseball team left it all on the field Saturday afternoon against Wake Forest, giving everything they had in both games of the doubleheader and nearly earned a sweep in the twin bill, but was held to the split at David F. Couch Ballpark.
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The Wolfpack rallied to win game one of the doubleheader 8-5 and almost pulled off its second consecutive come-from-behind win in game two, but fell short, 6-5.
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NC State moves to 8-8 on the year and 1-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, while Wake Forest improves to 12-5 and 2-1 in league action.
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The Demon Deacons had won eight consecutive games before the Wolfpack defeated the squad to snap the streak.
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Game One Recap
Wake Forest struck first in the contest following consecutive doubles to left field to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. NC State scored its first run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to center field by Brock Deatherage, allowing Shane Shepard to score on the play.
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The Demon Deacons tacked on four runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks to solo home runs from Bruce Steel and Keegan Maronpot and RBI singles by Stuart Fairchild and Gavin Sheets to take a 5-1 lead.
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From there, it was all NC State as the Wolfpack scored seven unanswered runs to earn the comeback win.
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Will Wilson and Evan Mendoza started the NC State rally with back-to-back singles to start the fifth inning and Brett Kinneman stepped to the plate a few batters later and hit a three-run homer to right center, trimming the deficit to 5-4 on his third round-tripper of the year.
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NC State sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scored four runs to take an 8-5 lead. The Wolfpack was patient at the plate, drawing four walks in the frame highlighted by two RBI walks with the bases loaded.
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Joe O'Donnell was tremendous out of the bullpen for NC State with 3.1 innings pitched, allowing just two hits to earn his second win of the season. He turned it over to Austin Staley in the eighth and he slammed the door to tally his second save of the year. Â
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Game Two Recap
NC State found itself in an early 5-0 hole against one of the ACC's top offensive teams, as the Demon Deacons scored a run in the first, three in the fifth and a run in the sixth. The Wolfpack grabbed momentum after Johnny Piedmonte entered the game in the seventh inning to pitch with Wake runners at second and third and recorded a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
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The next inning, Christian Demby singled to start the frame and advanced to second base after Andy Cosgrove was hit-by-pitch. Deatherage followed with a single to right field to load the bases with one out. Josh McLain drew a walk to push across the first run, as Demby scored from third base to make it 5-1.
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Wake Forest went to its bullpen next and brought in their closer Griffin Roberts, who pitched the final three innings of Friday night's contest. Wilson greeted him by hitting a grand slam over the left field wall to knot the game at 5-5. It was his first collegiate grand slam and first of the season for NC State.
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Both teams had good opportunities in the ninth, as the Wolfpack had two runners on with one out but was not able to move them over. Wake had the winning run at third with two outs, but a great defensive play by Joe Dunand at shortstop prevented the run from scoring as he made the play on the batter at first base.
It was the first time NC State has gone to extra innings this season.
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Wake broke through in the bottom of the 11th after a leadoff triple by Stuart Fairchild and a sacrifice fly to center field by Johnny Aiello, which allowed Fairchild to score the game's winning run.
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Up Next
The Wolfpack returns to action Tuesday, March 14, when the squad travels to Elon. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. at Latham Park.
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The Wolfpack rallied to win game one of the doubleheader 8-5 and almost pulled off its second consecutive come-from-behind win in game two, but fell short, 6-5.
Â
NC State moves to 8-8 on the year and 1-2 in Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) play, while Wake Forest improves to 12-5 and 2-1 in league action.
Â
The Demon Deacons had won eight consecutive games before the Wolfpack defeated the squad to snap the streak.
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Game One Recap
Wake Forest struck first in the contest following consecutive doubles to left field to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. NC State scored its first run in the top of the fourth on a sacrifice fly to center field by Brock Deatherage, allowing Shane Shepard to score on the play.
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The Demon Deacons tacked on four runs in the bottom of the fourth thanks to solo home runs from Bruce Steel and Keegan Maronpot and RBI singles by Stuart Fairchild and Gavin Sheets to take a 5-1 lead.
Â
From there, it was all NC State as the Wolfpack scored seven unanswered runs to earn the comeback win.
Â
Will Wilson and Evan Mendoza started the NC State rally with back-to-back singles to start the fifth inning and Brett Kinneman stepped to the plate a few batters later and hit a three-run homer to right center, trimming the deficit to 5-4 on his third round-tripper of the year.
Â
NC State sent 10 batters to the plate in the sixth inning and scored four runs to take an 8-5 lead. The Wolfpack was patient at the plate, drawing four walks in the frame highlighted by two RBI walks with the bases loaded.
Â
Joe O'Donnell was tremendous out of the bullpen for NC State with 3.1 innings pitched, allowing just two hits to earn his second win of the season. He turned it over to Austin Staley in the eighth and he slammed the door to tally his second save of the year. Â
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Game Two Recap
NC State found itself in an early 5-0 hole against one of the ACC's top offensive teams, as the Demon Deacons scored a run in the first, three in the fifth and a run in the sixth. The Wolfpack grabbed momentum after Johnny Piedmonte entered the game in the seventh inning to pitch with Wake runners at second and third and recorded a swinging strikeout to end the inning.
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The next inning, Christian Demby singled to start the frame and advanced to second base after Andy Cosgrove was hit-by-pitch. Deatherage followed with a single to right field to load the bases with one out. Josh McLain drew a walk to push across the first run, as Demby scored from third base to make it 5-1.
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Wake Forest went to its bullpen next and brought in their closer Griffin Roberts, who pitched the final three innings of Friday night's contest. Wilson greeted him by hitting a grand slam over the left field wall to knot the game at 5-5. It was his first collegiate grand slam and first of the season for NC State.
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Both teams had good opportunities in the ninth, as the Wolfpack had two runners on with one out but was not able to move them over. Wake had the winning run at third with two outs, but a great defensive play by Joe Dunand at shortstop prevented the run from scoring as he made the play on the batter at first base.
It was the first time NC State has gone to extra innings this season.
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Wake broke through in the bottom of the 11th after a leadoff triple by Stuart Fairchild and a sacrifice fly to center field by Johnny Aiello, which allowed Fairchild to score the game's winning run.
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Up Next
The Wolfpack returns to action Tuesday, March 14, when the squad travels to Elon. First pitch is slated for 4 p.m. at Latham Park.
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Team Stats
Pitching:
W: O'Donnell, Joe (2-0)
L: McCarren, J. (1-1)
S: Staley, Austin (2)
Batting:
2B: Cosgrove, Andy 1
HR: Kinneman, Brett 1
RBI: Debo, Brad 1 ; Kinneman, Brett 4 ; Shepard, Shane 1 ; Deatherage, Brock 1
SH: McLain, Josh 1
SF: Deatherage, Brock 1
Base Running:
RUNS: McLain, Josh 1 ; Wilson, Will 2 ; Mendoza, Evan 2 ; Debo, Brad 1 ; Kinneman, Brett 1 ; Shepard, Shane 1
SB: McLain, Josh 1
Batting:
2B: Mueller, J. 1 ; Fairchild, S 1
HR: Steel, B. 1 ; Maronpot, K. 1
RBI: Fairchild, S 2 ; Sheets, G. 1 ; Steel, B. 1 ; Maronpot, K. 1
SH: Fairchild, S 1 ; Steel, B. 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Pryor, J. 1 ; Mueller, J. 1 ; Fairchild, S 1 ; Steel, B. 1 ; Maronpot, K. 1
SB: Fairchild, S 1
CS: Fairchild, S 1
HBP: Maronpot, K. 1
Game Leaders
Hitting
AB
5
R
1
H
3
RBI
0
AB
4
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
1
H
2
RBI
4
AB
6
R
2
H
1
RBI
0
Players Mentioned
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RHP
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INF
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1B
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RHP
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