A balanced offensive attack, with five different players driving in runs, led the NC State Wolfpack to a 6-3 victory over the UNC baseball team in their series finale on Sunday at Boshamer Stadium.

NC State improves to 20-14 overall and 8-9 in the ACC, with the win snapping its three game losing streak, while Carolina drops to 22-14 in all games and 9-9 in league play.

Starting pitching dominated the first two games of the series, but on Sunday neither starter could make it out of the third inning.

The long relievers made the difference in this one, as Trent Thornton pitched six innings out of the bullpen, and struck out ten hitters, but also surrendered five earned runs–while Ryan Williamson and Joe O’Donnell combined to go six innings for the Wolfpack, and gave up just one run combined during their time on the mound.

Benton Moss pitched well for two innings, but lost his control in the third. (UNC Athletics)

Benton Moss pitched well for two innings, but lost his control in the third. (UNC Athletics)

Benton Moss started out strong for UNC, keeping the Wolfpack off the board for the first two innings, but he began losing his control in the third. After the senior walked the bases loaded with only one out in the inning, UNC head coach Mike Fox had seen enough.

“When any pitcher goes out, and just kinda loses the strike zone, it’s very unusual,” says Fox. “It’s unusual for Benton, he just couldn’t get it back there. We didn’t have a really long inning before, I can’t really explain it. He just went out that one inning, it was very uncharacteristic of him.”

Running in from the bullpen to try and keep the game scoreless was Thornton (1-4), who has spent ample time in the starting rotation during his career.

“It was nice to come out and throw six innings, and kinda get into a rhythm there,” Thornton says. “I should have made a couple pitches a little bit better than they were, which kinda led to the outcome of the game.”

Although Thornton was able to strikeout Logan Ratledge to pick up the second out, Preston Palmeiro drew ball four on a 3-2 pitch in the dirt to strike first blood for the Wolfpack.

Carolina, on the other hand, started out by receiving a one-out double in the first inning from center-fielder Skye Bolt, and another in the second from first baseman Joe Dudek, but they were not able to capitalize on either, as NC State starting pitcher Johnny Piedmonte was able to escape each time.

Trent Thornton came out of the bullpen to pitch six full innings, striking out 10, but also giving up five runs. (UNC Athletics)

Trent Thornton came out of the bullpen to pitch six full innings, striking out 10, but also giving up five runs. (UNC Athletics)

However, the next inning, Piedmonte, a 6’8″ mountain of a man, allowed a two-out double to Landon Lassiter, and then walked Tyler Ramirez to set up freshman Zack Gahagan.

Gahagan then drilled a 1-0 pitch from Piedmonte back up the middle, sending Lassiter home to tie the game up, spelling the end for Piedmonte, as NC State head coach Elliott Avent decided afterwards to turn the ball over to sophomore reliever Ryan Williamson (3-1).

Joe Dudek was the first man to face Williamson, and he promptly hit an RBI single to put the Tar Heels in front before State could get out of the inning.

Currently part of a platoon at first base with fellow sophomore Adrian Chacon, Dudek went 3-4 for the day, forcing Coach Fox to say afterwards that Dudek’s recent hitting has been more than enough to warrant a bigger role in the near future.

“You saw him in there today, and he’s been very impressive the last couple days,” says Coach Fox. “It’s good to see he’s stayed ready. That’s great.”

“He’s ready for his opportunity. You can call me an idiot if I don’t have him in the lineup Tuesday.”

Joe Dudek hit the ball well for the Tar Heel offense on Sunday, going 3-4 with a double and an RBI. (UNC Athletics)

Joe Dudek hit the ball well for the Tar Heel offense on Sunday, going 3-4 with a double and an RBI. (UNC Athletics)

A double in the top of the fourth from Wolfpack freshman third baseman Joe Dunand drove in left-fielder Ryne Willard, and made things all square at two apiece, swinging the momentum back over to the NC State dugout.

That momentum stayed with the Wolfpack in the top of the fifth, as they pounced on Thornton for two more runs to take its biggest lead of the weekend.

After allowing the RBI to Dudek in the third, Williamson settled down on the mound for the Wolfpack–pitching three straight scoreless innings, while Thornton also settled down after handing the lead over in the fifth –striking out six of the next seven batters he faced.

The Tar Heels finally started to claw back in the seventh, on Landon Lassiter’s second double of the day, a hit that drove in Brian Miller and cut the State lead in half.

Thornton then struck out two more guys wearing red, in a perfect eighth inning, to increase his total in that category to double digits for the afternoon– but his offense still needed to scratch across another run to keep the junior from earning the loss.

However, an RBI double with one out in the top of the ninth by Wolfpack shortstop Joel McKeithan ended that dream, as Thornton was pulled in favor of senior Trevor Kelley, who allowed NC State to tack on another run (credited to Thornton), before lefty Zach Rice came in to finish the inning.

In the Tar Heels’ final chance at the plate, they brought the tying run to the plate against NC State reliever Joe O’Donnell, who struck out Alex Raburn and Brian Miller for the first two outs– before allowing a single to Skye Bolt and walking Landon Lassiter.

The teams exchanging a post-game handshake after a hard-fought series. (UNC Athletics)

The teams exchanging a post-game handshake after a hard-fought series. (UNC Athletics)

Refusing to let O’Donnell blow the game all by himself, the Wolfpack turned to Will Gilbert, the junior out of Green Hope High School in Cary, North Carolina, to get the final out.

And he would do just that, getting Tyler Ramirez to fly out to left-field–picking up his second save of the year, and salvaging a win for the visiting team.

“Obviously today’s a tough loss,” says Joe Dudek. “We had the opportunity to do something special, get the sweep at home. You never like to drop the last one, but all these games were close, so to win the series Friday and Saturday in one-run ball games like that, we did get some timely hitting.”

“Overall I think we had good at-bats this weekend.”

Up Next:

Two more games remain on the Tar Heels’ seven-game home-stand, as they’ll face High Point University on Tuesday night at Boshamer Stadium. First pitch for that game is scheduled for 6 p.m.

Game Notes:

  • Joe Dunand’s RBI double for NC State in the fourth was his first hit of the series. Dunand is the nephew of New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez. He went just 1-10 over the entire series.
  • The all-time series record between the two teams is now 160-129-1 in favor of UNC.
  • The Tar Heels put just five runners in scoring position all game long.
  • Trent Thornton’s 10 strikeouts tied his career high, and were the most he’s ever had in a relief appearance.

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