NC State Outlasts UNC Asheville in Slugfest, 15-11

RALEIGH, N.C. – The 23rd-ranked NC State baseball team scored in seven of its eight plate appearances to earn a 15-11 win against UNC Asheville Tuesday afternoon at Doak Field at Dail Park. The teams combined for 36 hits in the contest and 26 runs.

Junior Nolan Clenney earned the win on the mound with 2.2 innings of relief, while UNC Asheville’s Jesse Juday was charged with loss after allowing three runs in a third of an inning pitched.

NC State moves to 14-3 on the year, while the Bulldogs fall to 3-12.

Quick Hits
– UNC Asheville started fast in the game, scoring four runs in the first but NC State countered with three runs in the bottom half to narrow the deficit to one.
– Brad Debo and Brock Deatherage had RBI singles in the frame, while Terrell Tatum drew a walk with the bases loaded.
– A grand slam extended the Bulldogs lead to 8-3, but the Wolfpack chipped away at the score and took its first lead in the game in the fourth inning.
– An RBI single from Evan Edwards started a stretch of seven unanswered runs for NC State.
– Josh McLain had an RBI single in the third and Brett Kinneman, the NCAA’s home run leader, left the yard for the 10th time on the year to score McLain and trim the UNCA lead to 8-7 in the third inning.
– Kinneman’s 10 homers through the first 17 games equal his total from all of 2017.
– Dillon Cooper’s single plated the tying run, as Tatum scored from second and an RBI triple from Kinneman gave NCSU its first lead of the game at 9-8.
– Jack Conley hit his first homer of the season in the fifth to push the Pack’s lead to 10-8, as he smashed the second pitch of his at-bat over the left field wall.
– UNC Asheville scored in the sixth and eighth, but NC State had an answer each time.
– Kinneman and Will Wilson hit RBI doubles in the sixth and Shane Shepard laced an RBI single in the eighth before a sacrifice fly from Deatherage to push the tally to 15-11.

Inside the Box Score
– The Wolfpack’s first four batters in the lineup combined for 16 of the team’s 23 hits.
– McLain and Wilson were each 4-for-6 with the former scoring four runs with an RBI and the latter, two runs with an RBI.
– Kinneman finished the game a single shy of hitting for the cycle, as he homered in the third, tripled in the fourth and doubled in the sixth.
– Wilson extended his reached base safely streak to 32 games, dating back to last season.
– NC State is now 8-1 on the year when hitting more than one homer in the contest.
– The Pack tallied seven hits with two outs in the game and limited the Bulldogs to just one hit with two outs in the inning.

On the Mound
– Freshman Evan Justice made his first career start in the game and struck out a batter.
– Clenney threw 2.2 innings to pick up his second win of the year, fanning five batters in a strong relief appearance.
– Kent Klyman pitched to one batter but delivered in a big situation as he struck out the batter swinging to strand the tying run on second base in the eighth.
– Joe O’Donnell pitched the ninth for the Wolfpack and struck out two batters to seal the win for the Wolfpack.

Up Next
NC State returns to action Wednesday afternoon for a rematch with the UNC Asheville Bulldogs. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. at Doak Field.