#21 NC State Shuts Out Elon 5-0

ELON, N.C. – In what appeared to be a pitcher’s duel and a low-scoring affair following five scoreless innings, the 21st-ranked NC State baseball team pushed across several runs late to earn a 5-0 shutout win at Elon Tuesday evening.

The Wolfpack plated the game’s first run in the sixth and then added four runs in its final two at-bats to come away with the shutout win. Four different pitchers combined for the shutout, as sophomore Evan Justice earned the win (1-0) with 2.1 innings of relief in his first appearance of the season.

Elon’s starter Jared Wetherbee was charged with the loss (0-1) and it was just the second of his career.

NC State moves to 4-0 on the year, handing Elon (3-1) its first loss of the season in the process. It was the Pack’s first road shutout since March 31, 2018, at Virginia Tech.

Avent’s Additions
“I’m awfully proud of our guys,” said head coach Elliott Avent. “They came over here in tough conditions, first game on the road and they were excited. This club likes to play and that’s a very, very good Elon team, maybe the best one I’ve seen in a long time.

“It was scoreless for the first five innings, but I felt like Elon had the advantage because they had us on the ropes, but we turned that situation into a 5-0 win. We made pitches and plays when we had to. I’m very proud of this ballclub.”

Quick Hits
– Elon threatened in the bottom of the third, as they loaded the bases with one out, but Baker Nelson entered the game and induced a foul out and a ground out to escape the jam.
– More impressively, the freshman battled out of a 3-0 hole to the first batter he faced to get the foul out and then made a great pitch to get the ground out to J.T. Jarrett at second base to end the inning.
– Will Wilson broke the scoreless tie with a solo homer in the sixth inning to give NC State a 1-0 lead, s the Wolfpack has scored first in every game this year.
– The junior drove the 1-2 pitch from Wetherbee over the left field wall for his second home run of the season. It was also the first homer that Wetherbee has allowed and just the second extra-base hit he has yielded in his career.
– NC State loaded the bases in the eighth and Evan Edwards made the Phoenix pay with a two-RBI double down the right field line.
– He later scored in the inning on a wild pitch to make it 4-0.
– Vojtech Mensik walked to start the ninth, stole second, advanced to third on a groundout from Terrell Tatum and scored on a wild pitch to extend NC State’s lead to 5-0.
– Mathieu Gauthier pitched around a leadoff single in the ninth to secure the win.

On the Mound
– Junior Michael Bienlien started on the mound and pitched 2.1 innings with three strikeouts before handing the ball to Nelson.
– Nelson threw the next 2.1 innings with only one hit allowed with a pair of strikeouts.
– Justice was also great out of the bullpen, fanning three batters and Gauthier threw the final two innings yielding just one hit.

On Deck
NC State will return to action this weekend at the Baseball at the Beach Tournament, hosted by Coastal Carolina. The Wolfpack will take on Kent State in its first game of the weekend Friday afternoon at TicketReturn.Com Field in Myrtle Beach, S.C.