RALEIGH, N.C. – Timely hitting in the middle innings led NC State to a sweep of Longwood as the Wolfpack won the series finale Sunday by a score of 6-3. In another close game, NC State found a way to plate runs and pull away for the three-run victory at Doak Field.
Glen Allen, Virginia native Andrew Knizner once again provided the crucial knock for the Wolfpack as Sunday's designated hitter went 2-for-4 including driving in the game-winning run with his fifth-inning single to right off of
Brandon Vick.
Longwood (19-26) battled with its ACC foe, getting a two-run blast from
Kyri Washington to take an early lead in the third. The opposite field shot flew just over the 380'-marker in right center and narrowly avoided the leaping effort of the Wolfpack right fielder.
NC State (26-18) rallied and used a two-run blast of its own to take a 3-2 lead thanks to Chance Shepard's no-doubter in the fourth. A 2-0 fastball stayed up in the zone and Shepard smashed his third long ball of the season way beyond the left field wall.
Longwood did not go away quietly, though, as
Connar Bastaich brought the blue and white level an inning later with his clutch, RBI-single to center. The first-baseman finished the game 2-for-4 to join
Brandon Harvell and
Mac McCafferty in earning two-hit days.
"Connar came up with a big-time hit for us there," said head coach
Ryan Mau. "I thought Brandon did a really good job for us out of the two-hole, a relatively new position for him. It was also good to see Mac swing the bat well pretty much all weekend long."
But Knizner's big hit overcame a solid effort from the Lancers and Tommy DeJuneas retired 10-straight to close the game and shut the door on any comeback bid.
"I thought it was a good challenge for us this weekend and I saw a lot of really positive things," said
Ryan Mau. "We're going to build off this going into what obviously is a big homestretch for us."
Longwood opened the scoring in Sunday's finale as the Lancers struck for a pair in the top of the third. After hits in each of the first two frames, Longwood finally put a rally together as
Brandon Harvell reached on an infield single to the left side with two outs. That allowed
Kyri Washington to step to the plate and the junior rifled a two-run home run to right center, his team-leading 10th long ball of the season.
NC State managed to pull a run back in the bottom half of the third as the Wolfpack capitalized on a leadoff triple from the nine-hole hitter Brock Deatherage, who would score on a sacrifice fly a batter later. The next inning, the Wolfpack used a two-run homer of its own to take the lead as Chance Shepard launched an elevated fastball over the left field wall for a 3-2 lead.
The Lancers bounced right back in the fifth with a run on a pair of hits in the inning.
Colton Konvicka led off the frame with a walk and stole second for his 26th swipe of the season. A balk by NC State reliever Will Gilbert moved Konvicka to third and the speedster scored the tying run on
Connar Bastaich's liner through the middle.
It looked as if the Lancers were set to take the lead as
Alex Lewis roped a double into the right field corner, but the ball skipped over the bullpen wall for a ground-rule double, forcing Bastaich to hold at third. A ground ball to second ended the Lancer threat, stranding a pair in scoring position.
After the Lancers knotted the game at 3-3, the Wolfpack jumped right back to the lead with a pair of hits in the fifth, with Virginia native Andrew Knizner providing the go-ahead RBI with a single to right field. The Wolfpack would chase starter
Brandon Vick (2-6) in the inning and the Lancers turned to
Mitchell Kuebbing out of the bullpen. Vick took the loss after throwing 4 1/3 innings, allowing five runs, all earned, on seven hits.
Kuebbing induced a pop-up from the first batter he faced, but could not end the inning, allowing a double and issuing a walk to load the bases. A hit-by-pitch brought an NC State run home to extend the lead to 5-3 before
Devin Gould came on and caught pinch-hitter Bubby Riley looking to end the threat.
Gould made way after working 2 1/3 innings allowing a single run on two hits. The right-hander struck out two and walked two before ceding to freshman
Michael Catlin. The rookie southpaw tossed a perfect eighth to bounce back after a string of tough outings of late.
"Vick had pretty good stuff today and just ran out of gas," said Mau. "Then, I was really pleased with the way Devin and Catlin threw the ball for us today."
Longwood threatened in the sixth by putting runners on second and third with two outs, but NC State turned to Tommy DeJuneas out of the pen who earned his fourth save of the season by retiring the last 10 Lancers to step to the plate.
The blue and white will travel to Richmond on Tuesday before heading to Gardner-Webb over the weekend for a pivotal Big South series with the Runnin' Bulldogs.
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