This game was easy right up until it wasn’t.
Johnny Piedmonte pitched seven scoreless for NC State on Friday night, and this was an extremely necessary pitching performance. The Wolfpack scored the first seven runs of the game, four of which came off a pair of home runs, and State won 7-4.
Will Wilson gave NC State a 6-0 lead with a massive three-run shot in the fourth inning. Andy Cosgrove also got a hold of a Josh Mitchell pitch in the following inning, giving the Pack a 7-0 lead. Both shots were no-doubters to left field.
Mitchell struggled badly early on and NC State jumped on him for three runs in the first inning. He generally pitched to contact, which generally didn’t work out well.
Piedmonte controlled the game for the most part and worked well into the eighth inning, which is what State needed today. He ran up 120 pitches, which is not ideal, but that limited the exposure to what has all year been a weak bullpen. Once Piedmonte left the game, things got troubling.
Pittsburgh scored three in the bottom of the eighth and added one while threatening in the ninth to put the final result in question. It was not a pretty finish for NC State’s pitching staff, by any means, but they managed to close out a must-win game, and these days we’re lookin’ for results. On to Saturday.
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