Pack 9 double up shorebirds

Eight of nine is pretty fine

Brett Kinneman and Andy Cosgrove homered, and Joe O’Donnell got three of his four outs via the strikeout for his team-leading fifth save, as NC State won its eighth game in nine tries, downing visiting UNC-Wilmington 6-3.

Kinneman’s blast, in the bottom of the second, staked State to an early 1-0 lead. A Brad Debo double plated Cosgrove in the third to make it 2-0, and Joe Dunand’s sac fly, plating Stephen Pitarra, pushed the advantage to 3-0.

The Seahawks battled back to knot the game at 3-3 in the top of the fifth, but Kinneman answered in the bottom of the inning with an RBI single to push the Pack back in front. Evan Mendoza doubled and eventually scored on a passed ball in the sixth, and Cosgrove’s homer provided the final run of the game, and the winning margin of 6-3, later in the frame.

Sean Adler cruised until the fifth, entering the frame having tossed four shutout innings. After getting two quick outs in the fifth, he loaded the sacks on a hit, walk, and hit batter and was lifted in favor of Austin Staley, who did him no favors. Staley allowed a pair of hits that plated all three inherited runners.

After that, the bullpen was mostly flawless (Tommy DeJuneas, cough cough), and they kept the Seahawks off the board. Kent Klyman fanned a pair in two perfect innings. DeJuneas got a couple of outs but then put two on in the eighth when his command went all Ricky Vaughn. Enter O’Donnell. The senior once again looked dominant, getting the last out of the eighth and allowing just a harmless single in the ninth on his way to the save.

Kinneman was perfect on the day, going 2-for-2 with two walks. Pitarra also had a couple of hits out of the leadoff position. Wilmington managed just five hits on the day.

((Extended parenthetical: According to the live stats, which I am leaning on heavily since I only caught the last two innings live (but do not trust since they say we were playing Delaware), Brock Deatherage’s little brother, Blake, pitched 2.1 innings and got hammered. That’s odd since he had just one appearance on the bump on the season, but sure maybe it was him. He did have one K. Did it come against his totally lost brother, Brock, who fanned in every single at bat? That’ll be some shit at the Thanksgiving table. But I digress…))

The game was the Pack’s last non-conference tilt. They’ll take on Pittsburgh on the road over the weekend before closing the season with Clemson at home.

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