No. 23 NC State falls at No. 10 Virginia, setting up rubber match
A day after No. 23 NC State hit its way past No. 10 Virginia to take the series opener Friday night, the Wolfpack’s bats were quieted by the Cavaliers in a 9-5 loss Saturday afternoon in Charlottesville, setting up a Sunday afternoon rubber match.
NC State found success early against Virginia starter Joe Savino. The Pack had the bases loaded in the first inning after a single, hit by pitch and walk, but Luke Nixon flied out to end the red and white’s chance of a quick strike.
And after that, Savino settled in.
The Cavaliers’ right-handed pitcher retired the next 12 batters he faced to limit NC State’s ability to generate consistent offense for three straight innings. Savino fanned two during that stretch, while retiring the other 10 on a healthy mix of fly outs and ground outs.
NC State appeared to manufacture a glimmer of offense in the fifth with back-to-back doubles by sophomore second baseman Matt Heavner and sophomore outfielder Eli Serrano III, which gave the Pack its first run of the game.
But Virginia was able to respond. The Cavaliers used back-to-back home runs in the following half inning to extend its two-run lead to five. That advantage proved too much for the Pack to overcome.
The Wolfpack scored a pair in the eighth after graduate third baseman Alec Makarewicz smacked an RBI single to center to score Serrano and junior shortstop Brandon Butterworth’s RBI fielder’s choice scored graduate first baseman Garrett Pennington.
NC State left the tying run at the plate in the eighth and that doomed the Pack. The red and white stranded seven base runners on the afternoon in the defeat.
Pennington clubbed a two-run blast in the ninth to cut the deficit to four, but the Pack could not do any more damage after that. He led the Wolfpack offense with a 3-for-4 day with two runs scored, a pair of RBI and the homer. Serrano, the leadoff hitter, was the only other Pack batter to record a multi-hit effort in a 2-for-5 contest.
Sophomore Dominic Fritton was tagged with the loss in the outing with six earned runs on 11 hits across 5.2 innings of work. He struck out four and did not walk a batter, though he conceded six extra-base hits.
The Cavaliers and Pack will square off for the series victory Sunday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Virginia’s Disharoon Park.
