ECU shut out by rival NC State, 6-0

GREENVILLE, N.C. – The pitching trio of Sean Adler, Joe O’Donnell and Austin Staley helped NC State to a 6-0 shutout win over East Carolina Wednesday night at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium. With the win the Wolfpack improves to 22-20, while the Pirates fell to 22-20.

Adler (4-6) picked up the win tossing 5.1 scoreless frames surrendering five hits with a walk and seven strikeouts before turning the game over to his bullpen. O’Donnell worked 2.1 innings with three punch outs, while Staley closed the door with 1.1 scoreless innings and one strikeout.

Jacob Wolfe (4-3) suffered the loss going three-plus innings where he allowed three runs (all earned) on seven hits. ECU used four pitchers in relief getting outings from Sam Lanier (2.0 IP, 0 Rs, 1 K), West Covington (2.0 IP, 0 Rs, 1 K), Tyler Smith (1.0 IP, 2 Rs, 1 K) and Matt Bridges (1.0 IP, 1 R).

The Wolfpack out-hit the Pirates 13 to six on the night getting three base knocks each from Andy Cosgrove and Joe Dunand. Brett Kinneman added a pair of hits, while driving in and scoring a run. Dunand plated a pair of runs which came on his two-run homer in the eighth inning – his 15th of the season.

Eric Tyler led the Pirates going 2-for-4 and extended his on-base streak to a personal-best 28 games. Bryan Packard, Wes Phillips, Dwanya Williams-Sutton and Charlie Yorgen also recorded base hits in the game.

How It Happened:

Will Wilson and Cosgrove each drove in a run staking NC State to an early 2-0 lead in the second inning. Kinneman singled through the left side to start the frame and took third on Evan Mendoza’s double down the left field line. Wilson ground out to short pushing across Kinneman and Cosgrove followed with an RBI single up the middle scoring Mendoza.

Kinneman’s RBI single in the fourth extended the Wolfpack’s lead to 3-0. Dunand led off with a double to right-center and came around to score Kinneman’s second base hit of the game, a shot back up the middle.

Dunand’s two-run homer in the eighth pushed NC State’s lead to five, 5-0. With one out, Brad Debo drew a walk off Smith before Dunand shot over the left field walk cleared the bases.

The Wolfpack added another run in the ninth capping the scoring a 6-0. Cosgrove doubled with one out to right-center and scored on Stephen Pitarra’s single up the middle.

Up Next:

ECU will continue its four-game home stand this weekend when it welcomes American Athletic Conference foe Tulane for a three-game league series starting Friday, April 28. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. (ET).