Wolfpack Whistle Stop Tour Leaves Vandy Scoreless

CWS

Estimated reading time: 3 minutes

Jim Quist @ACCTheQ –

The Wolfpack whistle stop tour left Vanderbilt and their fans in shock as NC State advanced in Bracket 1 play of the College World Series (CWS) with a 1-0 win. There’s more to this Elliott Avent led team than meets the eye. The first wake-up call came in the Super Regionals when the unseeded upstarts out of Raleigh polished off No. 1 seed Arkansas. Their next conquest was the PAC 12’s No. 9 seeded Stanford who fooled around and found out NC State was for real as the Pack delivered a 10-4 opening salvo in bracket action.

One team, No. 5 seed Arizona has already fallen by the wayside in Bracket 1. Who’s next? On Wednesday, June 23 at 7:00pm, No. 4 Vanderbilt faces off with No. 9 Stanford in the Elimination Bracket to see who gets another shot at NC State.

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From the start this game had pitcher’s dual written all over the scorecard. Sam Highfill starting for NC State and Jack Leiter for Vanderbilt left many a batter at the altar. Highfill had 100 pitches and 63 strikeouts before being relieved by Evan Justice who delivered 28 pitches and 16 strikes. Meanwhile, in an iron man performance for Vanderbilt Leiter had 123 pitches and fanned 82. The first hit of the game came in the fifth inning as the Commodores’ LF Javier Vaz placed a single into right field.

NC State’s DH Terrell Tatum delivered what was to become the winning run when he opened the lineup in the fifth. Tatum sent a shot over the right field wall to make it, 1-0 Wolfpack. In the sixth, Vanderbilt still couldn’t find any offense and neither could the Pack. But after NC State had a little taste in the fifth they wanted more and opportunity knocked in the seventh.

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Courtesy: GoPack.com

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Tyler McDonough singled into Left Center. Tatum was walked and Jose Torres shot a blooper that was unplayable toward third to load the based in the seventh for NC State. Leiter fought his way through the next two batters and the Pack stranded three men on base.

In the eighth, Vanderbilt advanced CJ Rodriguez on a walk and Vaz delivered a SAC bunt that moved Rodriguez to second. Avent opted to replace Highfill with Justice who closed out the game and sent a stunned Vanderbilt to the showers.