At North Carolina State University.

Raleigh, N.C.

Achieving 1,000 victories in the colors of Red and White.

The NC State head coach, Elliott Avent, achieved his 1,000th win as the leader of the Wolfpack with their 5-3 win against VCU on Sunday. This makes him the fifth active head coach in Division I baseball and the 35th head coach (active or inactive) at a Division I school to reach this milestone.

NC State’s head coach, Avent, achieved his 1,000th win with the help of freshman pitcher Ryan Marohn, who had a strong debut with five scoreless innings and eight strikeouts. Avent’s very first team at NC State, back in 1997, helped him earn his first Wolfpack victory over Charleston Southern with a 6-0 shutout 9,864 days ago.

NC State took an early 3-0 advantage in the first three innings. In the second inning, Josh Hogue’s groundout resulted in an RBI, giving the Wolfpack a 1-0 lead. The team then added two more runs in the third inning, scoring both with two outs. Hogue hit an RBI single to center field, bringing the score to 2-0, before Luke Nixon got his first career hit and RBI, extending the lead to 3-0.

Marohn quickly retired Rams’ right fielder Aden Hill by striking him out on three consecutive pitches to get out of a bases-loaded jam in the fifth inning. This was his eighth strikeout of the game and it came on his 89th and last pitch in his debut at the college level.

In the fifth inning, Drew Lanphere extended the Pack’s lead to 4-0 by hitting a single that brought in a run. This was Lanphere’s first RBI of his career and his second hit of the game.

VCU and NC State traded runs in the sixth inning before the Rams’ Nic Ericsson led off the top of the seventh with a solo homer to left field, trimming the Pack’s lead to 5-2. Freshman Jaxon Lucas entered for the Wolfpack following Ericsson’s solo shot and tossed a scoreless frame, notching his first-career strikeout.

In the bottom of the eighth inning, the Rams closed the gap with a solo home run by Ethan Iannuzzi. With two outs, freshman Jacob Dudan came in and successfully prevented the tying run from scoring, striking out VCU’s leadoff batter Casey Kleinman to end the inning.

Brandon Butterworth and Matt Heavner teamed up to turn a 6-4-3 double play, getting two quick outs in the ninth inning. A groundout sealed the deal for the Wolfpack, giving them the series win. Dudan pitched a scoreless 1.1 innings to earn his first save of his career.

Garrett Pennington led the Wolfpack with three hits, while Eli Serrano III and Lanphere each recorded two hits.

Marohn, Lucas, and Dudan, the trio of freshman pitchers, worked together to pitch a total of eight innings and only gave up one run, while also recording 12 strikeouts.

Zachary Peters, the starting pitcher for VCU, was credited with the loss as he gave up three runs (one earned) in three innings of play.

UP NEXT
NC State heads to Hawaii for its first road series of the 2024 season, opening a three-game set against the Rainbow Warriors on Friday at Les Murakami Stadium. First pitch is set for 11:35 p.m. ET and will be televised on Spectrum Sports and streamed live on ESPN+.

Source: wralsportsfan.com