Baseball Loses Back-and-Forth Battle With No. 10 NC State

Sunday, February 21

Myrtle Beach, SC

11:00 AM

Kent State University

0-3

North Carolina State University

2-1

NC State

Kent State

Photo by: David Dermer

Baseball Loses Back-and-Forth Battle With No. 10 NC State

2/21/2016 2:26:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score

MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – Kent State (0-3) battled back and forth with No. 10 North Carolina State (2-1) on Sunday afternoon but could not get back in front one last time, falling 7-5 in their third two-run game on the weekend.

"We played pretty well," said Head Coach Jeff Duncan. "We had a chance to win in all three games against the best in the country. We will get there. There was some real positive play all weekend. We just need to learn from this weekend and continue to stick together and get better every day."

The game was stuck in a pitchers' duel until the Golden Flashes broke through in the 5^th. Dom Iero led off the inning with a walk and Pete Schuler doubled to deep center field to get things started. After Schuler moved to third on a hard hit ground out, Tim DalPorto hit a sacrifice fly to put the team ahead 2-0.

However, that lead was short-lived, as a solo homerun to lead off the 6^th put the Wolfpack on the scoreboard. After a double and single, they took a 4-2 lead on a long ball over the wall in left.

But, the lead would once again change hands in the very next half inning. Luke Burch reached on an error in the bottom of the 6^th, stole a base and then made his way to third on a wild pitch after NC State's starter was removed from the game. Simonetti then walked to put runners on the corners with one out. Zarley Zalewski joined in on the action with a three-run shot to left field to give the home team a one-run lead.

The Wolfpack answered yet again in the 7^th. With bases loaded and no outs, a fielder's choice tied the game at 5. A RBI single made it 6-5 during the next at-bat. With two outs, a double down the left field line plated another run in the 7^th. They were threatening with bases loaded in the 8^th, but Tim Faix entered the game with two outs and got the Flashes out of the inning without any damage done.

This time, though, the Golden Flashes could not answer back, dropping the 7-5 contest to conclude their opening weekend at the Caravelle Resort Classic.

Andy Ravel had a no decision in his first start of the season with five hits, three runs and four strikeouts through 5.0 innings. Zach Willeman suffered the loss with five hits, four runs, three walks and a strikeout through 2.2 innings. Joey Murray threw the 9^th in his Kent State debut, a strong showing with one hit and two strikeouts.

Burch was 3-for-4 from the leadoff spot while the team's other two hits came from Zalewski's big homerun and the RBI double from Schuler.

Kent State will travel to Winter Haven, Florida, next weekend for a four-game set at the RussMat Invitational beginning with an 11 a.m. game against George Washington on Friday.