NC State downs Campbell to win all-important first game at NCAA baseball regional

A year after missing the NCAA Tournament, third-seeded North Carolina State made a successful return with a 5-1 victory over second-seeded Campbell in the opening game of the Columbia baseball regional Friday afternoon.

“It was a great opening win in a great ballpark environment,” NC State coach Elliott Avent said. “I thought we played well today. Everyone knows what kind of ball club Campbell has and how good they are and what kind of season they’re having.”

“It’s always great to start off with a win in the first game.”

LuJames Groover, who was battling food poisoning earlier in the week, hit two solo home runs and Trevor Candelaria added another as the Wolfpack banged out six extra base hits on their 10-hit afternoon. Cannon Peebles and Chase Nixon had the other RBIs for N.C. State. Candelaria was 4-for-4 with a double and two singles in his afternoon.

Logan Whitaker gave the Wolfpack a solid start in throwing 71 pitches. The junior right-hander pitched 4.1 innings and didn’t allow a run on five hits with four strikeouts and two walks. The Camels had baserunners in every inning but the first and they stranded a total of 13, six during the second, third and fourth innings.

The Wolfpack bullpen duo of Rio Britton and Justin Lawson combined to limit the Camels to one run on five hits. Lawson earned the victory by pitching the final 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. All 10 of the Campbell hits were singles.

The lone Campbell run came in the sixth inning on a sacrifice fly by Grant Knipp. That’s just the second time this season the Camels, the winners of the Big South regular season and tournament championships, were held to one run or less. The other came in a 3-1 loss to Presbyterian on April 6.

“Whitaker got into a couple of jams but made big pitches when he needed to. All three pitchers were outstanding and complemented each other well,” Avent said. “To hold (that) ball club to one run says a lot.”

Campbell coach Justin Haire thought not delivering the big hit turned out to be a big deal.

“It was a pretty well-played ball game, the difference is they had six extra base hits and we had none,” Haire said. “We tried to keep the pressure on and typically sooner or later with our offense, the dam breaks. We didn’t get that big two-out hit that we’ve gotten so many times.”

Campbell starter Cade Kuehler suffered his first loss of the season. He allowed three runs, one earned, on seven hits in six innings. He struck out four and walked two to fall to 8-1.

N.C. State advanced to face regional host South Carolina at 6 p.m. Saturday.