RALEIGH, N.C. – The Presbyterian College baseball team dropped its series opener at North Carolina State on Friday night, falling to the Wolfpack by a 5-1 margin.
PC moves to 23-23 while NC State improves to 35-11. The two sides meet on Saturday night for game number two in a 6:30 p.m. start on ESPN3.
The Blue Hose picked up one run but could not solve starting pitcher Ethan Ogburn, who limited PC to one hit in eight innings.
Cam McRae (Darlington, S.C.) picked up PC's hit and later came around to score in the fifth inning. The sophomore singled and took second and third on an error. Nate Chong (Duluth, Ga.) then hit a chopper to third that allowed McRae to cross home plate and pull PC even, 1-1.
Beau Dees (Blenheim, S.C.) held the Wolfpack scoreless through the first three innings before the home team scored one in the fourth and two each in the fifth and sixth. The sophomore threw 5.1 innings and moved to 5-5 on the year. Brett Byrum (Rowlett, N.C.) delivered solid relief, holding NC State hitless in the final two and two-thirds innings.
Dees retired the side in order in the first inning and a 5-4-3 double play kept the Wolfpack off of the scoreboard in the second. Another perfect inning in the third gave way to a solo home run from Brett Austin in the fourth.
An RBI single added another run in the fifth before an errant pickoff throw put NC State up by two, 3-1. The sixth inning saw NC State take a 5-1 lead on a two-run single from Bryan Adametz.
Byrum and the PC defense did not allow another score but PC could not find a run of their own as the visitors fell, 5-1.
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Presbyterian College 000 010 000 - 1 1 4 (23-23)
NC State............ 000 122 00X - 5 6 3 (35-11)
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Pitchers: Presbyterian College - DEES, Beau; BYRUM, Brett(6) and LONG, Derek; SWAB, Robby.
NC State - Ethan Ogburn; Brad Stone(9) and Brett Austin.
Win-Ethan Ogburn(4-2) Loss-DEES, Beau(5-5) T-2:03 A-1645
HR ST - Brett Austin (2).