Pack9 top Pirates in 8 innings, 12-2

The score remained there until the 7th inning, when ECU’s defense fell apart and the Pack offense took advantage. Brandon Novy walked with one out and advanced a bag on a wild pitch. Brayden Fraasman singled him home and then advanced to scoring position on a Serrano double down in to the right field corner. Rett Johnson’s hitting streak extended to 18 games on a very generously ruled infield single (it was an error on the pitcher) that scored Fraasman, while the throwing error allowed Serrano to also score. Luke Nixon then singled to first base with Rett scoring on the play all the way from second base. Gotta love the way Rett plays the game.

With an 11-2 lead heading into the bottom of the 8th, Novy again walked and Andrew Wiggins came in to run for him. Drew Lanphere singled, sending Wiggins to third base, and Wiggins would score on a Fraasman sacrifice fly on what was a great diving catch by ECU center fielder Chance Hall.

Manuel (2.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 5 K) earned the win with his relief effort, his first collegiate win. Mikey Ragusa (1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 K) and Aiden Kitchings (2.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K) followed Manuel on the mound and continued putting zeros on the board. It was an impressive relief effort from the three freshman arms.

Nixon (3-for-4, R, 2 RBI, BB, 1-1 SB), McHugh (2-for-5, HR, R, 2 RBI), Sherman Johnson (2-for-3, 3B, R, RBI, BB, 0-1 SB), Fraasman (2-for-4, R, 2 RBI, SF, 1-1 SB), and Serrano (2-for-3, 2B, 2 R, BB, 1-1 SB) all notched multiple hits in the game. It was the first multi-hit game of Serrano’s career, as the early-enrollee freshman earned the start in place of an injury Mikey Ryan, who is doubtful for this weekend’s Miami series with an ankle injury. Rett Johnson (1-for-4, 2 R, RBI, BB), Head (1-for-3, 2 R, 2 BB), and Novy (0-for-0, R, 2 BB) each reached safely multiple times in the game as the Wolfpack pounded out 15 hits while working 8 walks in the game.

The win moved State’s RPI up to 46th while ECU’s dropped to 30th. The Wolfpack are back in action Friday at 6:00pm to kickoff the opener of their home series with Miami, which now occupy the Pirates’ former RPI ranking of 28th.