Strong Pitching Guides No. 14 Virginia to 2-1 Victory at No. 23 NC State

UVA's pitching staff held NC State to just one run and the Cavaliers took game one in a pitcher's duel on Thursday night in Raleigh

Virginia entered the weekend with the nation's 11th-ranked offense, while NC State sits at 13th. With these two high-powered offenses going head-to-head on a Thursday night, it was quite the surprise to see the Cavaliers and Wolfpack combine to score just three runs. 

In the end, it was UVA who came out on top in the pitchers' duel as Nick Parker and the Cavalier pitching staff who managed to hold the Wolfpack to just one run as No. 14 Virginia picked up a 2-1 victory at No. 23 NC State to open the series on Thursday night in Raleigh. 

Although they scored just one run, the Wolfpack were not without some significant scoring opportunities. NC State had a runner in scoring position in each of the first four innings, but Virginia starter Nick Parker managed to work himself out of the jam each time. In the bottom of the first, Parker used a pair of strikeouts to retire the side after giving up a one-out double. In the second, Parker gave up two singles to start the inning, but worked out of that situation thanks to a couple of excellent defensive plays by catcher Kyle Teel. Teel caught a runner stealing third and then two batters later, he chased down a wild pitch on the backstop and fired it home to Parker, who placed the tag on NC State's Eli Serrano III, who tried to score from second base on the wild pitch. 

Virginia got on the board in the top of the third inning as Harrison Didawick and Justin Rubin got on base with a walk and a single, respectively. Griff O'Ferrall bunted the ball right in front of the plate, but the NC State catcher wasn't able to grab the ball cleanly and O'Ferrall reached first to load the bases. Jake Gelof brought in Didawick with a groundout and then Teel hit an infield single to score Rubin to make it 2-0. 

The Wolfpack responded in the bottom of the fourth as Jacob Cozart hammered a solo home run to right field for NC State's lone run of the game. Nick Parker gave up a double to the next batter and put another runner on with a walk, but once again got out of it with a pair of strikeouts. Parker ended up going five innings, giving up just one earned run on six hits and striking out seven batters. 

Angelo Tonas, Jacob Hodorovich, and Jake Berry combined to work through the sixth, seventh, and eighth innings and surrendered just one baserunner between them. Berry remained on the mound in the bottom of the ninth and after surrendering a two-out double to Carter Trice to put the tying run on second, he struck out Parker Nolan to end the game, securing Virginia's 2-1 victory. 

Nick Parker was credited with his third victory of the season and Jake Berry recorded his third save of the season. 

Now 16-1 and 3-1 in ACC play, Virginia will look to clinch the series with a win in game 2 against NC State on Friday at 1pm. 

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