N.C. State clinches series win over Paladins

Brandon Elmy went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles in Furman's
9-2 loss at N.C. State Saturday. Photo courtesy of Furman.

N.C. State piled up 13 hits and scored in six of the eight innings it batted as the Wolfpack cruised to a 9-2 win over Furman Saturday in Raleigh, N.C. No. 12-ranked N.C. State will go for the series sweep Sunday at 1 p.m.

After going 3-for-5 with five RBIs in Friday's series opener, N.C. State's Brett Kinneman went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs Saturday. Evan Edwards went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs also for the Wolfpack.

Furman (3-3) took a 1-0 lead in the first. Ben Anderson led off with a single and later scored on Brandon Elmy's two-out single. N.C. State answered in the bottom half when Josh McLain and Kinneman led off with singles and McLain later scored on Shane Shepard's sacrifice fly.

The Wolfpack took a lead it never relinquished in the third when Kinneman walked and later scored on a two-out single by Edwards. Kinneman led off the bottom of the fifth with his third home run of the series - and fourth this season. Later in the fifth, Edwards hit a two-run homer to push the lead to 5-1.

Furman's scoring wrapped up in the sixth when Landon Kay ended an 0-for-17 skid to start the season with an RBI-single, which scored Elmy who had doubled.

Johnny Piedmonte (2-0) allowed two runs on six hits in six innings to get the win for N.C. State. He had one walk and five strikeouts. Reid Johnston tossed three shutout innings of relief for his second save. Wolfpack pitchers have 18 strikeouts and one walk thus far in the series.

Furman starter Jake Crawford allowed six runs on eight hits in six innings to take the loss. He had four walks and two strikeouts.

Anderson and Elmy each went 3-for-4 to lead the Paladins.