Virginia Baseball Falls 5-1 at No. 9 NC State

RALEIGH, N.C. – The Virginia baseball team dropped a 5-1 contest at No. 9 NC State Friday evening at Doak Field at Dail Park in Raleigh, N.C.

Virginia (17-9-1, 5-5 ACC) was limited to five hits. Reed Gragnani (Jr., Richmond, Va.) recorded a pair of hits for Virginia, while Keith Werman (Sr., Vienna, Va.) extended his hit streak to a career-best 11 games with a third-inning double. It is the longest hit streak by a UVa player this season.

Virginia starting pitcher Scott Silverstein (Sr., Olney, Md.) worked 6.0 innings, allowing four earned runs, seven hits and three walks while fanning a pair. He took the loss and fell to Austin Young (So., Mechanicsville, Va.) pitched the final two innings for UVa.

NC State starting pitcher Ethan Ogburn (3-1) stifled the Cavaliers over 8.0 innings, allowing a run, four hits and no walks while striking out seven. Chris Overman pitched the ninth to finish off the win for the Wolfpack (18-6, 7-3).

NC State struck quickly in the first as Trea Turner reached on an infield single and Brett Austin doubled just inside the third-base line to plate the run.

After the first eight Cavaliers were retired in order by Ogburn, Virginia got back-to-back two-out doubles in the third inning by Werman and Chris Taylor (Jr., Virginia Beach, Va.) to knot the score.

NC State took advantage of a pair of walks to move ahead in the fourth inning. After Silverstein issued walks to Andrew Ciencin and Ryan Mathews, Bryan Adametz bunted the runners to second and third. Logan Ratledge then singled to center to score both runners.

The Wolfpack added a run in the fifth inning when Turner bunted his way on base, then stole second and third on consecutive pitches and scored on an Austin sacrifice fly. NC State added a run in the eighth on pinch hitter Danny Canela’s single to score Chris Diaz.

Virginia loaded the bases with none out in the ninth inning, but Overman rebounded to strike out the side to finish the game.

Game two of the series is slated for 6:30 p.m. Saturday.