Score: VCU 9, #13 NC State 6
Location: Raleigh, N.C. (Doak Field)
Winning Pitcher: Cade Dressler (1-0)
Losing Pitcher: Logan Whitaker (0-1)
Save: Owen Tappy (1)
Records: VCU 1-1, #13 NC State 1-1
 
The short story: VCU Baseball outscored No. 13 NC State eight-to-one over the final six frames getting lock down pitching from junior Cade Dressler and graduate Owen Tappy, to come back on the Wolfpack, securing the first win of 2024.
 
LEADING OFF

• Tappy recorded the first save of his career, behind two shutout innings, giving up zero earned runs, striking out three while facing the minimum six batters
• Dressler got the first win of his career, tossing four innings out of the pen, giving up just one earned run and one hit while striking out a Wolfpack batter
• Senior Brandon Eike bounced back from his opening day performance with a big day, going 3-for-4 with one home run, three RBIs and two runs scored
• Freshman Chris McHugh finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs. The first hits and RBIs of his career
• Redshirt senior Cooper Benzin gave VCU its third multi-hit batter in the game, going 2-for-4 with one home run, two RBIs and two runs scored
• Noah Soles led the way for NC State, hitting a pair of home runs in the leadoff spot, finishing the day 2-for-5

THE STRETCH

• NC State scored three runs in the opening frame on a solo home run by Soles and a two-run home run by Alec Makarewicz, giving NC State an early 3-0 lead
• Benzin got the Rams on the board in the third inning when he smacked one over the wall in left to make it 3-1, but in the bottom half of the third NC State responded with two runs on a Soles solo home run and an RBI single later in the frame
• NC State would score only one more run in the game, scoring one in the sixth on a home run to left
• After the third inning, VCU turned up the juice, scoring eight runs over the final six frames to overtake the Wolfpack
• It started in the fourth when the Rams worked the NC State defense for one run to make it 5-2 and set up the game changing fifth frame
• Redshirt junior Jake Thilges smashed a leadoff double down the left field line and VCU never looked back. Benzin then knocked in Thilges on a single to left and following a single by redshirt senior Nic Ericsson and a free pass earned by junior Casey Kleinman the Rams had the bases loaded
• Eike popped one up to center that was deep enough for Benzin to hustle home, making it 5-4 and putting the bat in sophomore Aden Hill's hands. Hill took a 2-1 pitch to centerfield and that scored Ericsson to tie things up at 5-5
• Next in the box was McHugh who, while staring at two strikes, singled to left the brought home both Hill and Kleinman to give the Rams their first lead of the game at 7-5
• In the seventh Eike went yard, bringing home Kleinman who had reached on a single. The home run, Eike's first of the season, allowed for the Rams to pad their lead
• Tappy entered in the eighth, and over the next six batters he sat each Wolfpack batter down and with Dressler ending his outing by tossing a scoreless seventh, VCU shut down the NC State offense to lock up the 9-6 victory

NOTABLE

• The ranked win is VCU's first since beating then-ranked No. 10 North Carolina at the 2022 Chapel Hill Regional
• VCU's victory was its first over NC State since 1999, a game they also won in Raleigh, N.C. VCU and NC State had not met since 2003 prior to this weekend
• Tappy's appearance was his Division I collegiate debut

NEXT UP
VCU goes for the series win on Sunday, with the rubber game set for a 1 p.m. first pitch. The game will be broadcast on ACCNX.