Encouraging Start For Wolfpack Baseball

The equipment, the strategies and the players may have changed over the years. But the elements of winning baseball have remained the same.

It's all about good pitching, timely hitting and a stout defense.

NC State used a little of all three Friday to get the 2020 season off to a winning start.

Converted reliever Nick Swinney pitched seven scoreless innings, striking out a career-high 11 along the way, while Jonny Butler hit a two-run homer and Tyler McDonough short-circuited a potential rally with a diving catch that turned into a double play, as the Wolfpack rolled to a 4-0 victory against James Madison at Doak Field. 

The win was the 1,100th in coach Elliott Avent's career and marked the fifth time in the past six years that State has recorded a win in its season opener. 

It's a long season and this was only one game. But there were plenty of positive signs that bode well for the Wolfpack moving on. Here are some of them:

◼ Nick Swinney's pitching: A reliever for most of his career, the junior left-hander is being stretched out into a starting role this season and he showed that he is fully capable of handling the assignment. His longest previous outing was only 4 1/3 innings before going seven on Friday. 

One reason he was able to go so deep into the game was his efficiency on the mound. He threw only 90 pitches, 61 of them for strikes. The outing was an extension of the way Swinney finished last season, when he pitched to a 1.75 earned run average with 59 strikeouts over his final 12 appearances.

While the Wolfpack doesn't have an ace per se this season, it does have an abundance of veteran arms. If Friday's debut is any indication, Swinney can be a solid addition to State's weekend rotation.

◼ Defense: Wolfpack pitchers struck out 13 Dukes in all, but when JMU hitters did put their bat on the ball, Swinney and relievers Baker Nelson and Kent Klyman got plenty of help from their fielders.

State played errorless baseball and made all the routine plays. It also got a spectacular play from Tyler McDonough in centerfield that helped prevent JMU from making the game much more interesting in the final few innings.

With the Wolfpack leading 3-0 in the top of the sixth and the leadoff man on first via a walk, the Dukes' Nick Zona hit a sinking line drive up into right center. McDonough, who is also slated to play some second base this season, raced over and made a diving catch just off the turf, then got up and threw to first to end what would have been JMU's only threat of the day to that point.

◼ Timely hitting: State only got five hits of its own off JMU ace Nick Stewart and two relievers. But they came at just the right times.

In the second, Devonte Brown led off with a double off the base of the wall in right before Butler engaged in an epic battle with Stewart by fouling off five straight pitches. On the ninth pitch of the at bat, he finally got the ball he was looking for, sending a 2-2 changeup over the right field wall for a two-run homer and an early Wolfpack lead.

State added an insurance run in the fifth and again, Brown was involved. After a walk to Patrick Bailey, the junior outfielder doubled for the second time in the day to score Bailey all the way from first. Moved to the cleanup spot vacated by the first round draft pick Will Wilson, Brown was the biggest bright spot in the Wolfpack battling order Friday.

Another one was leadoff hitter Austin Murr. A junior college transfer who hit over .400 in his first two college seasons, he laced a double down the right field line in the seventh, then advanced to third and score on wild pitches to provide his team with its fourth and final run.

◼  The Wolfpack and Dukes continue their three-game series on Saturday with freshman Matt Willadsen getting his first career start on the mound.