What they're saying about NC State's win over Stanford
Here are some the thoughts from those who covered NC State Wolfpack baseball's College World Series opener, a 10-4 win over Stanford Saturday afternoon.
What they're saying
Matt Carter, The Wolfpacker — NC State has a strong team performance in win over Stanford
The end result was a quality team win. Every batter in the lineup reached base at least once, seven had at least one hit and four had multiple base knocks. The Pack was also able to draw six walks and steal a base.
The top three batters in the lineup of junior first baseman Austin Murr, sophomore centerfielder Tyler McDonough and Butler went collectively 7 for 14 at the plate with a double and a homer, five runs scored, six RBI and drew three walks.
On the mound, Johnston delivered six quality innings, allowing six hits, four runs (three earned) with just one walk and five strikeouts. Justice struck out four in three scoreless frames and didn’t walk a batter while surrendering a pair of hits.
“Reid Johnston was Reid Johnston,” Avent said. “Evan Justice was Evan Justice. And I thought some of the guys at the top of the lineup had big, big days.”
N.C. State banged out 12 hits against the Cardinal as every Wolfpack batter reached base at least once.
“Every time I was up, I think, there were runners in scoring position,” said Butler, who was 3 for 5. “I’m always comfortable in those situations knowing the pressure is on the pitcher. He has to come to me.”
Facing a Cardinal offense that averaged 10 runs per game in the NCAA tournament prior to Saturday, the Wolfpack jumped to a 6-0 lead before Stanford collected its first hit.
N.C. State led 6-1 in the seventh inning before the Cardinal scored three times to chase Johnston and pull within two runs. Lefty relief ace Evan Justice entered to halt that rally and struck out four over the final three innings to secure the save.
“To be able to get out there and compete on this stage with these guys we have,” Justice said, “it’s a dream come true and it’s a lot of fun. I’m glad we came out victorious today.”
For a team no one expected to be at the College World Series, N.C. State played Saturday like a team that expects to win its first NCAA title by the end of the month.
Led by a five-RBI performance from junior left fielder Jonny Butler, the Wolfpack opened their first CWS appearance since 2013 with a 10-4 win over No. 9 Stanford at TD Ameritrade Park.
"I had a lot of confidence coming in here," Butler said. "There was a lot of pressure on the pitchers all game, because every time I was up, there were runners in scoring position."
N.C. State advances to the winner's bracket where they'll face the winner of Arizona or Vanderbilt in this double-elimination tournament.
Coming off a thrilling upset of No. 1 Arkansas in last week's Super Regional, the Wolfpack (36-18) still entered the CWS as major underdogs. The performance against Stanford will help shed that tag.
Joe Giglio, WRALSportsFan — NC State tops Stanford, starts 1-0 in College World Series
This NC State baseball team doesn’t have the same star power of the last one to make it to the College World Series.
But Jonny Butler is making his case to be mentioned in the same class as Wolfpack pros Trea Turner and Carlos Rodon from the 2013 CWS team.
Butler homered and drove in five runs to lead NC State to a 10-4 win over Stanford in the first game of the College World Series in Omaha, Neb. on Saturday afternoon.
Butler hit a two-run home run off of Stanford ace Brendan Beck in the first inning and then drove in a pair of runs in the fourth and started a four-run rally in the ninth.
The All-ACC left fielder also homered early in the Super Regional clinching win over Arkansas last Sunday. He led the ACC in hitting (.385 average) this season and leads the Wolfpack in RBIs (53) and ranks second on the team in home runs (14).
NC State continued to increase its lead in the top of the ninth, thanks to a pair of in-game turnarounds by junior designated hitter Terrell Tatum (0-5, 3 K) and sophomore catcher Luca Tresh (1-5, RBI, 3 K). Both State batters entered the ninth with three strikeouts to their name, but Tatum reached base on an errant throw to second base, and Tresh ripped an RBI double to left center that brought Butler home.
Brown then drew a walk to load the bases for Mensik, who sneaked a ground ball through the left side of the infield for a two-RBI single, making it a 10-4 Wolfpack lead.
“It’s all just to take pressure off of Evan,” Butler said. “We knew he was going to go in there and finish the game, and there’s a big difference between two runs and three runs. We were just scratching off one run at a time, and we were able to put together a big inning.”
Junior second baseman J.T. Jarrett (0-3, 2 BB) drew another base-loading walk in the next at-bat, but a strikeout by Murr and a flyout by McDonough ended the rally.
A single and an error by freshman shortstop Jose Torres (1-5) put two on with nobody out for the Cardinal, but Justice rebounded by forcing a flyout to left before a ground ball to Jarrett was called a double play on runner’s interference, ending the game. It was a veritable team effort from the Wolfpack, as each batter in the lineup reached base at least once.
“It’s always been a team win with us, that’s the way it’s been all year,” Avent said. “For the last three months, it’s no secret we’ve played pretty much nine guys every day. Murr likes to say it’s ‘nine guys from nine states’... This is a team that, throughout the lineup, can figure out how to be productive and score runs.”
In a 10-4 win on Saturday against Stanford to kick off the College World Series, the North Carolina State offense looked like it so often has this season, which is to say that the Wolfpack got contributions up and down the lineup from a number of different guys and left fielder Jonny Butler was right in the middle of everything.
Just a matter of minutes into the ballgame, he got the scoring started with a two-run home run with one out in the first, scoring Austin Murr, who led off with a single. Two innings later, he blooped a single into right field to bring home two more runs and make it 6-0. After reaching on a walk in the seventh, he helped add insurance late with an RBI single in the ninth, giving him a 3-for-4 showing with five RBI.
“He's just a tremendous player,” NC State coach Elliott Avent said. “I've said it all year. He's that guy that when you coach him every day and you see him in practice every day, and you see how consistent he is, he's the model of consistency in everything that he does—base running, outfield play—everything he does. And guys like that sometimes fly under the radar, but I think it's hard for Jonny Butler to fly under the radar. I think people started taking notice of him midway through the season. And he's just a tremendous player, who continues to play better and better.”
For those who haven't taken notice -- and the man NC State fans call 'Johnny Barrels' has absolutely gone under the radar entering the College World Series despite being a third-team All-American -- he's impossible to ignore now.
Some of that likely has to do with the fact that the NC State lineup is good enough on the whole that it can overshadow the individual performance of any one player, but whatever the reason, it’s long past time to appreciate what Butler is doing.
Aaron Fitt, D1Baseball — Rock-Solid NC State Stays In Character vs. Stanford
It might have been the first game of the College World Series, but it felt like business as usual for NC State.
“Reid Johnston was Reid Johnston. Evan Justice was Evan Justice,” Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said. “And I just thought some guys at the top of the lineup had big, big days.”
That’s pretty much been the story for NC State all season long. The top half of the ‘Pack lineup is as good as any in the country, and the three big stars in the top third of the order played like the three big.
Associated Press — NC State cruises past Stanford 10-4 in College World Series opener
Jonny Butler homered and drove in a career-high five runs, Reid Johnston pitched six strong innings and North Carolina State opened the College World Series with a 10-4 victory over Stanford on Saturday.
The Wolfpack (36-18), who knocked out No. 1 national seed Arkansas in the super regionals last week, continued their postseason roll in the first CWS game since 2019. The 2020 event was canceled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
NC State got out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Butler's homer to right off Pac-12 pitcher of the year Brendan Beck. After Devonte Brown barely cleared the fence in right-center in the fourth to give NC State at least two homers in 17 of its past 21 games, Butler's two-run bloop single made it 6-0.
Butler led a Wolfpack offense that finished with 12 hits, including five for extra bases, and capitalized on Stanford's three errors.
"He's a model of consistency in everything he does,'' NC State coach Elliott Avent said. "Baserunning, outfield play, everything. Some guys like that fly under the radar. It's hard for Jonny Butler to fly under the radar. People started taking notice of him middle of the season and he's continuing to play better and better.''
Avent had said before the game that offensive versatility would be important at TD Ameritrade Park, which is not known for surrendering many home runs. Each team homered twice on an 86-degree day with a light breeze.
"The wind was a little friendly today,'' Butler said.
Jacob Neidig, Stanford Daily — Baseball beaten in College World Series opener
Ninth-seeded Stanford (38-16, 17-10 Pac-12) lost to North Carolina State (36-18, 19-14 ACC) in the opening game of the double-elimination 2021 College World Series on Saturday. Despite senior RHP Brendan Beck’s sixth 10+ strikeout game of the season, he and the Cardinal were unable to climb out of an early 6-0 deficit, falling 10-4 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
After two commanding wins at the Lubbock Super Regional where Stanford baseball relied on great starting pitching, stout defense and timely hits, the Cardinal struggled to utilize those strengths in their opening game of the 2021 College World Series against NC State. Stanford, in its 17th CWS appearance, failed to piece together quality innings, and a steady stream of Wolfpack hits combined with wild pitches, walks and errors was simply too much for the offense to overcome.
There is no doubt a lot to be positive about heading into Game 2; however, the Cardinal cannot expect to give a similar performance against Pac-12 rival Arizona on Monday to return a different outcome.
In this game, the Wolfpack jumped on Beck — the Pac-12 Pitcher of the Year — early and often. In the first inning, a leadoff single from first baseman Austin Murr was followed by a Tyler McDonough home run before Beck could retire the side. The Wolfpack tacked on another run in the second inning after leadoff batter Vojtech Mensik reached on an error. Following a scoreless third inning, the fourth proved to be fruitful for both teams. A solo home run and a timely hit pushed across three runs for NC State to extend the lead to six, although Beck continued to rack up a number of strikeouts.
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