College Notebook: NC State baseball tops Pitt; UNC, Duke, ECU lose

N.C. State captured the series over Pitt with a 7-1 win on Saturday at Doak Field at Dail Park behind 15 combined strikeouts from Brian Brown, Jon Olczak, Will Gilbert, and Tommy DeJuneas.

Brown (3-1) picked up the win for the Wolfpack (16-9, 5-5 ACC) on five innings with eight strikeouts, one shy of tying his career high of nine set this year against Florida International. The freshman lefty allowed one earned on a wind-aided solo shot to start the fifth, holding Pitt (11-14, 4-7) to four hits and two walks.

Olczak fanned a pair in a no-hit sixth with three walks. Gilbert punched out one of two batters faced in the seventh. DeJuneas mowed down four in 2 2/3 innings of one-hit ball without a walk to pick up his second save of the year.

UNC: Zack Collins’ two-out home run in the 11th was the deciding run as No. 10 Miami scored a wild 4-3 win over No. 18 North Carolina Saturday afternoon at Boshamer Stadium. Carolina rallied to tie it in the ninth and the 10th against UM closer Bryan Garcia but left two on in the 11th against Cooper Hammond (3-1) to drop its second one-run game of the series. The Tar Heels will look to avoid the sweep in Sunday’s finale, which is set to begin at noon.

Duke: Boston College’s Chris Shaw belted a walkoff three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning for a 6-3 victory over the Blue Devils Saturday afternoon at the University of Delaware’s Bob Hannah Stadium.

ECU: Memphis’ Jake Overbey delivered a ninth-inning RBI to lift the Tigers to a 3-2 win over host East Carolina in game two of a doubleheader in American Athletic Conference action Saturday afternoon at Lewis Field inside Clark-LeClair Stadium.

The Tigers improve to 16-6 overall and 1-1 in conference play, while the Pirates fall to 17-11 and 1-1.

The Pirates won game one 4-1.

Duke: The No. 6 team defeated No. 7 Syracuse 10-9 at Koskinen Stadium. The Blue Devils rebounded from a loss last weekend at Virginia to collect their fourth victory in ACC play and improve to 10-1 overall for the spring.

A pair of early markers by freshman Maddie Crutchfield enabled Duke to jump out to a 3-1 lead in the first 15 minutes of play.

Elon: The team won its fourth straight, topping visiting Liberty 13-8 win over the Flames in Rhodes Stadium.

Elon (7-3) played a tough game with the Flames, with the score remaining very close until the Phoenix pulled away in the end. The maroon and gold had 30 shots on the day and won 17 draw controls. Elon was also 14-for-21 on clear attempts and went 2-for-9 on free-position shots.

Duke: The No. 17 team picked up a quick 7-0 win over Pittsburgh this afternoon in Sheffield Indoor Tennis Center to remain perfect in ACC play.

Duke: The team’s V8 and 2V8 squads advanced to the grand finals, and V4 qualified for the petite finals in the opening day of the Crew Classic .

Duke’s V8 started off the morning by finishing in 6:54.46 to place first in the opening heat of the Cal Cup. By winning its heat, the boat advanced to Sunday’s grand finale.

The Blue Devils’ V4 placed third in its heat of the Karen Plumleigh Cortney Cup competition and will take part in Sunday’s petite final. Duke clocked a time of 8:06.96 in the event.

Rounding out the day was the 2V8, which took second in its heat of the Jackie Ann Stitt Hungness Trophy race. The boat, which advances to Sunday’s grand finale, finished in 7:11.85.

UNC: The rowing team took on West Virginia and host Georgetown on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C., coming away with a first place, two seconds and a third.

St. Augustine’s: Tia-Adana Belle and the men’s 800 meter relay team were winners on the final day of the Raleigh Relay.

Belle placed first in the women’s 400 meter hurdles in 59.11 seconds, which is faster than the current top Division II time of 1:02.07 this season.

The Falcons’ foursome of Burkheart Ellis, Daniel Jamieson, Kevaughn Hewitt and Omar Johnsonwon the men’s 800 meter relay in 1:25.60.

Mount Olive: Belmont Abbey rallied from an 0-2 deficit to force a fifth set, but Mount Olive won the decisive set in a 19-17 marathon to earn a 3-2 victoryin Kornegay Arena. The Trojans won by scores of 25-23, 25-18, 17-25, 14-25 and 19-17 to improve their record to 11-9 overall and 9-6 in Conference Carolinas. Belmont Abbey falls to 11-11 overall and 7-7 in league play.

This story was originally published March 28, 2015 at 8:30 PM with the headline "College Notebook: NC State baseball tops Pitt; UNC, Duke, ECU lose."