Pack Start Postseason On Right Foot With 3-2 Win Over Cardinals
Posted August 21, 2018
The Wolfpack took Game 1 of their playoff series with the Cardinals by a score of 3-2 on Saturday morning to kick off the 2018 FMBA Playoffs.
Curtis Smith (8-1) took the hill for the Wolfpack and spun a complete game against the defending champion Cardinals. He allowed two earned runs and seven hits while walking two and striking out ten. Smith's strikeout of Kaleb Pratt in the fourth inning was his 100th of the season in league play, making him the first ever Wolfpack player to reach that plateau.
The hits were hard to come by in this game, as the Pack were outhit by the Cardinals 7 to 3, but the hits they did get were timely as three runs were all they would need to put this game away. Trent Lawson, Carlso Charmell, and Fraser Armstrong were the only ones to hit safely, while Jaret Loran also provided a key RBI as well, but the story of this game for the Wolfpack was the defense.
The Pack played error free baseball for just the sixth time in what was their twenty-seventh game of the season, and that defense proved to be the difference in a game that could have easily gone either way.
Game 2 of the three game series kicks off immediately following Game 1 as the Wolfpack look to sweep the Cardinals out of the playoffs and advance to the semifinals.