RALEIGH, N.C. – The Whiteville Wolfpack cruised to a 10-0 victory over Murphy as the Gatorade Player of the Year, Mackenzie Gore led his team both at the plate and on the mound in game on of the 1A State Championship Series.
The Wolfpack jumped on the Bulldogs early, as Brooks Baldwin opened the game with a single ahead of Gore’s mammoth shot to right field to give the Whiteville side a 2-0 lead. The Wolfpack added a third run in the first inning as Cameron Cartrette walked followed by a wild pitch and passed ball to move pinch runner Joey Kurtyka to third. Lincoln Ransom’s single plated Kurtyka and Whiteville would not look back.
Gore took the mound with a 3-0 lead and dominated the Bulldog hitters. He flung a complete game, two-hit shutout, piling up 13 strikeouts in his six innings of work. Impressively Gore only used 76 pitches in his duties. Caleb Irwin and Luke Garrett were the only two Bulldog hitters to dent Gore, each with singles.
Cartrette tacked on three more runs as he cleared the bases in the second inning for the Wolfpack, ripping a triple down the right field line. That gave Whiteville a 6-0 lead. The Wolfpack added a pair of runs in the fourth and in the sixth innings to wrap up the game.
Whiteville can close out the best-of-three series Saturday afternoon in game two of the series. First pitch between the Wolfpack and Bulldogs is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. at Doak Field at Dail Park on the campus of NC State University in Raleigh.
