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2021 College World Series: NC State blanks Vanderbilt in winner's bracket

 Barry Allen   in Baseball

(Rebecca S. Gratz/AP)

The Vanderbilt offense had no answers against North Carolina State on Monday night.

North Carolina State starter Sam Highfill and closer Evan Justice handcuffed the Commodores in 1-0 win in the second round of the College World Series. 

The duo limited the Commodores to two singles and five total base runners. 

Highfill (9-2) worked 7 2/3 scoreless innings, and allowed two hits with seven strikeouts and two walks.

Justice recorded the final five outs for his 12th save of the season.

Dominic Keegan’s two-out single in the first inning and Javier Vaz’s two-out single in the fifth were the Commodores' only hits of the game. 

The Commodores had only eight at-bats with a runner on base and two at-bats with runners in scoring position. Only one runner reached third base all night. 

Vanderbilt (46-16) suffered its shutout since 7-0 loss at Texas AM on March 17, 2019. 

Vandy starter Jack Leiter was equally dominant on the mound, tossing a complete game with 15 strikeouts.

NC State (37-18) scored the game’s only run when Terrell Tatum led off the fifth inning with a mammoth home run to right-center field.

It was the 13th home run allowed by Leiter this season, accounting for almost one-third of his hits allowed the season. 

The Wolfpack finished with only four hits.

Vanderbilt will look to keep its season alive against Stanford in an elimination game on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ET)

Stanford blasted Arizona 14-5 in the tournament’s first elimination game Monday afternoon. 

Brock Jones led the Cardinal with three hits and five RBIs. Stanford finished with 20 hits.