OMAHA, Neb .– Jonny Butler homered and drove in a career high five runs, Reid Johnston hit six strong innings, and North Carolina State opened the College World Series with a 10-4 win over Stanford on Saturday.

The Wolfpack (36-18), who defeated the Arkansas National Seed # 1 in the Super Regionals last week, continued their postseason role in the first CWS game since 2019. The 2020 event was canceled due to the pandemic.

NC State took a 2-0 lead on Butler’s Homer in the first inning to reach Pac-12 pitcher of the year Brendan Beck directly. After Devonte Brown barely cleared the fence in the fourth game in the middle right to give NC State at least two homers in 17 of their last 21 games, Butler’s double bloop single made the 6-0.

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Beck (9-2) left with two outs in the sixth after allowing six runs, three earned, on seven hits. He went two and crossed 10.

Ninth place Stanford (38-16), who beat Texas Tech 24-3 in a national sweep over two games, started slowly against Johnston (9-3).

Johnston, who last week allowed seven runs in three innings in a 21-2 loss to Arkansas in NC State’s superregional opener, limited the cardinal to Tim Tawa’s solo homer and a single to six innings.

Johnston worn out on the seventh. He allowed four hits in a row, including Christian Robinson’s two homer runs in the right foul pole, before Evan Justice came closer with two runners on base and no outs. Stanford got another run when Vojtech Mensik couldn’t handle Tawa’s tough grounder in third place with loaded bases.

Butler single for his fifth RBI during a ninth four-run inning for the Wolfpack, and Justice finished his 12th save.

The game ended in an unconventional double game. Pinch-hitter Carter Graham landed in second place while JT Jarrett spun the ball over to Jose Torres, who covered the sack. Stanford’s Tommy Troy, who ran from first to second, did not slip in the game and was called in to interfere. The call from Billy Van Raaphorst, the referee at the second base, was confirmed in the video review.

Stanford made its first CWS appearance since 2008 and had won seven Omaha opening games in a row since 1995.

The cardinal, who finished 10th in the field nationwide, made three mistakes after making a total of three in his first six NCAA tournament games.

NC State will play next on Monday night against the winner of the Arizona-Vanderbilt game later on Saturday night. Stanford will play the loser Arizona-Vanderbilt on Monday afternoon.