North Carolina State University Athletics
Davidson Downs NC State Baseball, 7-5
3/1/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Davidson improved to 9-6 with the win, while NC State fell to 7-4. Wells (1-0), who allowed four runs, three of them earned, on seven hits, got the win, his first decision of the season. Freshman righthander Derek McKee (0-1) started and took the loss for NC State. McKee allowed three runs on eight hits in 3 2/3 innings.
Davidson threatened early, putting men on second and third in the first and third innings but failing to score. The Wildcats finally broke through against McKee in the fourth. Toby Crabtree, Jack Purcell and Ben Brown all singled to load the bases, and Ryan Strokers ground ball to the right side was just out of the reach of second baseman Jason Smith for a two-run single.
Tim Frend followed with a possible double-play grounder to second, but the relay throw to first was wide, allowing Brown to score the third run of the inning. Kyle Stephenson came in for McKee and got Stewart Sloan on a grounder for the third out of the inning, but Davidson had a 3-0 lead and never trailed.
The Wolfpack got an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth on a leadoff double by Jamey Shearin, a wild pitch and an error, to cut the Davidson lead to 3-1, but the Wildcats came right back in the top of the sixth. Brown reached on a one-out single, and stole second. Stroker walked, and Brown stole third to put runners on the corners with one out. Frend singled to drive in a run, and Sloan followed with an RBI single, but was thrown out trying to stretch his hit into a double. Daniel Caldwell came in to pitch for the Wolfpack, and struck out Parvin to end the inning.
Brian Wright led off the bottom of the sixth for the Wolfpack with a single to extend his hitting streak to 10 games, and Craig Lee singled to send Wright to third, with Lee taking second on the throw. Mike Prochaska beat out an infield single to drive in Wright, and Andy Baxter drove in Lee with a groundout. Dan Mooney followed with a double to drive home Prochaska and cut the Davidson lead to 5-4, but Derek Wolpert came out of the bullpen and got out of the inning without further damage.
The Wildcats picked up an unearned run in the top of the seventh. Lundin led off with a double and went to third on a two-out error by Wolfpack shortstop Chris Goodman. Brown followed with a single to drive in Lundin, but Jack Purcell was caught stealing to end the inning.
Jason Smith legged out a one-out bloop double in the bottom of the seventh, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Wrights sacrifice fly to cut the lead back to on run at 6-5. Davidson added a big insurance run in the top of the ninth when Parvin led off with a single, took second on Cassidy Lundins sacrifice and scored on James Marinos RBI single to center field.
