North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Outlasts Virginia 16-13 Behind Wright, Prochaska
3/17/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
On an afternoon when the pitching coaches were reaching early and often for the antacids, Josh Miller (2-0), the third of three NC State pitchers, brought a sense of order to the proceedings by allowing just one run on three hits in three innings. Mark Hurrie (0-1) took the loss for the Cavaliers after being roughed up for three runs on just one hit in one inning on the mound.
The win was NC State's fourth in a row, matching the team's season high, and its fifth in its last six games. The Wolfpack improved to 14-7 overall and 3-1 in the ACC. Virginia, in its ACC opener, fell to 11-11-1 and 0-1. The game was a hitters' delight. Wolfpack pitchers were able to retire the Cavaliers 1-2-3 in an inning just once, which was one more than their Virginia counterparts could muster. The Pack had at least one baserunner in each of the eight innings in which it batted.
Virginia took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on Luis Giraldo's RBI single, but Dan Mooney's solo homer leading off the bottom of the second tied the game at 1-1. The homer was Mooney's fourth of the season.
Tim LaVigne drove in a pair of runs, one of them unearned, with a single in the top of the third, but NC State tied the game at 3-3 on a one-out double by Wright and back-to-back RBI doubles by Prochaska and Craig Lee in the bottom of the inning. The Wolfpack added two more in the bottom of the fourth. Richard Lee grounded into a double play, and after Jason Smith, up next, was hit by a pitch, Wright made it 5-3 with his second double in as many innings.
The game see-sawed back Virginia's way in the top of the fifth. With runners at second and third with two out, Ryan Combs balked in a run, and Mark Rueffert then reached on an error to send home a run. Ben Himes made the Pack pay for the extra out with a two-run homer to deep center field that gave the Cavs a 7-5 lead.
Virginia's lead, as most were in this game, was short-lived. Prochaska led off the bottom of the fifth with a double, went to third when Craig Lee's fly ball to center field was misplayed for a two-base error, and scored when Jeremy Dutton beat out a squeeze bunt for a single. Dan Mooney singled in a run, and Andy Baxter sacrificed the runners to second and third, Richard Lee drove in a run with a groundout, Smith walked, and Wright hit a three-run homer to right field, his fourth of the season. That gave NC State an 11-7 lead, and Prochaska's leadoff homer in the bottom of the sixth made it 12-7.
The Cavaliers tied the game with five runs in the top of the seventh when the first six batters of the inning reached base safely. RBI singles by David Stone and a two-run single by Robbie Marvin cut the Wolfpack lead to 12-11, and Tim LaVigne's sacrifice fly knotted the score at a dozen runs apiece.
NC State broke the tie in the bottom of the seventh. Baxter and Richard Lee walked to lead off the inning, and Smith beat out a sacrifice attempt for a single that loaded the bases. Wright walked to force in the go-ahead run, and Mosley ripped a hot grounder just past the third baseman and down the left-field line for a bases-clearing double.
Virginia got one run back on an RBI grondout by Robbie Marvin, but Miller worked out of further damage and went on to retire the Cavs in the ninth on just one hit.
