North Carolina State University Athletics
Georgia Tech Rallies, Overtakes NC State Baseball 11-6
4/1/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The win lifted the Yellow Jackets to 6-2 in the ACC and 22-8 overall, while NC State fell to 5-6 and 17-13. Kevin Cameron (3-1), the third Georgia Tech pitcher of the night, worked 2 1/3 scoreless innings to pick up the win. He allowed one hit, walked two and struck out one. NC State starter Mike Sollie (3-4) took the loss after allowing seven runs, four of which were unearned, on 10 hits in five-plus innings. He struck out four and did not issue a walk.
It was all Wolfpack in the early innings. Brian Wright led off the bottom of the first with his fifth homer of the season, a long solo shot to right field. Josh Schmitt knocked Parrott out of the game in the bottom of the second inning with a line shot off of Parrott's pitching hand. After several warm-up pitches, Parrott was unable to continue, bringing Ben Sheeter, Sunday's scheduled starter, into the game. Sheeter got out of the second, but got hit hard in the third and did not make it out of the fourth.
Dan Mooney gave the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead with his sixth homer of the season, a towering two-run shot in the third, and Andy Baxter, Josh Schmitt and Jeremy Dutton followed with consecutive two-out singles to drive in another run. Sheeter then hit Jason Smith to load the bases and walked Chris Goodman to force in a run, giving NC State a 5-0 lead through three innings.
Back-to-back two-run singles by Tyler Parker and Richard Lewis in the fourth got the Jackets right back ito the game at 5-4. The single by Lewis extended his hitting streak to 20 games, but Sollie ended the inning by picking Lewis off first base on a stolen-base attempt.
Craig Lee and Mike Prochaska led off the bottom of the fourth with singles to drive Sheeter from the game. Reliever Kevin Cameron got Mooney to ground into a force play, but that allowed Lee to score from third and gave NC State a 6-4 lead. The Yellow Jackets cut the lead to one run at 6-5 when Bryan Prince grounded into a double play with a runner on third in the top of the fifth.
Georgia Tech took the lead in the top of the sixth. Basil and Menocal led off with infield singles to chase Sollie from the game. Reliever Daniel Caldwell walked Parker to load the bases, and the Wolfpack was unable to turn a double play on Wes Rynders' grounder to second base. That drove in Basil with the tying run, and Lewis's sacrifice fly sent home Menocal with the go-ahead run, giving the Jackets a 7-6 lead.
Stockton greeted reliever Kyle Stephenson with an RBI double to give the Jackets a two-run lead at 8-6. Teixeira was walked intentionally, and Ryan Combs, the Wolfpack's fourth pitcher of the inning, struck out Prince to end the inning.
Georgia Tech put the game away in the top of the ninth. Stockton led off with a single and Teixeira was hit by a pitch. Bryan Prince beat out a bunt for a single to load the bases with none out, and Derik Goffena singled to left to drive in two runs, pushing the Tech lead to 10-6. After Basil grounded into a force play, Menocal singled home Goffena to make it 11-6. Parker hit a fly ball to right field for the second out, and Prochaska's throw to home plate nailed Basil to complete the inning-ending double play.
