North Carolina State University Athletics
Hammond, Lomas Lead Maryland Past NC State Baseball, 13-3
5/7/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Maryland raised its record to 5-16 in the ACC and 22-30 overall. NC State fell to 10-14 in the ACC and 28-26 overall. Hammond, a senior lefthander who pitched for NC State in 1997 before transfering to Maryland, picked up the win and improved to 5-8 on the season. Hammond allowed three runs on 12 hits in eight innings. He walked one and struck out three. Wolfpack starter Ryan Combs gave up four runs on five hits in 4 2/3 innings to get tagged with the loss, dropping his record to 5-5.
For the first time in the series, it was the Wolfpack that jumped to an early lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Adam Ennis, one of the heroes of the second game of the series, belted a one-out solo home run to dead center field to start the scoring. Jason Smith followed with a double to left-center and went to third on a one-out infield single by Eric Mosley. Smith scored and Mosley went to second on a wild pitch from Hammonds, but the inning ended when Mosley attempted to score on John Whitley's two-out single to center field and was tagged out at the plate.
The Pack's lead was short-lived. Craig Munroe led off the bottom of the second with a walk, and Jason Mohap stroked a one-out single to left field. Both runners scored ahead of Lomas's first homer of the game and his second of the season, putting the Terps on top 3-2.
Maryland added a run in the bottom of the fifth inning, but NC State averted further trouble with some strong relief pitching. Kevin McDonald and Larry Long led off the inning with singles, and went to second and third on a passed ball by Dan Mooney, his third of the season. Brian Patenoude drove in a run with a groundout to give Maryland a 4-2 lead, but Combs retired Matt Swope on a grounder, and Mike Prochaska came out of the bullpen to strike out Chuck Easter for the final out of the inning.
Lomas rescued Steve Oursler from a potentially embarrassing inning with another bomb in the sixth. Munroe led off and reached on an error. Oursler attempted to sacrifice, but the bunt was a poor one and third baseman Jeremy Dutton cut Munroe down at second base for the first out. Mohap singled to left field to put runners on first and second with one out, but Mooney picked Oursler off second base for the second out of the inning. Lomas took Oursler off the hook with his second homer of the game, a two-run shot to left that put Maryland in command at 6-2.
While the Terps built their early lead, Hammond was busy baffling the NC State lineup. He retired 11 of the next 14 hitters he faced after the Pack scored in the second inning, and when the Wolfpack mounted a threat in the top of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with one out, Hammond pitched out of trouble by retiring two hitters with the lead runner standing on third base.
The Terps put the game away in the bottom of the seventh. Long led off and reached on an error and Patenoude followed with a double to right-center to put runners on second and third with none out. Swope singled to left to drive in a run and then stole second base. Swope took third and Patenoude scored when Mooney's pickoff attempt on Swope hit the runner in the foot and bounced into foul ground.
Easter struck out for the first out of the inning, and Munroe was walked intentionally. Josh Miller came on to pitch for the Pack and got the last two outs of the inning, but not before Munroe and Swope pulled a double steal, with Swope scoring to give Maryland a 9-2 lead.
Mooney belted a solo home run in the top of the eighth to cut the Terps lead to 9-3, but Maryland answered with a four-spot in the bottom of the eighth. Lomas, leading off, singled and went to second on a throwing error. McDonald singled to put runners on the corners, and Patenoude reached on an error, scoring Lomas with Maryland's 10th run of the game.
Swope singled to load the bases, and Maryland made it 12-3 on a bases-loaded walk by Easter and a sacrifice fly by Munroe. Oursler capped the inning with an RBI double down the left-field line to make it 13-3.
