North Carolina State University Athletics
McCarthy Doubles Rutgers Past NC State Baseball, 8-2
2/24/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. - Billy McCarthy hit a pair of doubles and drove in three runs, and Buddy Gallagher pitched three scoreless innings in relief to lead Rutgers to an 8-2 college baseball victory over NC State this afternoon at Doak Field.
The win extended the Scarlet Knights' season-opening winning streak to five games, while NC State dropped to 3-5. Gallagher (1-0) picked up the victory with three innings of work, allowing one hit and three walks. He struck out one. Rutgers starter Tom Crohan worked the first five innings and allowed two runs, one of them unearned, on three hits. He walked two and fanned five.
NC State starter Dan D'Amato (1-1) took the loss but deserved a better fate. D'Amato was charged with four runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, but pitched better than that. He left the game with the score tied at 2-2 and runners on first and second with one out, but the bullpen allowed both runners to score. D'Amato walked two and struck out a career-high nine.
Rutgers jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on back-to-back two-out doubles by Val Mejewski and McCarthy, but the Pack tied the game at 1-1 on Colt Morton's first collegiate home run, a long one-out blast to center field in the bottom of the second. The Knights retook the lead at 2-1 in the top of the third on a leadoff single by Brian Ciemniecki and a double by Matt Wolski.
NC State picked up an unearned run in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the score at 2-2. Adam Miller led off and was safe on a two-base throwing error. He took third on a groundout by Jeremy Dutton and scored on a grounder by Sean Walsh.
D'Amato, meanwhile, cruised through the middle innings, retiring six men in a row, and 11 of 12 before running into trouble in the seventh inning. He got the first out of the inning by striking out Leon Shade leading off, but Tim Sweeney singled and Ciemniecki drew a walk.
Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent went to the bullpen at this point and brought in relief ace Josh Miller, who did not have his customary sharpness. Wolski grounded into a force play to put runners at the corners with one out, but Miller uncorked a wild pitch to score the go-ahead run. Majewski followed with a single to make it 4-2, and McCarthy dropped a bloop single into center field to drive in a run and make it 5-2. Mike Popowski singled to right field to put runners on the corners, and Todd Speedy blooped in a single to right to make it 6-2.
Majewski started another rally in the top of the ninth with a one-out single and a steal of second base. He easily scored on McCarthy's single down the left-field line.
Rutgers - 101 000 402 - 8 14 1 NC State - 010 010 000 - 2 4 0Crohan, Gallagher, Wilson, and Popowski. D'Amato, Miller, McKee, and Morton.
WP - Gallagher (1-0). LP - D'Amato (1-1).
Leading hitters - Rutgers: McCarthy (3-for-5, 2 2B, 3 RBIs), Majewski (3-for-5, 3 runs), Speedy (2-for-5, 2 RBIs). NC State: Morton (2-for-4, HR, RBI).
Home runs - Morton (1). Records - Rutgers 5-0. NC State 3-5.
