North Carolina State University Athletics
Maryland Holds Off NC State Baseball, 7-5
4/14/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Maryland, which evened the series at a game apiece, improved to 11-22 overall and 3-10 in the ACC. The Wolfpack fell to 20-18 and 6-8. Stuart (2-4), who allowed all five NC State runs, walked three and struck out three in 7 2/3 innings. Kenny Beck pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings to pick up his first save of the season. NC State starter Dan D’Amato (4-5) allowed five runs, four of them earned, on nine hits in five innings. He walked three and struck out two.
The lead see-sawed back and forth through the early innings. Jeremy Dutton got the Wolfpack started in the bottom of the first with a double down the left-field line, the first of a career-high three doubles on the evening for Dutton. He took third on a groundout and scored on Jamey Shearin’s infield single.
Maryland came back with a pair of runs in the top of the second. John McCurdy led off with a bloop single to right field, and Chuck Easter’s grounder went through the right side for a hit, putting runners on first and second with none out. Sean Lomas bunted the runners to second and third, and McCurdy scored the tying run on Anthony Buffone’s infield single to the right side. The Terps took a 2-1 lead when Matt Swope’s lazy fly ball down the right-field line fell in for an RBI single. Swope was cut down trying to stretch the hit into a double.
David Hicks led off the bottom of the second for the Wolfpack with an infield single and went to second on Stuart’s overthrow at first base. Justin Riley doubled down the left-field line to tie the score at 2-2, and two outs later Dutton hit his second double in as many innings, driving in Riley and putting the Wolfpack on top at 3-2.
The Wolfpack’s lead was short-lived. Brian Patenaude led off the top of the third with a double to left, and Steve Oursler walked. Ray Gemmill singled to left, but Matt Butler’s throw from left field nailed Patenaude at the plate for the first out. After D’Amato struck out McCurdy for the second out, Easter singled to center field to drive in Oursler with the tying run, and Gemmill scored the go-ahead run when Brian Wright overran the ball for an error. Easter went all the way to third on the play and scored on Lomas’s double down the left-field line, giving Maryland a 5-3 lead.
The game settled down after that. Daniel Caldwell relieved D’Amato to start the top of the sixth, and Preston Taylor greeted him with a solo home run to left field to make it 6-3. The Wolfpack, meanwhile, kept putting runners on base and leaving them there, stranding one in the third, one in the fourth, one in the fifth and two more in the sixth.
The Pack finally broke through with a run in the bottom of the seventh. Shearin led off with a double, his third hit of the game and his sixth of the series. Colt Morton walked. After Sean Walsh bunted the runners to second and third, David Hicks blooped an RBI single into shallow left field to cut the Maryland lead to 6-4, but Stuart got out of the inning by rolling a double-play grounder.
The Terps got that run back in the top of the eighth. Lomas led off with a single up the middle and Buffone walked. With pinch-hitter Jeremy Suarez attempting to sacrifice, Lomas stole third when the Wolfpack defense left the bag uncovered. Suarez grounded out to drive in Lomas and give Maryland a 7-4 lead.
NC State cut the lead back to two with a run in the bottom of the eighth. Butler led off with a double to left and came around to score on Dutton’s third double of the game, the Wolfpack’s sixth two-bagger of the game.
--WOLFPACK—
