North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball Sends Virginia Packing, 6-2
5/18/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 18, 2001
FORT MILL, S.C. - Joe Gaetti hit his second home run of the tournament and Corey Mattison pitched outstanding baseball for 7 1/3 innings as NC State defeated Virginia 6-2 in third-round action in the 2001 Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament.
The win sends the eighth-seeded Wolfpack into a semifinal game against Georgia Tech on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. The Yellow Jackets lost 4-3 Friday night to Wake Forest, which now is the last unbeaten team in the double-elimination tournament and is guaranteed a berth in the championship game.
The Deacons will face Florida State at noon on Saturday. If Wake Forest defeats the Seminoles, it will play the NC State-Georgia Tech winner at 8 p.m., and Wake Forest will have to be beaten twice in order for another team to win the championship. If Florida State defeats Wake Forest on Saturday, then Florida State will meet the NC State-Georgia Tech winner at 8 p.m., and the winner of that game will play Wake Forest for the championship at 1 p.m. on Sunday.
The win over Virginia gave the Wolfpack a 30-28 record and assured a winning season. Virginia finished itsseason at 25-31.
Mattison, a senior righthander, allowed just two runs, one earned, on four hits to improve to 2-3 on the season. Mattison walked three and struck out seven. Senior reliever Josh Miller worked the final 1 2/3 innings to record his sixth save of the season and his second of the tournament. Virginia starter Joe Koshansky (4-6) took the loss after allowing four runs, two earned, on nine hits in 6 2/3 innings. He walked one and fanned two.
The Wolfpack gave the Cavaliers a gift run in the top of the first. David Stone led off with a walk and went to third on a fielding error. Mattison then uncorked a wild pickoff attempt that allowed Stone to score an unearned run and give Virginia a 1-0 lead. Chris Sweet belted a one-out solo home run to left in the top of the third, increasing the UVa lead to 2-0.
That was it for the Cavaliers offense. Mattison retired 15 of the last 19 men he faced before turning the ball over to Miller with one out in the top of the seventh.
The Wolfpack got on the board in the bottom of the third. Adam Miller singled up the middle and Jeremy Dutton blooped a single into shallow right field. One out later, Sean Walsh extended his hitting streak to 20 games with an RBI single to left, scoring Miller and cutting the Virginia lead to 2-1.
Colt Morton led off the bottom of the fourth for NC State and singled to left. J.R. Riley reached on an error, and Daniel Pruitt bunted the runners to second and third. Joe Gaetti grounded to shortstop to drive in Morton with the tying run, and Miller singled to left to drive in Riley with the go-ahead run, giving the Wolfpack a 3-2 lead.
The Pack rallied for an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh. Gaetti bunted for a leadoff infield single and Miller bunted him to second. With two out, Kochansky walked Brian Wright intentionally, and Walsh worked reliever Chris Marinak for a walk to load the bases. Jamey Shearin then hit a slow roller up the middle. Shortstop Hunter Wyant came up with the ball, but Shearin beat the throw to first for an RBI infield single, making it 4-2 in favor of NC State.
Virginia put runners on first and second with one out in the top of the eighth with the heart of the order due up, but Miller got out of the inning on a groundout and a strikeout to keep te Cavaliers off the board. The Wolfpack made the Cavs pay for the squandered scoring opportunity in the bottom half of the frame when J.R. Riley led off with a single to left and Gaetti drilled a one-out two-run homer to dead center field to put the game more or less out of reach at 6-2.
Virginia made it exciting in the ninth, putting the first two batters of the inning on base with a hit and a hit batter, but Miller struck out pinch-hitter Kallen McCoy on three pitches, and Walsh made a tremendous diving stab of Stone's smash to third, turning an almost-certain extra-base hit into a game-ending 5-3 double play.
