NC State Baseball Falls To Richmond, 4-2

Sunday, March 10

Raleigh, N.C.

1:30 PM ET

NC State

13-5

Richmond

12-1

Richmond

NC State

3/10/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 10, 2002

Box Score

RALEIGH, N.C. - Tim Stauffer tossed a three-hitter and Adam Tidball singled, homered and drove in two runs to lead Richmond to a 4-2 victory over NC State on Sunday in the rubber game of a three-game series at Doak Field.

Richmond improved to 12-1 with the win, while the Wolfpack dropped to 13-5 with the loss. Stauffer (5-0), who pitched his fourth consecutive complete game, allowed just two unearned runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out a career-high 13. NC State freshman Phillip Davidson also went the distance, but gave up four runs on nine hits, including Tidball's homer. Davidson walked one and struck out a career-high 11.

Richmond took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second on a one-out single by Tidball, followed by a triple into the right-center-field gap by Brian Ruscello. The Spiders made it 2-0 in the top of the third. Bryan Pritz led off with an infield single and scored on David Reaver's second double of the game, a bolt into the gap in left-center.

Vito Chiaravalloti led off the top of the sixth for the Spiders and singled to left, and Tidball ripped a long two-run homer over the left-field screen to push the lead to 4-0. With Stauffer dominating the NC State hitters, four runs proved to be more than enough.

The Wolfpack offense, so dominant during its 11-game winning streak, just couldn't get untracked against Stauffer. The Richmond righthander allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the third and a single and walk to start the bottom of the fifth, but pitched out of trouble both times. He retired 10 in a row after that before running into trouble in the eighth, and that was not all of his own making. For the most part, Stauffer baffled the Wolfpack, retiring the side in order six times. He struck out the side in the sixth, two of them looking, and eight of his 13 strikeouts were called out.

Stauffer finally got hurt by his own defense in the bottom of the eighth. Colt Morton reached on a one-out error by shortstop Matt Craig, and Adam Hargrave walked. With two down, Jeremy Dutton singled up the middle to drive in pinch-runner Dustin Murphy, and first baseman Jim Fasano booted Chad Orvella's grounder, allowing Hargrave to score and cut the deficit to 4-2.

Stauffer retired the side in order in the bottom of the ninth to nail down the victory.

NC State will take a four-day break before returning to action on Friday, March 15 vs. St. Joseph's.