North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
19-10, 0
Georgia Tech
21-4, 0
Georgia Tech Defeats NC State Baseball, 20-12
3/30/2002 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 30, 2002
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Matt Murton's grand-slam home run capped a 12-run seventh inning for Georgia Tech, launching the Yellow Jackets to a 20-12 victory over NC State in the first game of a doubleheader Saturday at Doak Field.
The Yellow Jackets improved to 21-4 overall and evened their Atlantic Coast Conference record at 2-2. NC State dropped to 19-10 overall and 1-4 in the ACC. Tech reliever Jeff Kindel (1-0) picked up the victory with four innings of scoreless relief. He allowed one hit and no walks without recording a strikeout. Wolfpack reliever Nate Cretarolo (1-1) took the loss after a nightmarish third of an inning in which he allowed seven runs on six hits.
Tyler Parker led off the top of the second inning with a home run to left-center field for the first run of the ballgame.
The Wolfpack broke through against Georgia Tech starter Chris Goodman in the fourth. Jeremy Dutton led off and singled through the left side, and Goodman balked him to second. Brian Wright worked Goodman for a walk, and Justin Riley ripped a double into the gap in left-center, driving in both runners and staking Prochaska to a 2-1 lead.
NC State finally knocked Goodman out of the game in the bottom of the fifth. Matt Butler led off with a triple off the wall in right field, and Adam Hargrave hit a grounder to third base. Jake Hall fielded the ball cleanly and looked Butler back to the bag, but his throw was in the dirt and skipped away from Parker for an error that allowed Butler to score. Chad Orvella followed with a perfect hit-and-run single through the right side of the infield to put runners on the corners. Jeremy Dutton then hit a Baltimore chop to second baseman Eric Patterson, who had no play. Hargrave scored on the play and Orvella went to second. Brian Wright's grounder to second advanced the runners to second and third, and David Hicks's sacrifice fly scored Orvella to give NC State a 5-1 lead.
Wolfpack starter Mike Prochaska ran out of gas in the top of the sixth. Matt Murton and Tyler Parker walked, and Brandon Boggs reached on an error by Orvella, with Murton scoring on the play. With two down, Wes Rynders doubled to left, driving in Parker and Boggs to cut the NC State lead to 5-4.
The Yellow Jackets blew the game open in the top of the seventh. Eric Patterson led off with a double down the line in right, and Victor Menocal followed with a triple down the right-field line to drive in Patterson and tie the score at 5-5. Murton doubled to knock in Menocal with the go-ahead run, and Cretarolo hit Slayden with a pitch to put runners on first and second. Tyler Parker's infield single loaded the bases with none out. Brandon Boggs doubled to left to drive in two runs and make it 8-5, and Mike Nickeas dropped a single into shallow right to drive in one and make it 9-5.
Kyle Stephenson came in for Cretarolo at that point, but fared no better. Wes Rynders hit an RBI single to right, and Jake Hall singled to left to drive in a run and make it 11-5. Patterson walked to load the bases again, and after Menocal singled to left to drive in a rn and make it 12-5, Murton unloaded a grand slam to make it 16-5. That gave Murton five RBIs in the inning. Brandon Shipwash came in and pitched out of further trouble.
The Yellow Jackets mounted a two-out rally in the top of the eighth. Patterson singled to right and Davis Myers singled to right. Murton reached on an error to load the bases, and Slayden singled to center field to drive in both runners and give Georgia Tech an 18-5 lead.
Nickeas led off the top of the ninth, reached on an error and scored on Garrett Groce's triple to right field. Groce came in on an RBI groundout by Hall to give the Jackets a 20-5 lead.
The Wolfpack finally stirred again in the bottom of the ninth. Tim Coffield singled to lead off and Joe Gaetti walked. With one away, Hargrave tripled down the right-field line, and Dusti nMurphy singled home Hargrave. Jeremy Dutton's double to left-center drove in Murphy and cut the lead to 20-9. That also spelled the end of the afternoon for reliever Nick Wagner. Andrew Kown came in and walked Sammy Esposito and then served up a three-run homer to Riley to make the final score 20-12.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Jeff Kindel (1-0)
L: Cretarolo, Nate (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Eric Patterson 1 ; Matt Murton 1 ; Brandon Boggs 1 ; Wes Rynders 1
3B: Victor Menocal 1 ; Garrett Groce 1
HR: Matt Murton 1 ; Tyler Parker 1
RBI: Victor Menocal 2 ; Matt Murton 5 ; Jeremy Slayden 2 ; Tyler Parker 1 ; Brandon Boggs 2 ; Mike Nickeas 1 ; Wes Rynders 3 ; Garrett Groce 1 ; Jake Hall 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Eric Patterson 3 ; Victor Menocal 2 ; Davis Myers 1 ; Matt Murton 3 ; Jeremy Slayden 1 ; Tyler Parker 3 ; Brandon Boggs 2 ; Mike Nickeas 2 ; Wes Rynders 1 ; Garrett Groce 1 ; Jake Hall 1
SB: Eric Patterson 1 ; Wes Rynders 1
HBP: Jeremy Slayden 1
PO: Jake Hall 1
Batting:
2B: Dutton, Jeremy 1 ; Wright, Brian 1 ; Riley, Justin 1
3B: Butler, Matt 1 ; Hargrave, Adam 1
HR: Riley, Justin 1
RBI: Murphy, Dustin 1 ; Dutton, Jeremy 2 ; Hicks, David 1 ; Riley, Justin 5 ; Hargrave, Adam 2
SF: Hicks, David 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Orvella, Chad 1 ; Murphy, Dustin 1 ; Dutton, Jeremy 2 ; Wright, Brian 1 ; Esposito, Sam 1 ; Riley, Justin 1 ; Coffield, Tim 1 ; Gaetti, Joe 1 ; Butler, Matt 1 ; Hargrave, Adam 2
