NC State Baseball Falls At UCLA, 8-6

Friday, February 14

Los Angeles, Calif.

8:00 PM

NC State

2-1

UCLA

4-4

NC State

UCLA

2/14/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 14, 2003

Final Stats

LOS ANGELES, Calif. - UCLA took advantage of some sloppy play by NC State in the first inning and then withstood a late Wolfpack rally to hand NC State an 8-6 defeat Friday night at Jackie Robinson Field.

With the win, UCLA evened its record at 4-4, while the Wolfpack dropped to 2-1. Senior lefthander Mike Kunes (2-0) got the win with seven-plus innings of work, allowing five runs on six hits, with most of that damage coming in the top of the eighth. Through his first seven innings, Kunes allowed just two runs on three hits. He walked two and struck out six.

Freshman righthander Mike Rogers (1-1) actually outpitched Kunes, at least statistically, but got hurt by some pitches that were up in the strike zone, could not overcome some poor defensive play, and wound up taking the loss. Rogers allowed eight runs, three of them earned, on seven hits in seven innings. He walked one and struck out four.

UCLA scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning, but all five runs were unearned. Preston Griffin led off the bottom of the first and walked. After Casey Janssen flied out, Wes Whisler hit a fly ball that left fielder Matt Camp dropped for an error to open the door for the big inning. With runners on second and third, Billy Susdorf drove both runs home with a single up the middle.

Chris Denove flied out to right, but Brett McMillan blooped a single into shallow right field, just beyond the grasp of second baseman Adam Hargrave and in front of right fielder Joe Gaetti, to put runners on first and third. Rogers just nicked Matt Thayer with a pitch to load the bases, and Ryan McCarthy got hold of the only really hard-hit ball of the inning, a double that went all the way to the wall in left-center field, clearing the bases and giving the Bruins a 5-0 lead.

UCLA scored twice in the bottom of the second and both were earned. Rogers hit Whisler with a pitch, and Denove hit the first pitch he saw over the screen in center field. Rogers settled down after that and gave up just three hits over his final 5-1/3 innings of work, retiring 15 of the last 18 men he faced. One of those three hits was a solo homer by Thayer that made it 8-0 in favor of the home team.

The Wolfpack finally got to Kunes with a two-out rally in the top of the sixth inning. Camp walked and Chad Orvella reached on an infield single. Kunes uncorked a wild pitch to move the runners to second and third, and Joe Gaetti ripped a two-run double just inside the third-base bag and down the line in left.

The game became a contest again in the top of the eighth, thanks to a four-run rally by the Pack. Hargrave led off and reached on an infield single, and Marc Maynor singled up the middle to put runners on f irst and second. Camp followed with a single to left to load the bases, which spelled the end of the night for Kunen. Chad Orvella greeted reliever Doug Silva with a walk to drive in a run, and Silva unloaded a wild pitch to score a run. That made it 8-4 and left runners at second and third, and Gaetti and Colt Morton delivered the two baserunners with sacrifice f lies, cutting the lead to 8-6.