NC State
6-4
Hofstra
0-5
Sterry, Coffield Lead NC State Baseball Past Hofstra, 5-2
2/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 28, 2003
WILMINGTON, N.C. - Vern Sterry retired the first 14 men he faced and wound up pitching eight strong innings, and Tim Coffield belted a three-run home run Friday afternoon to lead NC State to a 5-2 victory over Hofstra in the first round of the Hughes Brothers Challgenge at UNC Wilmington's Brooks Field.
The Wolfpack improved to 6-4 with the win, while Hofstra, which lost to Villanova earlier in the day, fell to 0-5. Sterry (2-0), who allowed two runs, one of them earned, in seven hits, picked up the win after working 8-2/3 innings, striking out 10 and walking none. Freshman righthander Joey Devine struck out pinch-hitter Mike Perullo with runners on first and third to pick up his second save of the season. Hofstra starter Marc Acierno went eight innings for a complete game. He allowed five runs on 12 hits, walked two and struck out two.
Sterry, who struck out five men in a row in the second and third innings, did not allow a baserunner until Eugene Brooks blooped a single to shallow right field with two down in the top of the fifth inning, and Colt Morton promptly gunned down Brooks attempting to steal second for the final out of the inning.
The Wolfpack offense, which struggled the previous two games in losses to The Citadel and Furman, staked Sterry to an early lead. Justin Riley hit his first homer of the season, a solo blast to left field, in the bottom of the first. NC State made it 2-0 in the bottom of the second on a two-out triple by Joe Gaetti and a disputed infield single by Marc Maynor. Chad Orvella followed with a double to right-center, but Acierno got out of the inning by getting Matt Camp on a fly ball to left.
With Sterry in complete command, the Pack put the game away in the third. Jeremy Dutton singled leading off, and David Hicks drew a two-out walk to set the stage for Coffield, who connected on a three-run homer to left, his first long ball of the year, to made it 5-0 in favor of the Wolfpack.
Hofstra finally got on the board in the top of the seventh. Josh Stewart and Brett Stambolian led off with singles, and moved up when Sterry's attempted pickoff at second base was wild for an error. With one out, Ryan Cosentino got the run in with a sacrifice fly to left field. Sterry picked off Stambolian at second base to end the threat.
The Dutchmen rallied again in the top of the ninth. With one down, Stewart and Stambolian reached on singles to center field. After J.P. Webster flied to left for the second out, Cosentino flared a single down the right-field line to drive in Stewart and send Stambolian to third. That brought Devine in from the bullpen, and the Wolfpack's freshman fireman whiffed Perullo on an attempted checked-swing for the final out of the game.
NC State will return to action again on Saturday against Villanova in the second round of the Hughes Brothers Challenge. Game time will be 4 p.m., and linve in-game stats will be available on-line on gopack.com.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Sterry, Vern (2-0)
L: Marc Acierno (0-1)
S: Devine, Joey (2)
Batting:
RBI: Ryan Cosentino 2
SF: Ryan Cosentino 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Josh Stewart 2
CS: Eugene Brooks 1
PO: Brett Stambolian 1
Batting:
2B: Morton, Colt 1 ; Orvella, Chad 2
3B: Gaetti , Joe 1
HR: Riley, Justin 1 ; Coffield, Tim 1
RBI: Riley, Justin 1 ; Coffield, Tim 3 ; Maynor, Marc 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Dutton, Jeremy 1 ; Riley, Justin 1 ; Hicks, David 1 ; Coffield, Tim 1 ; Gaetti , Joe 1
CS: Maynor, Marc 1 ; Orvella, Chad 1
PO: Orvella, Chad 1
