NC State Baseball Edges The Citadel, 4-3

Tuesday, March 11

Wilson, N.C.

2:00 PM

NC State

13-4

The Citadel

6-8

The Citadel

NC State

3/11/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 11, 2003

Final Stats

WILSON, N.C. - Justin Riley homered twice and Vern Sterry worked into the eighth inning Tuesday to power NC State to a 4-3 victory over The Citadel at Fleming Stadium. The Wolfpack won for the eighth game in a row to improve to 13-4. The Citadel dropped to 6-8 with the loss.

Sterry was masterful, especially early in the game. He retired the f irst nine men he faced and did not allow a hit until a pop fly fell in for an infield single in the top of the fifth. Sterry wound up pitching 7-1/3 innings, awllowing three runs on four hits. He walked two and struck out 10. Joey Devine worked the final 1-1/3 innings without allowing a run to record his fourth save of the season. Bullldogs reliever Mark Egelton got the loss after allowing three runs on two hits and two walks in 1-1/3 innings.

Riley got the Wolfpack started in the bottom of the second inning when he drilled a solo homer to right field, two pitches after first baseman Chris Altman dropped a foul ball for an error that gave Riley new life at the plate. The unearned run gave NC State a 1-0 lead.

The Citadel got its first base hit when Chris Ard's pop-up fell untouched after Hicks and Sterry got entangled and fell down in the top of the fifth inning. Sterry pitched out of trouble by striking out Brook Dantzler.

Sterry wasn't as lucky in the seventh. Jason Randall led off with an infield single and Chip Cannon walked. Altman bunted into a force play to put runners on the corners, and Sterry hit Trent Weathers with a pitch to load the bases. Ard singled to right to drive in Randall with the tying run, but Joe Gaetti gunned down Altman at the plate trying to score for the second out, and Dantzler grounded out to end the inning with the score knotted at 1-1.

The Wolfpack broke the tie in the bottom of the seventh. Colt Morton led off with a walk and went to second on Adam Hargrave's sacrifice, which was made moot by Riley's second homer of the game, a two-run blast that gave the Wolfpack a 3-1 lead. Marc Maynor followed with an opposite-field double down the left-field line and Chad Orvella walked, spelling the end of the day for Egelton. Matt Covington relieved and retired Matt Camp on a bunt attempt, with the runners advancing to second and third, and Jeremy Dutton walked to load the bases. Citadel closer Shannon Sprouse came in to face Gaetti, who worked Sprouse for a walk to force in Maynor with the third run of the inning, a huge insurance run that gave the Wolfpack a 4-1 lead after seven.

The Citadel clawed back in the top of the eighth. Josh Stackley led off wih a single up the middle and Sterry hit Jon Aughey with a pitch. Matt Matulia laid down a bunt that Sterry misplayed for an error, loading the bases with none out. Randall got one run home with a sacrifice fly to right field, and Chip Cannon greeted reliever Jason Duncan with a soft single to center to drive in Aughey. That cut the lead to 4-3. Chris Altman grounded out for the second out, and Devine came in to face Trent Weathers, who flied out on the first pitch for the final out of the inning.

Ard led off the top of the ninth with a single, his third hit of the game, and Dantzler sacrificed the runner to second base, but Devine got pinch-hitter Andy Phillips and Aughey on fly balls to end the game.

NC State will return to action on Wednesday at Fleming Stadium in Wilson with a 2 p.m. game against VMI. Live play-by-play will be available on Gametracker on gopack.com.