Orvella Leads NC State Baseball Past ECU, 6-5

Wednesday, April 30

Raleigh, N.C.

7:00 PM

NC State

37-10

East Carolina

26-19-1

East Carolina

NC State

Chad Orvella played nine innings at shortstop, pitched two scoreless innings, and hit a game-winning home run in the bottom of the 11th inning Wednesday night to lead NC State past East Carolina, 6-5.

4/30/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 30, 2003

Final Stats

RALEIGH, N.C. - Chad Orvella did everything but drive the team bus, take up tickets and sell concessions. NC State's starting shortstop pitched two thrilling innings of shutout relief and led off the bottom of the 11th inning with a game-winning home run to lead the fifth-ranked Wolfpack past East Carolina 6-5 at Doak Field.

Orvella (2-1) got himself in and out of trouble in the top of the 10th, rolled through the 11th, and made himself a winner with his third home run of the season and his second in as many games. He allowed two hits, walked none and struck out five. East Carolina righthander Greg Bunn (3-5) took the loss. Bunn worked two scoreless, hitless innings before yielding Orvella's bomb in the 11th. He walked one and struck out one.

"I'm not a home run hitter," Orvella said of his game-winning blast. "I was looking for something to drive, get on base, and let my teammates drive me home. I was looking for a fastball and that's what he threw me."

Thanks to Orvella's heroics, NC State improved to 37-10 on the season. The Wolfpack has won four of its last five games, nine of its last 11, 14 of its last 17, and 32 of its last 38. East Carolina snapped a two-game winning streak with the loss and dropped to 26-19-1 for the season.

Things looked rosy for NC State through the first eight innings of the game. The Pack jumped off to an early lead and had freshman closer Joey Devine on the mound to finish it off in the ninth. The Pirates scratched their way back into it with a run in the bottom of the ninth, and the sellout crowd of 1244 got two innings of free baseball.

Early on it was all Wolfpack. Marc Maynor led off the bottom of the first with a walk, stole second, and scored the game's first run on Jeremy Dutton's RBI single to left field. The Pack added three more in the bottom of the second. Joe Gaetti led off with a single and David Hicks walked. With one away, Matt Camp smoked a two-run double to right-center on a hit-and-run play, giving the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead. Camp went to third on a wild pitch, and Maynor hustled out an infield single to drive in Camp and make it 4-0.

The Pirates got on the board in the top of the third. Ben Sanderson led off and was hit by a pitch. With one out, Ryan Jones doubled to right to put runners on second and third, and Ryan Norwood's sacrifice fly to center field scored Sanderson and moved Jones to third. Daryl Lawhorn's two-out double to left-center drove in Jones to cut the Wolfpack lead to 4-2.

After retiring eight Wolfpack hitters in a row, East Carolina reliever Kevin Rhodes, who entered the game in the bottom of the second inning, lost his rhythm briefly in the bottom of the fifth. After the first two batters went down easily, Maynor and Dutton singled to put runners on the corners. Dutton went to second on a wild pitch, and Justin Riley and Colt Morton walked to force in a run. That gave the Pack a 5-2 lead, but Rhodes recovered and retired Gaetti on an infield pop-up to end the threat.

Pinch-hitter Kevin O'Sullivan led off the top of the seventh for ECU and doubled to left-center. Sanderson bunted him to third base. Jamie Paige grounded to second to drive in O'Sullivan, and was safe on Adam Hargrave's fielding error. Jones doubled to put runners on second and third, and Paige scored on Norwood's grounder to shortstop, slicing the lead to a run at 5-4.

Jones led off the top of the ninth against Devine with a walk and stole second base. After pinch-hitter Mike DeJesus popped up a bunt attempt for the first out of the inning, Lawhorn grounded out to second base on a terrific diving play by Hargrave. Jones went to third on the play, and Devine unloaded a wild pitch to Adam Witter to score Jones and tie the game at 5-5.

Orvella came in to pitch in the top of the 10th and immediately got into hot water. Jake Smith doubled down the left-field line to lead off the inning. Mark Minicozzi bunted back to Orvella, whose throw to third was not in time to retire pinch-runner John Poppert, putting runners on first and third with none out. Orvella responded by striking out O'Sullivan, Sandersonn and Paige to get out of the inning without allowing a run.

In the top of the 11th, Jones led off with an infield single, but Orvella struck out Mike Harrington, got the ever-dangerous Lawhorn to line to center field, and struck out Adam Witter.

Orvella ended the game on Bunn's first pitch in the bottom half of the inning.

The Wolfpack will return to action this weekend with a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series against Maryland. Friday's game wil begin at 7 p.m. Saturday and Sunday's games will have first pitch at 1:30.