NC State
Wake Forest
NC State Baseball Thumps Wake Forest, 14-6
4/18/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 18, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - David Hicks and Mike Jensen led a 14-hit attack, and the NC State bullpen allowed just two earned runs over 8 2/3 innings Sunday as the Wolfpack rolled Wake Forest 14-6 in the final and deciding game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at Doak Field. NC State improved to 27-12 overall and 9-6 in the ACC with the victory. The Demon Deacons dropped to 12-23 overall and 2-13 in the conference.
Wolfpack starter Phillip Davidson struggled from the first pitch and last just one-third of an inning, but his bullpen picked him up with a standout performance, allowing just three earned runs on seven hits over the final 8 2/3 innings. Nate Cretarolo (3-1), the third of five NC State pitchers, got the win after allowing one run on four hits in 2 1/3 innings. Cretarolo walked none and struck out three. Wake Forest starter Tim Morley (2-5) got the loss after allowing nine runs, six of them earned, on seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked one and struck out eight.
Davidson, who could not command his fastball, opened the game by hitting Wake Forest leadoff hitter Nick Blue with a pitch, then walked Matt Antonelli on four pitches. Ben Ingold singled to left to load the bases with none out. Steve LeFaivre popped out, but Davidson walked Brad Scioletti to drive Blue with the first run of the game, and J.B. Tucker lined a single to left to drive in Antonelli and make it 2-0. Ryder Mathias's RBI single to left drove in Ingold to make it 3-0, and also drove Davidson from the game. Adam McLaurin came in and got Matt Miller to bounce into a double play to end the inning.
The Wake Forest lead evaporated quickly enough. Matt Camp led off the bottom of the first and walked. Jason St. Julien singled to left, and Hicks smoked an opposite-field double down the left-field line, driving in Camp and St. Julien to cut the lead to a run at 3-2. Morley struck out Dustin Knight and Lee Mezistrano swinging, but Jensen crushed a towering home run down the left-field line, his first collegiate homer, to give the Wolfpack a 4-3 lead.
The Deacons tied it at 4-4 in the top of the second. Casey Sterk led off and hit a wicked single past Knight at third base, then stole second. Blue grounded to shortstop to advance the runner to third, and after Antonelli walked, Ingold hit a sacrifice fly to right. That was it for McLaurin. Cretarolo came in and got LeFaivre on a fly ball to right field to end the inning.
Scioletti led off the top of the third with a single to right, Tucker singled to left, and Mathias rolled a grounder through the left side of the infield for a single, loading the bases with none out. Cretarolo struck out Miller looking, but Sterk hit a run-scoring fly ball to center field to drive in Scioletti and give the Demon Deacons a 5-4 lead.
The Wolfpack finally took control of the game offensively in the bottom of the fourth. Jensen led off and was hit by a pitch. Jake Muyco beat out a bunt for an infield single, and Morley hit Jonathan Diaz with a pitch to load the bases with none out. Ryan Johnson grounded into a double play to drive in Jensen, and Matt Camp punched a single through the left side of the infield to score Muyco and give the Wolfpack a 6-5 lead.
The inning got ugly for the Deacons from there. St. Julien hit what should have been an inning-ending grounder to shortstop, but Ingold booted the ball for an error that opened the floodgates. Hicks singled to right to drive in Camp and St. Julien, increasing the lead to 8-5. Daniel Davidson came in to pitch and got Dustin Knight to ground to third base, but Antonelli threw the ball away, well past the bag at first and into foul territory down the right-field line. Hicks came all the way around to score on the overthrow, with Knight going to second base on the play. LeFaivre compounded the problem by rushing an ill-advised throw home in an attempt to get Hicks at the plate, but instead threw the ball into the Wake Forest dugout, allowing Knight to score and giving the Pack a 10-5 lead.
Blue led off the top of the sixth inning and walked on four pitches. With one out, Ingold hit a sharp grounder past Diaz at shortstop for a single, with Blue taking third on the play. LeFaivre followed with a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Blue and cutting the NC State lead to 10-6.
The Pack added three big insurance runs in the bottom of the seventh, all with two outs. Diaz got it started with a two-out walk, and Johnson singled to right. Camp lined a single up the middle to score Diaz, and St. Julien drilled a double into the gap in right-center to drive in Johnson and Camp and make it 13-6, NC State.
Mezistrano doubled with one out in the bottom of the eighth and scored on Jensen's single up the middle to make the final score 14-6.
