Wolfpack Sweep Radford in Home Doubleheader

April 3, 2004

RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State (25-17) won its seventh straight game in the opener against Radford, using dominant pitching from Abbie Sims (17-6) and seven hits to defeat Radford 4-0. The win streak reached eight after a 11-8 win in game two against the Highlanders, with Carla Shepherd (2-1) getting the win in relief. The Wolfpack has now won 18 of its last 22 ballgames, and improved to 6-4 at home. With the losses, Radford fell to 20-23.

Sims pitched another gem in game one, allowing two soft singles while striking out 11 and walking none. She has won six straight games, with a collective ERA of 0.35 while striking out 44 batters in 39.2 innings of work. It was her sixth shutout of the season, and she has allowed only two earned runs during the six game win streak.

The Wolfpack scored first, going up 1-0 on a Sims single off the wall in deep right centerfield to score Beth Poore in the fourth. Poore came into pinch run after a Shaina Ervin single to start the inning, and Poore stole second. Lail came in to run for Sims, and she stole second before advancing to third on a wild pitch. Heather Jedrey was plunked on the arm, and she stole second to put runners on second and third with two outs. Heather Gelbard smacked a single hard off of the the shortstop, and the ball rolled into left field as Jedrey and Lail came into to score and give NC State a 3-0 lead.

NC State would put another run on the board in the bottom of the fifth, as Miranda Ervin lead off the inning by drilling Jen Bosley's (11-10) first pitch of the inning over the left field wall for her third homerun of the year, second best on the team.

In the second game of doubleheader, the Radford Higlanders jumped on NC State early with three runs on three Wolfpack errors. An improved defense has been the calling card for NC State as of late, as NC State had not committed that many errors in a game since March 6 against Charleston Southern.

NC State pulled within two in the bottom half of the first, as Miranda Ervin walked and Jen Chamberlin singled to put runners on first and second. Stacee Powell came in to pinch run at second, and Shaina Ervin smoked a single into center to score Powell as the Wolfpack trimmed the Radford lead to 3-1.

The Wolfpack would tie the game after two runs in the second inning, courtesy of a two-run homerun, one of five on the day for NC State, from Heather Gelbard, her second of the season. NC State would go up big in the third inning, getting five runs off of a Shania Ervin opposite field homerun, her third of the season and another program first. Heather Jedrey hit her first career homerun and Caroline Blount made it back-to-back homeruns for the first time in school history. The three homeruns in an inning was a school first as well.

Radford tied the score in the top of the sixth off of three more Wolfpack errors, scoring five runs. Carla Shepherd came in on relief, allowing one hit and striking out two to win her second game of the year.

With the score tied at 8-8, Jennifer Patterson was the hero once again. After hitting a sixth inning, two-run homerun in the top of the sixth against Campbell for the winning runs Thursday, Patterson again came to bat with the score tied in the bottom of the sixth. With two runners on base, Patterson hit a deep homerun to left centerfield to give NC State an 11-8 lead that would push the Wolfpack to its eighth straight win.

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Team Stats

Heather Gelbard

Miranda Ervin

Shaina Ervin

Abbie Sims