NC State Baseball Defeats Campbell, 3-1

Tuesday, May 11

Buies Creek, N.C.

7:00 PM

NC State

29-14

Campbell

14-29

NC State

Campbell

5/11/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 11, 2004

Final Stats

BUIES CREEK, N.C. - David Hicks had three hits, including his 70th career double, and drove in a run, and Michael Rogers worked three scoreless innings Tuesday night to lift NC State past Campbell 3-1 in college baseball action at Campbell's Taylor Field. The Wolfpack, playing its first game after a nine-day layoff for final exams, improved to 29-14 with the victory, while Campbell dropped to 14-29 with the loss.

Rogers (7-3) got the win by working the first three innings of a prearranged pitching split. He did not allow a run, gave up just two hits, and struck out three without issuing a walk. Joey Devine got the final four outs to pick up his ninth save of the season. Rob Finch (1-5) went the distance for the Camels, but took the loss after allowing just the three runs, all of them unearned, on five hits. He walked one, and that was intentional, while striking out three.

The Wolfpack took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first, thanks to the first of five Campbell errors in the game. Matt Camp led off and bunted back to Finch, who could not pick the ball up and was charged with the error. Camp stole second and came around to score on Hicks's RBI single up the middle. Finch avoided further damage by getting Jason St. Julien to ground into a force play and retiring Lee Mezistrano on a fly ball to center field.

NC State cashed in another Campbell error for a run in the top of the fifth. Eric Taylor led off and hit a liner at right fielder Ronnie Whitehead, who had just come into the game as a defensive replacement. The ball went right through Whitehead's hands for a two-base error, and after Taylor took third on a groundout, Camp drove the run in with a base hit to left-center, giving the Pack a 2-0 lead. Camp hustled the play into a double, but was stranded there when Bryan Kinneberg flied to deep right field for the final out of the inning.

Campbell cut the lead in half with a run in the bottom of the fifth. Nic Ewing reached on a one-out infield single and went to second on a groundout. Sterry hit Ewing in the helmet with a pickoff attempt. The ball caromed into shallow center field for an error on Sterry that allowed Ewing to take third. He scored easily on Jeff Blick's double into the left-field corner.

The Wolfpack picked up a big insurance run in the top of the ninth. Mezistrano led off and reached when shortstop Tom Rispoli kicked his grounder for an error. Mezistrano went to second on an errant pickoff throw and took third on a groundout. Taylor was walked intentionally to put runners on first and third. Jake Muyco laid down a two-strike squeeze bunt to drive in Mezistrano and make it 3-1. Muyco was safe on the play when first baseman Alston Hatch missed the tag, and Muyco and Taylor moved up another base when Hatch's throw home got past the catcher for the second error in the inning. The Camels got out of the inning when Jonathan Diaz popped into a double play.

Notes: Hicks doubled into the right-field corner leading off the fourth inning. It was the 70th double in his career, tying him with Brian Bark (1987-90) for second place in Wolfpack history. Brian Wright (1999-2002) is the school's all-time doubles leader with 78.

The Wolfpack returns to action on Wednesday night against East Carolina at Grainger Stadium in Kinston. Game time is 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on WKNC-FM (88.1), with the broadcast also available on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats will be available on gopack through the Gametracker.