NC State Baseball Cruises Past The Citadel, 10-3

Friday, February 25

Charleston, S.C.

4:00 PM

NC State

9-1

The Citadel

3-3

NC State

The Citadel

NC State Baseball Cruises Past The Citadel, 10-3

2/25/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 25, 2005

Final Stats

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Chris Engle and Mike Jensen both homered and drove in two runs apiece Friday afternoon to lead NC State to a 10-3 victory over The Citadel in the first day of the Homewood Suites Shootout at Riley Park. NC State won for the sixth time in a row and improved to 9-1 on the season. The Citadel's record dropped to 3-3 with the loss.

Jason Duncan (1-0) got the victory with 2 1/3 shutout innings in relief of starter Phil Davidson, who was lifted with one out in the bottom of the fifth. Duncan allowed no hits, struck out one and did not allow a walk. Citadel starter Griff Beckham (0-2) took the loss after allowing six runs on nine hits in five-plus innings. He walked two and struck out three.

Engle, who also singled twice, went 3-for-5 in his first college start, Aaron Bates went 3-for-5 and drove in a run, and Matt Devine had three hits in four at-bats. Matt Covington led The Citadel with three hits, including a double.

The Wolfpack jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Bryan Kinneberg reached on a bloop single to shalow left and Bates smoked an opposite-field double down the right-field line. Aaron Cone drove Kinneberg home with the first run of the game on a ground ball to first base.

The Pack erupted for four runs in the top of the second. Brian Aragon led off with a double into the gap in right-center and Devine singled just off the glove of second baseman Chris Ard. Aragon took third on the play, and Engle drove in Aragon with an infield hit. Jonathan Diaz loaded the bases by beating out a bunt for a hit, and Matt Camp drove in a run with a grounder to first to make it 3-0. Kinneberg hit a foul sacrifice fly to left to make it 4-0, and Bates drove an RBI-single to right to drive in Diaz and give the Wolfpack a 5-0 lead.

Zach Brown got The Citadel on the scoreboard with a leadoff homer in the bottom of the fourth, the first by the Bulldogs this season. Covington led off the bottom of the fifth with his third hit of the game, a single to left, and scored on Josh Stackley's one-out triple to left-center. Duncan came in at this point for Davidson to face lefthanded hitters Chris Swauger and Zach Brown, and retired both of them on fly balls to end the inning with the Wolfpack holding a 5-2 lead. Duncan retired all seven men he faced.

The Wolfpack got those two runs back in the top of the sixth. Engle led off the inning with a homer to right field, his first collegiate home run. Jonathan Diaz was up next and walked, which marked the end of the day for Beckham. Michael McLaurin came in to pitch for The Citadel and Diaz stole second, took third on a groundout, and scored on a wild pitch to give the Pack a 7-2 lead.

Devine led off the top of the eighth, singled to left and went to second when Brown booted the ball for an error. Engle reached on an infield error and Devine took third on Matt Matulia's error at shortstop, putting runners on first and third with none out. Diaz made it 8-2 with a sacrifice fly to right field.

The Wolfpack picked up two more in the top of the ninth. Bates led off with a single to right, and Mike Jensen drilled a long two-run home run to left field.

Matt Payne pitched the ninth for the Pack and forced in a run with a bases-loaded walk to Chris Ard.