NC State Subdues Maryland 6-5 In 10 Innings

Sunday, March 13

Doak Field

1:00 PM

NC State

15-5, 0

Maryland

9-6, 0

Maryland

NC State

3/13/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 13, 2005

Final Stats

RALEIGH, N.C. - In the end, Cone beat Kane. Pinch-hitter Aaron Cone singled to left off reliever Sean Kane with two out in the bottom of the 10th inning to drive in Travis High with the winning run Sunday as NC State defeated Maryland 6-5 in 10 innings at Doak Field in the final game of an Atlantic Coast Conference baseball series.

The Wolfpack took the series from the Terrapins two games to one and improved to 15-5 overall and 3-3 in the ACC. The Terps fell to 9-6 overall and 3-3 in the conference.

All-America reliever Joey Devine (1-0) allowed one hit and struck out four in three shutout innings for NC State to get credit for the win. Maryland reliever Josh Andrews (1-1) took the loss after allowing one run on one hit in one inning. He walkd one and did not record a strikeout.

Catcher Jake Muyco went 2-for-4 and extended his hitting streak to 17 games for NC State. Muyco's hitting streak is the fourth longest by an NC State player since Elliott Avent became the Wolfpack's head coach in 1997. Freshman Ryan Pond came off the bench for the Pack and had two singles in as many at-bats. Elliot Singletary, Will Frazier, Dan Melvin, Jason Von Behren and Bobby Ryan had two hits apiece for Maryland, which hurt itself with five errors.

Most of the scoring came in the early innings. Maryland's Truan Mehl chopped a one-out single through the right side of the infield in the top of the first inning and went all the way to third on Will Frazier's line-drive single to center field. Brian Jarosinski drove in Mehl with a sacrifice fly to center field. Von Behren's leadoff homer to left field leading off the top of the second inning gave the Terps a 2-0 lead.

NC State put its first run on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second. Brian Aragon rolled a one-out single through the right side of the infield, and Von Behren booted Ramon Corona's grounder to third base for an error. The runners wound up on second and third on the play when the ball trickled into shallow left field. Jonathan Diaz drove in Aragon with a sacrifice fly to deep center field to slice the Maryland lead to a run at 2-1.

The Wolfpack tied it in the bottom of the third. Mike Jensen singled to center field with one out, and Muyco doubled right down the left-field line, advancing Jensen to third base. Chris Engle's grounder to first base drove Jensen home to knot the score at 2-2.

Maryland untied it in the top of the fourth. Ryan doubled to right field with one down and Joe Palumbo followed by working Wolfpack starter Sam Walls for a walk. Singletary doubled to left to drive in Ryan, breaking the tie and moving Palumbo to third base. That also spelled the end of the afternoon for Walls, who gave way to lefthander Jason Duncan. Mehl made it 4-2 by driving a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

Corona led off the bottom of the fourth for the Wolfpack and was hit by a pitch. Diaz bunted him to second, and Maryland coach Terry Rupp went to his bullpen, bringing in lefthander Brett Cecil, who hit Matt Camp with a pitch and served up an RBI-double to pinch-hitter Matt Devine, chopping the lead to a run at 4-3. Aaron Bates got hit with a pitch to load the bases, and two runs scored when Palumbo threw away the relay on Jensen's potential inning-ending double-play grounder, giving NC State a 5-4 lead after four innings.

Melvin drove a one-out double to the gap in right-center in the top of the fifth, and Von Behren's infield single put runners on the corners with one away. Matt Maropis hit a comebacker to Duncan, whose throw to second erased Von Behren for the second out, but also allowed Melvin to break late for home on the throw and score the tying run, deadlocking the score at 5-5.

From there, the two teams traded missed scoring opportunities until the 10th. The Wolfpack, in particular, squandered several scoring chances. NC State left 17 men on base in the game, 12 of them in the final five innings. Maryland, meanwhile, got a two-out double in the sixth and got a runner to second in the seventh, but could not get either man home. Devine put an end to all that, allowing just the one baserunner over the final three innings.

Andrews actually retired the first two hitters in the bottom of the 10th, but Ryan Pond singled to center and High came in to run. Muyco walked, and Andrews hit Jason St. Julien with a pitch to load the bases for Johnson. Avent went to his bench instead, calling on Cone, who sliced a 3-2 pitch through the hole on the left side of the diamond to drive in High with the winning run.

NC State will return to action on Wednesday vs. Davidson at Doak Field. Game time is set for 7 p.m. Live in-game stats will be available on the internet at gopack.com through the Gametracker.