Diaz Leads NC State Past No. 6 Miami, 11-5

Saturday, March 5

Coral Gables, Fl.

7:00 PM

NC State

11-3, 0

Miami

12-4, 0

NC State

Miami

3/5/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 5, 2005

Final Stats

CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Jonathan Diaz grew up in the shadows of the Univeristy of Miami, and Saturday night he had a homecoming to remember, leading NC State to an 11-5 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over sixth-ranked Miami at Mark Light Field. Diaz thrilled a large contingent of family and friends by belting his first collegiate home run and driving in a career-high four runs.

The victory evened the three-game ACC series between the Wolfpack and Hurricanes at a game apiece. Miami won the opener on Friday, 6-1. NC State improved to 11-3 overall, while the loss dropped the Hurricanes to 12-4. Both teams are 1-1 in the ACC.

Sophomore righthander Jeff Stallings (3-1) started for NC State and allowed two runs on nine hits in 5 2/3 innings to earn the win. He walked two and struck out two. Miami starter Dan Touchet (1-1) took the loss after allowing seven runs on seven hits in 2 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out three.

Diaz and Matt Devine both had three hits for the Wolfpack. Devine drove in three runs. Jake Muyco, Chris Engle and Miami native Brian Aragon had two hits each for NC State. Ryan Braun went 4-for-5 for Miami, and Brendan Katin was 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBIs. Roger Tomas went 2-for-4 and drove in a run.

NC State jumped on Touchet early. Jake Muyco led off the top of the second with a walk, and Bryan Kinneberg followed with an opposite-field double down the left-field line. Devine scorched a triple to left-center to drive in Muyco and Kinneberg, and Aragon's one-out double to left scored Devine and gave the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead.

NC State put five runs on the board in the top of the third. Aaron Bates led off and singled to left field. Muyco doubled down the right-field line, with Bates scoring all the way from first base on the play. Bates went to third on a groundout and scored on a wild pitch, giving the Pack a 5-0 lead. Devine and Engle followed with singles to drive Touchet from the game. Carlos Gutierrez came in for the Hurricanes, and Diaz greeted him with a three-run home run to left field to increase the lead to 8-0.

Bates led off the top of the fourth and was hit by a pitch. He stole second with one down, and scored on Devine's single to left, his third hit of the game, to make it 9-0.

Miami got on the scoreboard with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth. Braun bunted for a one-out single and Danny Valencia walked. Katin singled to left field to drive in Braun. Katin and Valencia advanced to second and third, respectively, on a wild pitch, and Tomas singled to right to drive in Valencia and send Katin to third. That spelled the end of the evening for Stallings. Travis High came out of the bullpen for the Wolfpack and needed just one pitch to retire Walter Diaz on a line drive to right field to end the inning.

With one out in the top of the seventh, Engle singled to left and Aragon singled to center to put runners on first and second with one out. Diaz singled to right to drive in Engle, and Aragon scored on a wild pitch to give the Wolfpack an 11-2 lead.

The Hurricanes added three more in the bottom of the eighth. Braun led off with his fourth hit of the game, a single to center, and Valencia reached on an infield single. Katin doubled to drive in Braun, Eddy Rodriguez hit a sacrifice fly to center field to drive in Valencia, and Katin scored on an error to trim the Wolfpack lead to 11-5.

The three-game series will conclude on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1), and the broadcast will be available on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats will be available on gopack through the Gametracker.