NC State Baseball Shuts Down UNCW 6-0 Behind Knapp

Wednesday, March 9

Wilmington, N.C.

4:00 PM

NC State

13-4

UNC-Wilmington

7-10

NC State

UNC Wilmington

NC State Baseball Shuts Down UNCW 6-0 Behind Knapp

3/9/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

March 9, 2005

Final Stats

WILMINGTON, N.C. - Lefthander Branden Knapp mesmerized the UNCW lineup for six innings, and Matt Devine and Aaron Bates paced a balanced NC State attack Wednesday as the Wolfpack downed the Seahawks 6-0 at Brooks Field. The win was the second in a row for the Pack, which improved to 13-4. UNC Wilmington dropped to 7-10 with the loss.

Knapp (1-0), a junior lefthander, allowed just two hits, struck out three, walked none and faced the minimum of 18 hitters in his six innings on the mound. Freshman righthander Matt Payne allowed two hits in three shutout innings to record his first collegiate save. Seahawks starter Zach Kimball (2-3) took the loss after allowing four runs, three earned, on six hits in six innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Bates belted a double and a home run for the Wolfpack, and Devine had a single in three at-bats and drove in two runs. Jonathan Diaz and Mike Jensen also had two hits for NC State.

Kimball, who beat NC State 1-0 in Wilmington a year ago, and Knapp both had a shutout through two innings, but the Wolfpack scratched for three runs in the top of the third. Diaz got things started with a single to center field. Matt Camp sacrificed Diaz to second, and Devine drove him in with a single to right-center. Bates followed with a double that short-hopped the wall in right field, sending Devine to third base. Jake Muyco's slow roller to third base scored Devine, and Jason St. Julien dropped a double down the line in left field to score Bates and give NC State a 3-0 lead.

Jensen led off the top of the fourth with a single to center field, his second hit of the day, and all hands were safe when Michael Mabry bobbled Ramon Corona's grounder to shortstop for an error. Diaz bunted the runners to second and third, and Camp walked to load the bases with one out. Devine made it 4-0 with a sacrifice fly to center field.

That was more than enough offense for Knapp, who threw just six of his 62 pitches from the stretch. He allowed a leadoff single to Jason Appel in the bottom of the fourth, but he was erased on a double play. Jonathan Batts doubled with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but was out at third trying to advance on a wild pitch. Knapp retired the side in order in the first, second, third and sixth innings.

NC State added two more in the top of the ninth when Diaz led off with a triple to center field and scored on a wild pitch. Two batters later, Bates smoked a homer to straightaway center field, his third of the season, to make the final score 6-0.

NC State will return to action this weekend with a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series vs. Maryand. Game times are 3 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats will be available on gopack.com through the Gametracker.