North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
21-8, 0
Virginia Tech
8-11, 0
NC State Baseball Overcomes Virginia Tech, 10-7
4/2/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 2, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State tried to gift-wrap the game early with six errors, then staged a thrilling late-inning comeback with eight runs in the bottom of the eighth inning Saturday night to overtake Virginia Tech 10-7 in the second game of a three-game ACC baseball series at Doak Field.
The Wolfpack trailed 7-2 heading to the bottom of the eighth, and all but two of Tech's runs came about with the aid of Wolfpack errors. The comeback marked the second time in eight days that NC State overcame a lead of five runs or more after the seventh inning. The Wolfpack came from eight runs down after seven innings March 25 to hand Lehigh a 10-9 defeat.
The win was NC State's sixth in a row, which ties a season high, and lifted the Pack to 21-8 overall and 5-6 in the ACC. Virginia Tech dropped to 8-11 overall and 1-9 in the conference.
Matt Payne (2-0) got the win with one inning of relief work. He allowed a run on three hits and struck out a batter. Joey Devine pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning, striking out two, to notch his fifth save of the season. Hokies reliever Bobby West (2-1), the second of five Virginia Tech pitchers, allowed six runs on five hits in just two-thirds of an inning to get charged with the loss. He walked one and struck out two.
Aaron Bates swung the hot stick for the Wolfpack for the second night in a row, going 2-for-3 with a pair of walks and three RBIs. Brian Aragon went 2-fof-4 and drove in two runs. Jake Muyco, Bryan Kinneberg and Matt Camp had two hits and an RBI each for the Wolfpack. Matt Hacker went 2-for-5 with a homer and two RBIs to lead the Hokies, and Chris Stanton, Bryan Thomas and Nate Parks had two hits apiece for Virginia Tech.
The Hokies scored their first run of the series in the top of the first. Hacker reached on a force play and was safe at second when Matt Devine booted Jose Cueto's grounder to third. Billy Marn flied out to left, but Matt Foley singled to right field to drive in Hacker and give Virginia Tech a 1-0 lead.
The Wolfpack tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second when Mike Jensen singled to left, went to second on a wild pitch, took third on Aragon's grounder to first base and scored on Ramon Corona's single to left.
The wheels came off the wagon for NC State in the top of the third. Chris Stanton led off and hit a lazy fly ball to left-center that glanced off Aragon's glove for a three-base error. Hacker followed with a two-run homer to left, putting Virginia Tech up 3-1. Two outs later, the bad defense reared its ugly head again. Foley grounded to third, but Bates dropped Devine's throw to first base for an error, and Thomas cashed in the opportunity with a double into the left-field corner to drive in Foley and make it 4-1.
Devine led off the bottom of the third and doubled to left. Tech starter Ryan Kennedy balkd Devine to third, and Devine scored on Bates' one-out single to center field to trim the lead to 4-2.
Basketball forward Andrew Brackman made his debut in a Wolfpack baseball uniform and fell victim to the shoddy defense as well. He was charged with an unearned run in his very first inning of work when Parks walked with one out, went to second on a wild pitch, stole third and scored when Muyco's throw bounced well wide of the bag at third and into four territory. That made the Hokies' lead three runs at 5-2.
Brackman settled down after that, retiring seven in a row before tiring in the top of the seventh. He wound up allowing two runs, both unearned, on three hits in four innings of work. He walked one and struck out five.
The Hokies added a second unearned run off Brackman in the top of the seventh. Hacker singled with one out and Marn hit a two-out single to right. Hacker came around to score when Aragon overran the ball in right for an error, the Wolfpack's sixth of the game.
Thomas led off the top of the eighth with a single and Warren Schaeffer bunted him to second. With one down, Parks singled to right to move Thomas to third, and Stanton laid down a perfectly placed bunt single up the third-base line to drive in Thomas and give the Hoklies a 7-2 lead.
Bryan Kinneberg led off the bottom of the eighth with a pinch-hit bad-hop single off the third baseman's glove, and scored all the way from first on Aragon's double off the wall in left field. With one away, Aaron Cone pinch-hit for Jonathan Diaz and hit a bad-hop single to third to put runners on first and third with one away. Camp got Aragon home with an infield single off the second baseman's glove to cut the deficit to 7-4, and Devine walked to load the bases. Muyco singled to left to drive in pinch-runner Ryan Johnson and the Hokies went back to the bullpen to get Randy Buffington.
Bates greeted Buffington with a game-tying, two-run drive off the wall in left-center. Because Muyco had to hold at first until the ball hit the wall, Bates wound up with a 370-foot single. Buffington ended his brief stint on the mound by walking Pond to load the bases again. Casey Herald came in to pitch and Kinneberg, up for the second time in the inning, squeezed Muyco home with the go-ahead run on a bunt single up the third-base line. Herald walked Aragon to force in a run, and Jake Chaney, Tech's fifth pitcher of the night and fourth of the inning, walked Corona to force in another run and make it 10-7.
The final game of the series will be Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be aired on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on the internet at gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats will be available on gopack.com through the Gametracker.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Payne, Matt (2-0)
L: Bobby West (2-1)
S: Devine, Joey (5)
Batting:
2B: Bryan Thomas 1
HR: Matt Hacker 1
RBI: Chris Stanton 1 ; Matt Hacker 2 ; Matt Foley 1 ; Bryan Thomas 1
SH: Warren Schaeffer 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chris Stanton 1 ; Matt Hacker 3 ; Matt Foley 1 ; Bryan Thomas 1 ; Nate Parks 1
SB: Nate Parks 1
CS: Nate Parks 1
HBP: Jose Rojas 1
Batting:
2B: Devine, Matt 1 ; Aragon, Brian 1
RBI: Muyco, Jake 1 ; Bates, Aaron 3 ; Kinneberg, Bryan 1 ; Aragon, Brian 2 ; Corona , Ramon 2 ; Camp, Matt 1
SH: Diaz, Jonathan 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Devine, Matt 2 ; Muyco, Jake 1 ; Bates, Aaron 1 ; Mezistrano, Lee 1 ; Jensen, Mike 1 ; Kinneberg, Bryan 1 ; Aragon, Brian 1 ; Johnson, Ryan 1 ; Camp, Matt 1
HBP: Camp, Matt 1
