North Carolina Overtakes NC State 6-3

Saturday, April 30

Doak Field

2:00 PM

NC State

31-13, 0

North Carolina

36-9-1, 0

North Carolina

NC State

4/30/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 30, 2005

Final Stats

RALEIGH, N.C. - North Carolina scored three runs in the top of the 12th inning Saturday to complete a 6-3 cone-from-behind victory over NC State in the second game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference baseball series at Doak Field. The victory for the Tar Heels tied the series between the two rival schools with game three Sunday afternoon.

The win moved seventh-ranked North Carolina to 36-9-1 overall, 15-5-1 in conference play, while the loss dropped the Wolfpack to 31-13 overall, 12-11 in the ACC. North Carolina reliever Robert Woodard (5-0) got the win on 6 2/3 innings of scoreless baseball. He allowed two hits and struck out five. In two career appearances against the Wolfpack, Woodard is 2-0 and has allowed just one run in 10 2/3 innings. Junior righthander Joey Devine (4-3) was charged with the loss after pitching 2 2/3 innings, allowing three runs on six hits. He walked two and struck out three.

After two straight scoreless innings for both teams, North Carolina got things going offensively in the top of the third. Josh Horton reached first on a bunt single along the right side of the infield. Kyle Shelton singled to right to put runners on first and second, and Branden Knapp, who started on the mound for the Wolfpack, threw away Greg Mangum's sacrifice bunt at third base, loading the bases with none out. Justin Webb got Horton home with a sacrifice fly to right, and Matt Ellington drove in Shelton with a sacrifice fly to center field, giving the Heels the early 2-0 lead.

With an 0-2 count on UNC batter Chad Flack, the game went into a 59-minute rain delay. When action resumed, Knapp got Flack to fly out to right field to end the inning with North Carolina leading 2-0.

The Wolfpack took the lead in the bottom of the sixth. Tar Heels starter Daniel Bard hit Ramon Corona to start the inning, walked Aaron Bates, and then hit Aaron Cone to load the bases with no outs. Brian Aragon grounded out to first base to advance the runners, with Corona scoring on the play. Ryan Pond connected on an RBI single to center that brought Bates in with the tying run. With runners on the corners, Jake Muyco doubled down the left-field line, scoring Cone and giving NC State the lead, 3-2. That was all for Bard, who gave way to Woodard with two down in the bottom of the sixth. Woodward allowed a pair of singles in the bottom of the seventh before retiring 16 of the last 17 men he faced.

North Carolina came back and tied the game in the top of the eighth. With Chase Younts on first, Horton tripled down the line in right off of reliever Jason Duncan to knot the game at 3-3. The run scored was the first allowed by Duncan in 21 1/3 innings pitched.

Joey Devine surrendered a single to Seth Williams after the first out in the top of the 12th. Younts doubled down the left-field line, moving Williams to third. Pinch-runner Craig Corrado entered for Williams, and Devine intentionally walked Horton to load the bases. The Tar Heels broke the tie when Devine walked Reid Fronk to force in Corrado. Devine then hit Mangum with a pitch to force in Younts. Alan Letchworth came in for Devine, and Webb, Letchworth's former high school teammate and catcher, capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3.

The two teams will conclude the three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be televised live on cable affiliate C-SET, which is available on digital cable (channel 140 on Time-Warner cable in Raleigh). The game also will be broadcast 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.