NC State Sinks Pirates, 11-4

Wednesday, April 6

Doak Field

7:00 PM

NC State

22-9

East Carolina

16-12

East Carolina

NC State

4/6/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

April 6, 2005

Final Stats

RALEIGH, N.C. - NC State scored eight runs in the third inning Wednesday night and never looked back, grabbing an 11-4 win over East Carolina in front of a capacity crowd of 2,900 at Doak Field. The win was the Wolfpack's seventh in its last eight games and lifted the Pack to 22-9 on the season. ECU lost for the eighth time in its last 12 games, dropping to 16-12.

NC State starter Phillip Davidson (3-3) got the win for the Wolfpack with seven innings pitched. He allowed two runs on three hits, walked two and struck out two. After the last out was recorded in the second inning on a play at home plate, Davidson retired 15 of the last 16 batters he faced. ECU starter P.J. Connelly (2-1) picked up his first loss of the season after allowing eight earned runs in two-plus innings. He faced eight batters in the third inning without retiring anyone. He walked one and hit a batter.

Matt Camp led the Wolfpack's 15-hit attack with three hits in five at-bats. He drove in three runs. Matt Devine had two hits, including a double, and drove in two. Ramon Corona went 3-for-5 and scored twice. Dale Mollenhauer went 3-for-3, drew a walk and drove in a run to lead the Pirates. Harrison Eldridge hit a two-run homer in four trips to the plate.

The Pirates got things started with two outs in the top of the second inning. Davidson walked Drew Costanzo and Jake Smith and then served up an RBI double to left-center by Mollenhauer. That put Jake Smith on third. Brett Lindgren singles up the middle to drive in Smith and make it 2-0, but Mollehauer, trying to score on the play, was thrown out about eight feet short of the plate to end the inning.

After two quiet innings, NC State got its offense running smoothly in the bottom of the third. Jason St. Julien walked and Corona singled. Jonathan Diaz beat out a perfectly executed bunt down the third base line to load the bases. Camp singled to left-center to drive in St. Julien, and Devine connected on a double to right that got over the right fielder to drive in two runs, making it 3-2 in favor of the Wolfpack.

RBI-singles by Aaron Bates and Ryan Pond made it 5-2, and Brian Aragon doubled down the right-field line to drive in another Wolfpack run and make it 6-2. With that, Pirates head coach Randy Mazey went to the bullpen for Mike Flye, who immediately made it 7-2 by sending an errant pick-off throw down the left-field line to score Pond from third. Muyco singled to right to drive in Aragon with the eighth run of the inningto give the Wolfpack an 8-2 lead. The inning marked the fourth eight-run inning by NC State this season.

With the bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the fifth inning, Camp singled through the right side off of ECU reliever Brett Braxton, driving in St. Julien and Corona. Camp was out at first after rounding the bag too far, but Braxton hit Devine with a pitch and walk Bates to load the base. Braxton then balked in a run to make it 11-2.

NC State reliever Matt Payne came in to start the eighth inning and immediately gave up a single by Mollenhauer and a one-out two-run homer to Eldridgeslicing the lead to 11-4.

The Wolfpack resumes Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend when it travels to Virginia for a three-game series. Game times are set for 7 p.m. on Friday, and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's game will be the ACC TV game of the week on Fox Sports Net. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats will be available on the Gametracker.