NC State
40-17
Clemson (ACC Tournament)
39-20
N.C. State Falls To Clemson in ACC Baseball Tourney
5/27/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 27, 2005
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. (AP) - Kris Harvey doubled home two runs to key a four-run first inning and Clemson held off a ninth-inning NC State rally to post a 5-4 win Friday, knocking the Wolfpack out of the Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.
Clemson (39-20) moves on to Saturday's semifinals against Virginia, one of two teams still unbeaten in the tournament. The Tigers will need to beat the Cavaliers twice to earn a berth in Sunday's championship game.
NC State drops to 40-17 for the season, the Wolfpack losing a second consecutive game for just the second time this year.
Clemson jumped on NC State freshman Matt Payne, making his first collegiate start, for six hits and four runs in the first inning. The Tigers batted around with Travis Storrer and Stan Widmann adding RBI singles to go with Harvey's two-bagger.
Payne (2-1), who was charged with the loss, was lifted after the first inning, with Wolfpack reliever Phillip Davidson then holding the Tigers to three hits and one run over the next 6 1/3 innings. The one run came on Taylor Harbin's 10th home run of the season and proved to be the game winner.
"We debated all night who to start," Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said. "We could make our decision based on trying to win one game or trying to win the tournament. If we go just for one game, it would be Phil Davidson. If we make our decision based on winning the tournament, then Matt Payne has to give us four or five innings, and then we turn it over to Jason Duncan and Joey Devine. Then we would pitch Davidson and Branden Knapp tomorrow and Gib Hobson on Sunday. We decided we were going to try to win the tournament and not just one game."
Clemson starter Robert Rohrbaugh (7-2) was coasting on a two-hitter entering the ninth, his only mistake to that point resulting in an Aaron Bates two-run homer in the sixth inning. But after getting the first two outs in the ninth, Rohrbaugh gave up a single following an 11-pitch at-bat to Jake Muyco followed by a double from Brian Aragon to bring the Wolfpack to within 5-3.
Rohrbaugh was relieved by Jeff Hahn, who was greeted by an infield single from pinch-hitter Lee Mezistrano. The second run of the inning came home when Harbin threw wildly to second base on the play. Hahn then struck out Jonathan Diaz with the tying run on second base to preserve the win.
"We're obviously disappointed to be leaving early," Avent said. "But as much as we wanted to win this tournament, it was encouraging to see us get back to playing NC State baseball. We played very well and very hard today, and we fought and battled right up to the last out. That's the way we've played all year, and we got away from that yesterday against Virginia. We played NC State baseball today."
Notes: NCAA Regional sites will be announced on Sunday at 2:15 p.m. NC State still is in the running to be the host site for one of the 16 regionals. The pairings for the 64-team NCAA Tournament field will be announced on Monday at 11:30 a.m. on ESPN.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Robert Rohrbaugh (7-2)
L: Payne, Matt (2-1)
S: Jeff Hahn (3)
Batting:
2B: Kris Harvey 1
HR: Taylor Harbin 1
RBI: Taylor Harbin 1 ; Kris Harvey 2 ; Travis Storrer 1 ; Stan Widmann 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Brad Chalk 1 ; Taylor Harbin 2 ; Kris Harvey 1 ; Travis Storrer 1
SB: Brad Chalk 1
Batting:
2B: Aragon, Brian 1
HR: Bates, Aaron 1
RBI: Bates, Aaron 2 ; Aragon, Brian 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Bates, Aaron 1 ; Muyco, Jake 1 ; Aragon, Brian 1 ; Diaz, Jonathan 1
