North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
6-0
Hofstra
0-3
NC State Completes Sweep Of Hofstra, 23-3
2/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 12, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. - Brian Aragon doubled and homered in a 10-run first inning, and Matt Mangini continued to swing a bat that is hotter than hot as NC State laid a 23-3 thumping on Hofstra to complete a sweep of a three-game series at Doak Field.
Mangini went 4-for-5 with two triples and five RBIs. He is now 20-for-24 for the season with two doubles, three triples and 14 RBIs in six games.
The 24th-ranked Wolfpack, which set a season-high with 23 runs and tied a school record with 27 hits, improved to 6-0 with the sweep. Hofstra remained winless in three outings. NC State starter Jason Duncan (2-0) was hardly airtight, but he made good use of the early big lead to coast to his second win in as many starts. Duncan worked five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out three. Pride starter Will DeVito (0-1) did not fare well in his season debut, yielding 10 runs, all earned, on seven hits in just one-third of an inning. He walked three.
In addition to Mangini, the Wolfpack got huge games out of Jonathan Diaz (3-for-3, 4 RBIs), Jon Still (4-for-6, 2 RBIs), Ramon Corona (3-for-4, 3 RBIs), and Aragon (3-for-5, 3 RBIs). Aaron Bates went 2-for-6 and hit his first home run of the season. Chris Menstrasti went 2-for-5 for Hofstra, and Mike Walsh went 1-for-3 and drove in two runs.
Hofstra struck for two runs in the top of the first inning. With one down, Josh Stern, Ricky Caputo and Walsh hit consecutive ground ball singles to drive in one run. With runners on the corners, Patrick Rogers grounded into a force play that drove in the second run of the inning.
The lead lasted just two batters into the bottom of the first, which turned into a 10-run avalanche that buried the Pride. Diaz led off and reached on an infield single, and Aragon belted a two-run homer to straightaway center field. DeVito walked Bates, and all hands were safe on Still's bad-hop single. The runners moved to second and third on Aaron Cone's one-hopper back to DeVito, and Ryan Pond walked to load the bases for Mangini, who singled over the second baseman to drive in Bates and Still. Corona rolled a single through the left side of the infield to drive in Pond and make it 5-2 Wolfpack. Matt Camp walked to load the bases again, and Diaz singled up the middle to drive in two more. Aragon short-hopped a double off the wall in right to drive in Camp and make it 8-2.
That was it for DeVito. David Huth came in and retired Bates on a groundout, but Diaz scored on the play and Aragon went to third. Still's bloop single to center field drove in Aragon to make it a 10-run inning, the Wolfpack's largest inning to date in a season that has been marked by gaudy offensive numbers.
Mangini led off the bottom of the second with a single to center field and Corona was hit by a pitch. DeVito got Camp to ground into a double play, with Mangini taking third on the play, and Diaz dunked a single into center field to drive in Mangini and give the Pack an 11-2 lead.
Still led off the bottom of the third with a walk and went to second on a wild pitch by reliever Kevin Conzelman. After Cone walked, Hofstra coach Chris Dotolo yanked Conzelman in favor of Rob DiFalco, but the onslaught continued. DiFalco got Pond on a fly ball to center field, but the ball was deep enough for both runners to advance, and both scored on Mangini's triple to center field. Corona singled to center to drive in Mangini. Corona went all the way to third on Marcus Jones's single to center field and scored on Diaz's sacrifice. All of a sudden, it was 15-2.
Bates began the bottom of the fourth with a missile off the top of the wall in left-center for a double. With one out, Brody Fontaine came in to pitch for Hofstra. Cone grounded to second for the second out of the inning, with Bates moving to third on the play. Pond grounded to third, but Caputo booted the ball for a run-scoring error, making it 16-2.
Mestrasti led off the top of the fifth with ground-ball single up the middle and Tom LeGrigni singled to center to put runners on first and second. Caputo flied to center to move Menstrasti to third, and he scored on Walsh's grounder to third base to cut the lead to 16-3.
The Wolfpack came right back in the bottom half of the inning. Corona led off with a double down the left-field line and went to third when LeGrigni booted Jones's grounder to shortstop. That put runners on the corners with none out for pinch-hitter Drew Martin, who singled to right to drive in Corona.. Jones took third base on the play and scored on Still's two-out double into the left-field corner, giving the Wolfpack an 18-3 lead.
Mangini hit his second triple of the game with one down in the bottom of the sixth and scored on Corona's sacrifice fly to left to make it 19-3.
Bates led off the bottom of the seventh with his first homer of the season, a towering blast to left field that put the Pack at the 20-run plateau for the second time in as many weekends. Still singled and Cone drew a walk. Jeremy Synan lined a single to right field to drive in Still, and Mangini drove a sacrifice fly to left-center to make it 22-3.
Bobby Hubbard led off the bottom of the eigth and reached on an error. With one away, Still grounded into a force play, with Hubbard erased at second base. Still went to third on Payne's single to right and scord on Synan's single through the hole between first and second base.
Notes: NC State has scored 105 runs in six games, which easily shatters the old school record of 74 runs the first six games of the 1984 season ... NC State has scored in 40 of 48 offensive innings thus far in 2006 ... The Wolfpack has been retired in order, 1-2-3, in an inning just twice in six games ... The longest streak of at-bats without a hit by the Pack so far is seven at-bats, from the last two outs of the first inning through the first two outs of the third inning on February 11 ... After six games, the Wolfpack is hitting .460 as a team, and has five hitters (minimum 10 at-bats) hitting .500 or better, and seven hitting .400 or better, led by Mangini, of course.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Duncan, Jason (2-0)
L: Will DeVito (0-1)
Batting:
RBI: Mike Walsh 2 ; Patrick Rogers 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Chris Menstrasti 1 ; Josh Stern 1 ; Ricky Caputo 1
CS: Patrick Rogers 1
Batting:
2B: Aragon, Brian 1 ; Bates, Aaron 1 ; Still, Jon 1 ; Corona , Ramon 1
3B: Mangini, Matt 2
HR: Aragon, Brian 1 ; Bates, Aaron 1
RBI: Diaz, Jonathan 4 ; Martin, Drew 1 ; Aragon, Brian 3 ; Bates, Aaron 2 ; Still, Jon 2 ; Synan, Jeremy 2 ; Mangini, Matt 5 ; Corona , Ramon 3
SF: Diaz, Jonathan 1 ; Mangini, Matt 1 ; Corona , Ramon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Diaz, Jonathan 2 ; Aragon, Brian 2 ; Bates, Aaron 3 ; Still, Jon 4 ; Cone, Aaron 2 ; Pond, Ryan 1 ; Mangini, Matt 4 ; Corona , Ramon 3 ; Camp, Matt 1 ; Jones , Marcus 1
HBP: Corona , Ramon 1
