Nebraska's Chamberlain Shuts Down NC State 4-3

Friday, February 17

Charleston, S.C.

12:00 PM

NC State

6-1

Nebraska

2-0

Nebraska

NC State

2/17/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

Feb. 17, 2006

Final Stats

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Good pitching stops good hitting and great pitching stops great hitting. That clearly was the story line Friday at Riley Park when Nebraska All-America righthander Joba Chamberlain completely shut down an NC State team that came in batting .460 and scoring more than 17 runs per game en route to a 4-3 victory for the third-ranked Huskers.

The 19th-ranked Wolfpack, which lost for the first time this season, fell to 6-1 with the loss and managed to bring the potential tying run to the plate in the bottom of the ninth after scoring three times off another Nebraska All-America candidate, closer Brett Jensen. The Huskers improved to 2-0 with the victory.

"We faced one of the best pitchers in the country today, a tremendous competitor and a class act, and he was magnificent," Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said. "It was a great college baseball game. We made it interesting in the ninth, but we were just too far in the hole at that point."

Chamberlain (1-0), a junior who figures to be a first-round draft pick come June, was masterful, icing the Wolfpack with a mix of fastballs, curveballs and changeups. He retired 13 of the first 15 men he faced and limited the Pack to just two hits in 7 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out five. Eryk McConnell (2-1) took the loss for NC State despite pitching well. He allowed four runs, all earned, on six hits in five-plus innings. He walked one and struck out two.

Nick Jaros drove in half of Nebraska's runs with a two-run double, and Luke Gorsett and Jake Opitz had two hits apiece. Matt Mangini, who came into the game hitting .800, led the Pack with two hits in three at-bats, including a solo home run in the ninth inning. Pinch-hitter Jeremy Synan belted a two-run homer in the ninth.

The Huskers scored twice in the top of the third inning. Opitz singled just over the head of second baseman Ramon Corona and went to second on a wild pitch. Bryce Nimmo hit a two-out triple down the left-field line to drove in Opitz, and Ryan Wehrle followed with a double down the line to score Nimmo and give Nebraska a 2-0 lead.

The Wolfpack broke up Chamberlain's no-hit bid when Matt Mangini singled up the middle with one down in the bottom of the fifth. Corona dropped a single to right field to put runners on first and second. The runners moved to second and third on Jonathan Diaz's groundout, but Chamberlain stranded the runners right there, retiring Matt Camp on a grounder to first base to end the inning.

McConnell hit Andy Gerch with a pitch to lead off the top of the sixth inning and Brandon Buckman walked on four pitches. Gorsett laid down a bunt that Aaron Bates mishandled for an error to load the bases, and Jaros lined a double into the left-field corner to drive in Gerch and Buckman and give the Huskers a 4-0 lead.

That was the end of the line for McConnell. Sam Walls, out the first two weekends with a groin pull, came in for the Wolfpack and got out of the jam without further damage by striking out Jeff Christy, retiring Opitz on a soft liner to third and setting down Steve Edlefsen on a one-hopper back to the mound. Walls went on to pitch three shutout innings on just one hit. He struck out three without issuing a walk.

With one down in the bottom of the ninth and the usually reliable Jensen on the mound, the Wolfpack made it interesting. With one out, Aaron Cone walked. Chris Engle, already in the game as the pitcher, pinch-ran. Jeremy Synan pinch hit for Cone and belted the first pitch he saw the other way to left for a two-run home run. With two down, Mangini went deep to left to cut the lead to 4-3, but Jensen got pinch-hitter Jon Still on a groundout to end the game.

The Wolfpack will return to action on Saturday against Richmond. Game time is set for 11 a.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM and will be available on-line on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service.