North Carolina State University Athletics
Tony Haynes: Long Wait Produces Disappointment for Pack
4/24/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 24, 2006
By Tony Haynes
If you include the first rain delay, then NC State's 14 inning marathon against North Carolina on Saturday took exactly 23 hours and 45 minutes to play. Ultimately, it became a slow, cruel, devastating death. Or make that water torture. Expecting to start game two of its series against the Tar Heels at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, the Wolfpack waited out a 2 and ½ hour rain delay in its cramped, soggy dugout before play finally began at 3:30. More than three hours and 11-plus innings later, nothing had yet been settled. With the score tied 2-2 and the Wolfpack batting with one-out in the top of the 12th, play was halted again due to thunderstorm activity in the Chapel Hill area. By 8:00 p.m., the two teams learned that this latest baseball classic in their long rivalry would resume the next day.
No, this game, nor this series in fact, came close to matching the amazing drama the Heels and Pack produced last year at Doak Field, three games that were decided by a grand total of five runs. Still, however, Saturday's 14-inning affair that didn't end until Sunday was - if nothing else - high up on the bizarre scale.
For most of those 14 innings, the top-ranked Tar Heels didn't seem all that interested in winning. Showing off their best Chevy Chase routine on the base paths, the Heels had a total of four runners either thrown out or picked off, including two at home plate. The Keystone Cops routine on the bases was complimented by two errors in the field.
In the end, NC State wouldn't be able to take advantage simply because its league-leading line-up was silenced by Carolina's stellar pitching. With weekend headliners Andrew Miller, Robert Woodard and Daniel Bard starting, and consistent relievers Jonathan Hovis and Andrew Carignan finishing at the back end, UNC had enough pitching to overcome the type of blunders that would cripple most teams.
When Saturday gave way to Sunday and play resumed in the 12th, NC State had a shot to break the 2-2 deadlock. With Jonathan Diaz and Matt Camp due up with a runner at second and one away, Pack coach Elliott Avent figured he'd have two shots to get the go ahead run home.
It didn't work out that way. On the second pitch he saw, Diaz hit a liner into the glove of North Carolina shortstop Josh Horton, who simply grabbed the ball off his shoe tops and touched second to double off Chris Engle.
The Pack got another sniff by putting a couple of base runners on in the 13th before UNC pulled closer Carignan out of the pen. Not allowing a run in an inning and two-thirds, the right-hander lowered his termite-sized ERA to 0.40.
Finally, it was just about 12:45 p.m. - almost 23 hours and 45 minutes after the originally scheduled start time - that the game ended. Carolina, the team that had tried to give it away for most of the 14 innings, did what NC State had not been able to do: take advantage of a mistake.
When closer Sam Walls' throw to unoccupied third base on a sacrifice attempt sailed over the bag and into the NC State bullpen, UNC's Tim Federowics didn't stop running until he crossed home plate and thrust himself into the arms of his joyous teammates.
The Carolina celebration on the first base side was matched by utter disbelief and dejection in the third base dugout occupied by NC State.
Energized by its dramatic win, North Carolina rode the sturdy right arm of Bard to post a 4-0 shutout in game three, a win that gave the Heels a sweep of the series.
It seems that the old baseball adage "good pitching stops good hitting" had once again been proven correct. The same NC State team that had averaged 9.5 runs PER GAME coming into the series scored a total of just five runs in the three games at Boshamer Stadium.
The top of the Wolfpack's line-up, featuring Matt Camp, Ramon Corona and Aaron Bates, had been about as good as it gets for most of the ACC campaign. This past weekend, however, they were just 5-of-35 between them.
With a few days to lick its wounds before Miami comes to town for a big three-game conference series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the Pack should have time to get refocused and rejuvenated. With a 13-8 conference record, NC State is still very much in the hunt for first place in the Atlantic Division, which is currently led by Clemson's 12-6 mark.
It's been said that home is where the heart is. For NC State, it's also where most of the wins have been coming this year. Currently 22-5 at the Doak, the Wolfpack has prevailed in every ACC series it has played on its home turf. If it can preserve that streak against the `Canes next weekend, a season that took a wrong turn in Chapel Hill will be back on course.
