North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State
34-16, 0
Virginia Tech
19-29, 0
NC State Wallops Virginia Tech, 21-3
5/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 12, 2006
BLACKSBURG, Va. - Ramon Corona and Matt Mangini drove in four runs apiece, and Gib Hobson pitched seven strong innings Friday night as NC State hammered Virginia Tech 21-3 in the first game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at English Field. With the victory, NC State improved to 34-16 overall and 15-10 in the ACC. Virginia Tech fell to 19-29 overall and 3-22 in the conference.
Hobson (8-1) picked up the win after allowing three runs, two of them earned, on eight hits in seven innings. He walked three and struck out four. Tech starter Randy Buffington (1-1) took the loss after allowing four runs, all earned, on two hits in 2 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out four. Hokies pitchers walked 11 batters on the night.
Mangini led all hitters with four hits and four RBIs in six at-bats. Aaron Bates went 3-for-4 and drove in two runs. Corona had an RBI single, a two-run home run and a bases-loaded walk in five trips to account for his four RBIs. Eleven NC State hitters had at least one base hit, and eight Wolfpack hitters had at least one RBI. NC State finished with 21 hits in all, eight of them for extra bases. It was the fourth time this season that the Wolfpack collected 20 or more hits, and the sixth time NC State has amassed eight or more extra-base hits.
After a scoreless first inning, the Wolfpack began putting crooked numbers on the scoreboard in the top of the second. Jon Still led off and drew a walk. Bates doubled to the gap in left-center field to put runners on second and third with none out, and Mangini made it 2-0 with a single down the right-field line.
Corona led off the top of the third with a walk and went to second and third on wild pitches. Bates walked to put runners on the corners with none out, and Still's fly ball to left drove in Corona to make it 3-0. That was it for Buffington. Josh Canova came in to pitch for the Hokies and walked Aragon. Ryan Pond flied to right for the second out, but Mangini made it 5-0 with a booming double off the wall in left-center field.
The Hokies got on the board in the bottom of the third. Billy Marn led off and singled to right, moved to second and third on groundouts by Matt Foley and Nate Parks, and scored on a wild pitch.
Jonathan Diaz led off the top of the fourth for the Pack and walked on five pitches. Matt Camp bunted Diaz to second base, and Corona drove him in with a single to left. Corona advanced to second base on a balk by Canova, and scored on an RBI double to right-center by Bates. Pond walked to put runners on first and second, and Pond cleared the bases and gave the Wolfpack a 10-1 lead with a three-run homer to left-center.
Camp led off the top of the fifth and doubled down the right-field line. Camp advanced to third on Corona's groundout and scored on a passed ball. Bates singled through the left side of the infield and scored all the way from first on Still's double to right-center to give the Wolfpack a 12-1 lead.
Marn led off the bottom of the fifth and walked. Foley singled to right, and after Parks struck out, Warren Schaeffer singled to right to load the bases with one away. Bryan Thomas grounded into a force play to drive in Marn and cut the lead to 12-2.
Mangini led off the top of the sixth and singled up the middle. Aaron Cone singled through the left side and Scott Stoehr hit Diaz with a pitch to load the bases. Camp singled up the middle to drive in a run, and Corona walked to drive in a run. Bates stroked an RBI single to right field to make it 15-2, and Jeremy Synan, pinch-hitting for Pond, doubled into the right-field corner, driving in two more runs and making it 17-2.
Cone led off the top of the seventh against reliever Bobby West and walked. Two outs later, Corona hit a long two-run homer to left-center to make it 19-2. Bates was hit by a pitch, went All the way to third on Still's single to right, and scored on Aragon's single up the middle, giving NC State a 20-2 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh, Sean Ryan hit a one-out fly ball to lef t field that Synan dropped for a two-base error. Ryan came around to score on Thomas's two-out double to left-center.
The Wolfpack scored its final run in the top of the ninth. With pitcher Branden Knapp in the lineup after the Wolfpack gave up its designated hitter by putting Cone in the game defensively at catcher, Matt Payne pinch-hit for Knapp and hit a soft liner to first base that O'Brien dropped for an error. Payne went to second on Chris Engle's one-out single to right, took third and scored when Clark's relay from second base on a potential double-play grounder was wide of the bag for an error.
The win was NC State's most lopsided ACC win since a 22-0 thrashing of Duke last May 13, one day short of a year earlier.
NC State and Virginia Tech will play game two of the series on Saturday at 7 p.m. WKNC-FM (88.1) will broadcast the game live. The broadcast will be available online at gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service.
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Hobson, Gib (8-1)
L: Randy Buffington (1-1)
Batting:
2B: Camp, Matt 1 ; Bates, Aaron 1 ; Still, Jon 1 ; Aragon, Brian 1 ; Synan, Jeremy 1 ; Mangini, Matt 1
HR: Corona , Ramon 1 ; Pond, Ryan 1
RBI: Camp, Matt 1 ; Corona , Ramon 4 ; Bates, Aaron 2 ; Still, Jon 2 ; Aragon, Brian 1 ; Pond, Ryan 3 ; Synan, Jeremy 2 ; Mangini, Matt 4
SH: Camp, Matt 1
SF: Still, Jon 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Camp, Matt 1 ; Jones , Marcus 1 ; Corona , Ramon 4 ; Bates, Aaron 4 ; Payne, Matt 1 ; Still, Jon 1 ; Aragon, Brian 3 ; Pond, Ryan 1 ; Mangini, Matt 1 ; Cone, Aaron 2 ; Diaz, Jonathan 1 ; Martin, Drew 1
SB: Bates, Aaron 1
HBP: Bates, Aaron 1 ; Diaz, Jonathan 1
Batting:
2B: Bryan Thomas 1
3B: Jose Cueto 1
RBI: Bryan Thomas 2
Base Running:
RUNS: Sean Ryan 1 ; Billy Marn 2
CS: Nate Parks 1
