NC State Clobbers Longwood, 18-4

Saturday, May 6

Raleigh, N.C.

2:00 PM

NC State

33-15

Longwood

20-23

Longwood

NC State

5/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

May 6, 2006

Final Stats

RALEIGH, N.C. - Ryan Pond hit for the cycle without hitting the ball out of the ballpark and drove in a career-high six runs Saturday to lead NC State to an 18-4 blowout of Longwood at Doak Field at Dail Park. The Wolfpack improved to 33-15 with the win, while the Lancers fell to 20-23.

NC State starter Gib Hobson (7-1) got the win in a prearranged pitching split of three pitchers of more. Hobson went three innings, allowing a run on three hits. He walked one and struck out one. Longwood starter Kevin Light (2-7) took the loss. Light worked two-plus innings and was charged with seven runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out one.

Pond hit a triple in the third, an inside-the-park homer in the fourth, a double in the sixth and a single in the seventh and was 4-for-5 with six RBIs to lead all hitters on the day. Jon Still went 3-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs, while Matt Camp, Chris Engle and Ramon Corona had two hits apiece. Brandon Maupin went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs for Longwood, and Tyler Ames was 2-for-4 and drove in one run.

Camp led off the bottom of the first for the Wolfpack and doubled the other way down the left-field line, and Corona walked. With Aaron Bates at the plate, the runners pulled off a double steal, and Camp scored and Corona went to third when catcher Jon Quigley's throw bounced off the glove of second baseman Nick Von Gersdorff's glove for an error. Bates eventually walked to put runners on first and third with no outs, and Still grounded an RBI single through the right side of the infield to drive in Corona. Pond flied out to deep right field to move Bates to third base. Matt Mangini cued a grounder to third base for the second out, but Bates scored on the play to give the Wolfpack a 3-0 lead.

Longwood got on the board in the top of the third. Ryan Rowe laced a one-out double down the right-field line, and Ames singled to left to put runners on first and third. Paul Heidler's sacrifice fly to center field drove in Rowe for the Lancers' first run.

Corona led off the bottom of the third for the Wolfpack with an opposite-field double to right-center, and Bates made it 4-1 by hammering the next pitch into the left-field corner for an RBI-double. Still singled sharply up the middle to put runners on first and third, and Pond cleared the bases with a two-run triple to right-center, pushing the lead to 6-1. That was it for Light. Alan Moore came in to pitch for Longwood, and Mangini greeted him with a sacrifice fly to drive in Pond and make it 7-0.

Andrew Taylor came in to pitch for the Wolfpack to open the fourth inning and immediately ran into trouble. He hit Quigley with a pitch and walked Von Gersdorff. Maupin doubled down the left-field line to drive in Quigley, and Joe Bott walked to load the bases, still with none out. Taylor recovered to strike out Rowe for the first out of the inning, but Ames walked to force in a run and cut he NC State lead to 7-3.

Jonathan Diaz led off the bottom of the fourth with a solid single to center field. Camp's grounder to first base forced Diaz at second, and Camp took second on Corona's fly ball to center field. Moore appeared to be out of the inning when he got Bates to pop up on the infield, but Quigley dropped the ball for an error, allowing Camp to score and make it 8-3 and open the floodgates. Still walked to put runners on first and second, and Pond drove a long fly ball off the wall in center field for a three-run, inside-the-park home run that made it 11-3.

Corona led off the bottom of the sixth with a triple off the wall in right-center, then scored when second baseman Travis Lydon dropped Bates's infield pop-up. Pond drove in Bates with a one-out double of the wall in left-center to give the Wolfpack a 13-3 lead.

Quigley drew a one-out walk in the top of the seventh and went to second base on defensive indifference. Brandon Maupin's two-out double down the left-field line scored Quigley to cut the lead to nine runs at 13-4.

Aragon led off the bottom of the seventh and reached on an error by Lydon at second base. Reggie Dixon pinch-ran for Aragon and scored all the way from first base on Engle's double of the left-field wall. Corona grounded to shortstop and Von Gersdorff booted that for an error that put runners on the corners. Engle scored and Corona went to second on a wild pitch, and Aaron Cone hit a pinch-single to left to put runners on the corners, again with one away. Still cleared the bases with a three-run home run to right field, making it 18-4. Pond followed with a single to left-center, giving him a cycle without leaving the ballpark.