North Carolina State University Athletics
Team Pack Takes Series Finale, 8-5
10/30/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Team Pack won the game, 8-5, and Matt Payne continued to be the offensive star of the fall, going 3-for-4 with a double, a triple and two RBIs. He finished the nine-game series batting an even .500 (15-for-30) with four doubles, a triple, two home runs and seven RBIs.
Eight pitchers worked the seven-inning game. Between them, they managed to give up 13 runs on 16 hits in 14 innings of work. They struck out 11, but issued 11 walks. Travis High, Jeff Stallings, Vance Williams and Jake Kensmoe stood out in the later innings, working one scoreless inning apiece. Williams got the save for Team Pack, retiring all three men he faced.
Alex Sogard started and got the win for Team Pack, working three innings and allowing two runs, one unearned, on two hits. He walked two, threw a pair of wild pitches, hit a batter and allowed two stolen bases to go with his three strikeouts. Jason Zinser started and took the loss for Team Wolf. He yielded four runs on five hits, a walk and a hit batter in three innings. He struck out two.
Team Pack reached Zinser for a run in the bottom of the first inning. Nick Stanley drew a one-out walk and Zinser hit Marcus Jones with a pitch. With two down, Payne doubled down the left-field line to score Stanley.
Tommy Foschi led off the bottom of the second for Team Pack and chipped a single to shallow right field. Foschi stole second and Wade Moore bunted him to third. Dallas Poulk made it 2-0 with a sacrifice fly to right field.
Team Wolf tied the game with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Devon Cartwright led off against Sogard, reached on an error by Foschi, stole second and stole third, then scored on a wild pitch. With one out, Sean Morrison tied the score at 2-2 with a homer to left.
Jones led off the bottom of the third and doubled to the wall in deep center field. Jeremy Synan struck out, but the throw was in the dirt. Synan was retired going to first base, but Jones took third base on the throw to first, then scored when Payne hit an opposite-field triple down the right-field line. Pat Ferguson’s sacrifice fly to center field scored Payne and gave Team Pack a 4-2 lead.
Grant Sasser came in to pitch for Team Wolf in the bottom of the fourth and immediately ran into trouble. Moore led off, walked and went to second on a passed ball. Stanley drew a one-out walk, and the runners moved to second and third on a wild pitch, and Jones got them home with a triple into the right-field corner. Synan’s sharp single through the left side of the infield drove in Jones and made it 7-2 in favor of Team Pack.
Gary Gillheeney, pitching in relief for Team Pack, ran into trouble of his own in the top of the fifth. Walks to Mike Gatlin, Cockman and Ramon Rubio loaded the bases with two down, and Gillheeney hit Joe Florio with a pitch to force in one run and walked Cartwright and Kyle Prewitt to force in two more, trimming the Team Pack lead to two runs at 7-5.
Moore led off the bottom of the fifth against Sasser and reached on an infield single, then scored all the way from first on Poulk’s double down the right-field line, giving Team Pack an 8-5 lead.
