North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Shuts Out Coastal Carolina, 4-0
2/24/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NC State moved to 8-0 with the victory, while the Chanticleers fell to 8-1. Brackman (3-0) pitched 7 1/3 innings, allowing all six Coastal Carolina hits. He walked one and struck out seven. Brackman allowed leadoff singles to Adam Vrable and Tommy Baldridge in the third and fourth innings, respectively, and stranded both, then gave up consecutive singles to Dom Dugan and Chris Raber leading off the sixth and got out of the inning with a lazy pop-up and two ground balls. He finished strong, retiring seven of the last eight men he faced before turning the ball over to reliever Jake Kensmoe in the eighth. Eryk McConnell worked 1 1/3 perfect innings to record his third save of the season.
Coastal Carolina’s Bobby Gagg (2-1) took the loss after allowing four runs, three of them earned, on eight hits in five innings. He walked two and struck out two, with both walks coming in the first inning.
Ryan Pond led the NC State offense with a pair of hits and two RBIs. Joe Florio had a two-run triple in five trips, and Vince Gutierrez singled twice in four at-bats. Raber went 2-for-4 to lead the Chanticleers.
Gutierrez got the NC State offense started in the top of the first inning by working Gagg for a one-out, 10-pitch walk. Ramon Corona saw six pitches and also walked, putting runners on first and second. Jeremy Synan lined the first pitch he saw into left field to load the bases with one out, and Pond grounded a single into the hole at shortstop to drive in Gutierrez with the game’s frst run.
Gutierrez and Corona jump-started the Wolfpack again in the top of the third. Gutierrez laced a one-out single to center field, and Corona topped a slow dribbler that hugged the third-base line, stopping right on the line a few feet short of the bag for an infield single. That put runners on first and second with one away. Pond made it 2-0 with a two-out single up the middle.
The Wolfpack got some breathing room for Brackman with a pair of runs in the top of the fourth. Caleb Mangum led off with a single up the middle, and Pat Ferguson laid down a sacrifice bunt that catcher Dock Doyle mishandled for an error, leaving runners on first and second with none out. Marcus Jones bunted the runners to second and third, and Florio drove them both home with a sharp grounder just over the first-base bag and down the right-field line for a two-run triple and a 4-0 Wolfpack lead.
The Chanticleers’ scoring opportunities were few, but they did put their leadoff hitter on base five times. Of the eight runners Coastal stranded on the bases, six were in scoring position.
NC State will play TCU on Sunday at 4 p.m. at Coastal Federal Field in Myrtle Beach. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC, 88.1 FM.
