North Carolina State University Athletics
Brackman, NC State Down William & Mary, 9-4
2/9/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. – A strong fourth inning offensively and a solid effort on the mound by righthander Andrew Brackman got NC State on the right track as it went on to defeat William & Mary 9-4 Friday afternoon in the first game of a three-game series at Doak Field at Dail Park. With the game being the season opener for both teams, NC State improved to 1-0 while William & Mary dropped to 0-1.
Brackman (1-0) picked up the win after allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits in five innings. He walked only one and struck out three. Tribe starter Sean Grieve (0-1) took the loss after allowing six runs, five earned, on four hits in four innings. He walked six and struck out five.Three Wolfpack batters – Caleb Mangum, Tommy Foschi and Pat Ferguson - finished with two hits each. Mangum also tallied an RBI, while Foschi knocked in one off a solo home run and scored two, and Ferguson scored two runs as well. Jeremy Synan went 1-for-3 with a three-run home run and scored twice. William & Mary, meanwhile, was led by Greg Maliniak, who finished the afternoon 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.
After threatening in the second inning, the Wolfpack scored first in the bottom of the third. Grieve walked Ramon Corona to lead off the inning. Synan grounded out to second base, moving Corona over one. Corona then stole third and scored the first run of the game off a passed ball by catcher Jeff Wera.
NC State added to its lead the next inning. Mangum led off with a single to left field. Tommy Foschi forced Mangum at second base when his sacrifice attempt went right back to Grieve on the mound. Pat Ferguson singled to left-center to send Foschi to third. Foschi scored on a wild pitch by Grieve to make it 2-0 Wolfpack. With Ferguson at second, Grieve walked Marcus Jones before getting Corona to fly out to center field. Synan then connected on a pitch and drove it deep the opposite way and over the wall in left for a three-run home run that put the score at 5-0.
The Tribe struck back in the top of the fifth. Maliniak led off with a double to right and then crossed the plate off a single up the middle by Brent McWhorter. Ben Guez reached on a fielder’s choice that saw McWhorter thrown out at second. Guez stole second and advanced to third on a groundout by Lanny Stanfield. Brackman then loaded the bases by hitting the next two batters. An error by third baseman Ryan Howard on a ball hit by Tim Park allowed Guez to score, making it 5-2.
In the bottom of the fifth, the Wolfpack answered back with a run to push its lead to 6-2. Ryan Pond walked to lead off the inning, advanced to second on a wild pitch by reliever Tyler Truxell and moved to third on a flyout by Mike Roskopf. Mangum drove Pond home on a groundout to third.
Greg Sexton led off the sixth for the Tribe and reached on an error by Howard. A single off NC State reliever Kyle Rutter by Maliniak through the right side moved Sexton over to third. Sexton scored when Corona and Ferguson caught Maliniak in a pickle trying to steal second to cut the lead down to three.
The Wolfpack picked up three more runs through the sixth and seventh innings to push the score to 9-3. With two outs in the bottom of the sixth, Truxell walked Synan and surrendered an RBI-double to right-center by Howard. In the seventh, Foschi homered to left off of reliever Max Axelrod. Ferguson followed with a double to left and scored on a triple down the left-field line by Corona.
The Tribe tacked on the final run of the game in the top of the ninth. With one out, Guez reached first on a fielder’s choice and moved to second on a groundout by Stanfield. Pinch-hitter Robbie Nickle’s double down the left-field line drove in Guez.
NC State and William & Mary will play game two of the series on Saturday at 2 p.m. WKNC-FM (88.1) will broadcast the game live. The broadcast will be available online at gopack.com.
