North Carolina State University Athletics
Terps Make It Two Straight Over Baseball, 4-2
3/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Maryland, which has won the first two games of the three-game ACC series, improved to 11-3 overall and 2-0 in conference play. The Wolfpack, which lost for the sixth time in its last nine games, fell to 11-6 and 0-2. Ian Schwalenberg (2-0) got the final two outs of the eighth inning to get credit for the win. He walked one and struck out one. Brett Cecil worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to record his fifth save of the season. Andrew Taylor (0-1) took the loss for the Pack. He worked 2/3 of an inning, allowing two runs on two hits.
Murphy was the offensive star for Maryland, collecting three hits, a walk and a stolen base in four plate appearances. Caleb Mangum had a double and two singles in four at-bats for NC State. Jeremy Synan went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and Ryan Pond went 2-for-3 with a double.
The Wolfpack took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Joe Florio led off and worked Terrapin starter Ryan Moorer for a walk. Vince Gutierrez bunted Florio to second base, and Florio took third on Ramon Corona’s fly ball to right field. Synan dumped a single into left-center field to drive in Florio with the go-ahead run.
The lead was short-lived. Murphy drove an Eric Surkamp offering over the wall in left field for a one-out solo homer in the top of the second to tie the game at 1-1.
The score stood at 1-1 for the next 4 ½ innings as both starting pitchers settled in and put zeroes on the scoreboard. Moorer wobbled on occasion, but stranded nine Wolfpack runners through six innings, five of them in scoring position. He got defensive help along the way in the form of two double plays and a runner cut down at home plate.
Surkamp cruised through the Terrapins batting order, retiring 15 of the next 16 men he faced after Murphy’s home run and 20 of the first 22 he faced in the game. Maryland broke the tie by scratching out a run in the top of the seventh. Gerry Spessard walked with one out, and Murphy doubled into the left-field corner on a hit-and-run play. Spessard was safe at the plate on a close play as Maryland took a 2-1 lead.
The Wolfpack came right back to tie the game at 2-2. Pond led off the bottom of the ninth and doubled into the left-center-field gap. Mangum tied the game with a one-out double down the left-field line.
The Terps put the game away with a pair of runs in the top of the ninth. Greenwich hit Taylor’s second pitch of the game well over the wall in left to break the tie. Dan Benick caught the Wolfpack defense flatfooted by bunting the next pitch to the right side of the infield for a single. Dan Melvin sacrificed Benick to second and Murphy sent a two-out double down the right-field line to score Benick with the insurance run.
NC State and Maryland will their three-game series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC (88.1 FM) and on the internet on gopack.com through Pack Pass.
