North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Defeats Davidson 14-3
4/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NC State, ranked No. 20 by the NCBWA, now has won three of its last four games and 10 of its last 13, and improved to 27-11 with the win. Davidson lost for the 11th time in its last 12 games and fell to 16-22.
Joey Cutler (2-0) picked up the win for the Wolfpack with 2 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. He allowed two hits and struck out six without issuing a walk. Wildcats starter Thomas Middour (4-4) took the loss after yielding two runs on four hits in three innings. He walked one and struck out two.
Davidson manufactured an unearned run in the top of the first inning to take a bried 1-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Brett Shore led off with an infield single, stole second, went to third on a groundout, and scored on a passed ball.
Ryan Pond led off the bottom of the second for the Wolfpack, bounced a single up the middle, stole second and went to third when the throw went into center field. Jeremy Synan tied the game at 1-1 with a triple down the right-field line. Ryan Howard’s sacrifice fly to shallow right field drove in Synan to give the Pack a 2-1 lead.
Ryan Pond led off the bottom of the fourth with a bunt single. Reliever Matt Knight fielded the ball and threw it over the head of the first baseman for an error, allowing Pond to go to second. Synan’s single through the right side of the infield sent Pond home with the Wolfpack’s third run of the game. Synan stole second and scored on Foschi’s single to center. Foschi took second on a wild pitch and scored on David Lindsay’s single to left-center, giving NC State a 5-1 lead.
Dallas Poulk singled to left field to lead off the bottom of the fifth, stole second and took third on a passed ball. Pond’s sacrifice fly to center field brought the run home and made it 6-1.
Ryan Howard led off the bottom of the sixth with a fly ball to right-center that Shore lost in the lights. The ball fell untouched for a double, and Foschi followed with a double into the right-field corner to score Howard. Foschi went to third on a wild pitch and Lindsay walked to put runners on the corners with none out. Sean Lennox came in to pitch for Davidson and promptly gave up a sacrifice fly to Marcus Jones to drive in Foschi and make it 8-1.
Rob Wilson and Blake Osborne hit back-to-back one-out solo homers in the top of the eighth to trim the Wolfpack’s lead to 8-3.
NC State scored six times in the bottom of the eighth. David Lindsay walked with one down and Dallas Poulk singled to left. Reliever Brian Packey moved the runners to second and third with a wild pitch. Mike Roskopf walked to load the bases, and Wade Moore hit an infield single to drive in Lindsay. Second baseman Zach Kayne threw the ball away for an error on the play, allowing Poulk to score and Roskopf to go all the way to third. Synan walked to load the bases, Matt Payne singled through the left side of the infield to drive in Roskopf, and Howard walked to force in a run and give NC State a 12-3 lead. Foschi doubled off the wall in left-center to drive in two more runs and make it 14-3.
NC State will return to action on Friday for the first of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at Georgia Tech. Games times are 7 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC (88.1 FM) and on the internet on gopack.com through Pack Pass.
