North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Falls To Georgia Tech Again, 4-3
4/21/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Georgia Tech, which has won the first two games of the series, improved to 25-14 overall and 12-7 in the ACC. NC State fell to 27-13 overall and 11-9 in the conference.
Jared Hyatt (7-0), the second Georgia Tech pitcher of the night, got credit for the win in relief of starter Eddie Burns, who allowed three runs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings while striking out a career-high 10. Hyatt allowed two hits, walked one and struck out one in 1 1/3 innings of work. Brad Rulon, who got the win in Friday night’s victory for the Yellow Jackets, got the final two outs in the ninth inning for his first save of the season. Wolfpack starter Andrew Brackman (6-4) took the loss after pitching 5 2/3 innings and allowing four runs on eight hits. He walked four and tied his season high with nine strikeouts.
The Yellow Jackets cobbled together a run in the bottom of the first against Brackman. Payne led off and drew a walk on a 3-2 pitch. Brackman balked on a pickoff move, then sent Payne to third with a wild pitch. Brackman struck out Michael Fisher and Matt Wieters looking, but Crancer, Friday’s hero for Georgia Tech, singled sharply to right field to drive in Payne with the game’s first run.
The Wolfpack tied it up at 1-1 in the top of the third. Burns issued a one-out walk to Dallas Poulk, who came around to score on Joe Florio’s two-double into the gap in right-center.
Georgia Tech wasted no time in taking back the lead. Payne led off the bottom of the third with a single up the middle, but was caught stealing. Fisher flied to left for the second out, but Wieters hit a two-out single up the middle, and Crancer put the knife into the Wolfpack once again, driving a run-scoring double down the right-field line to give the Yellow Jackets a 2-1 lead.
Tony Plagman led off the bottom of the fourth for the Yellow Jackets and singled to center field. Patrick Long walked to put runners on first and second with none out. Chris House attempted to sacrifice the runners to second and third, but popped it up. The ball fell untouched in front of the plate, and Caleb Mangum gunned down Plagman, the lead runner, at third base for the first out. Jeff Ussery hit a grounder to shortstop that Ramon Corona bobbled for an error. Instead of Georgia Tech having the bases loaded, however, Long strayed too far past third base and House was tagged out between second and third after a pair of rundowns. That was the second out of the inning, but Payne finally got a run on the board with a single through the left side of the infield, driving in Long to make it 3-1. The inning ended there when left fielder Jeremy Synan’s throw to home plate was in plenty of time to nail Ussery for the final out. All three outs in the inning came on the basepaths.
The Wolfpack tied the game at 3-3 with two swings of the bat in the top of the sixth, a bloop single by Mangum leading off, and a one-out, two-run homer to right by Mike Roskopf.
For the second time in the game, Georgia Tech answered a Wolfpack score with a score of its own. Plagman led off the bottom of the inning with a walk and took second on a wild pitch. Long struck out looking, but House singled through the right side to put runners on the corners with one down. Brackman struck out Ussery for the second out, his ninth strikeout of the game and his final batter. Andrew Taylor came in for the Wolfpack and Payne made it 4-3 with a single to right field. Plagman scored on the play, but right fielder Ryan Pond cut down House at third base for the final out of the inning.
The Wolfpack, which batted .133 and struck out 28 times in the first two games of the series, did not take advantage of scoring opportunities in the third, fifth and seventh innings, stranding five men in scoring position in those three innings. The Pack had runners on first and second with none out in the fifth, then had the bases loaded with none out in the seventh and failed to score either time.
NC State and Georgia Tech will play the final game of the series on Sunday at 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC, 88.1 FM, and will be available on-line on gopack.com through Pack Pass.
