North Carolina State University Athletics
Georgia Tech Sweeps NC State Baseball, 7-3
4/22/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Yellow Jackets, who swept the series from the Pack, improved to 26-14 overall and 13-8 in the ACC. NC State dropped to 27-14 overall and 11-10 in the conference.
Chris Hicks (2-0), the third of four Georgia Tech pitchers, got credit for the win. He worked 2 1/3 shutout innings, allowing two hits and striking out three without a walk. Jimmy Gillheeney (3-2) took his second loss in as many weekends. He was charged with six runs on seven in 2 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out one.
NC State’s offense hibernated for most of the series. The Wolfpack batted .167 (16-for-96) as a team, drew six walks and struck out 33 times, including 17 times in the middle game of the series. The Pack’s on-base percentage for the series was .223. NC State batters went 5-for-30 with runners on base, 2-for-17 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-3 with the bases loaded. The Yellow Jackets, by contrast, were 14-for-45 with runners on base, 8-for-29 with runners in scoring position and 1-for-2 with the bases loaded.
Georgia Tech took control of the game early, scoring four runs in the second and two more in the third. Murton led off the bottom of the second and reached on an infield single. Gillheeney hit Tony Plagman with a pitch, and Chris House’s sacrifice attempt was so well-placed that he beat it out for an infield single to load the bases with none out. Gillheeney got Patrick Long on a fly ball to shallow left field, but walked Brad Feltes on four pitches to force in the first run of the game. Payne then drove a 3-2 pitch to right-center for a bases-clearing double to give the Yellow Jackets a 4-0 lead. Murton added two more runs in the bottom of the third with a two-run blast to left-center, scoring Wally Crancer ahead of him.
Ramon Corona and Ryan Howard led off the top of the fourth inning for the Wolfpack with back-to-back home runs, Corona’s to straightaway left field and Howard’s down the left-field line and over the foul pole. Dallas Poulk yanked a double just inside the line and into the right-field corner, then went to third when Marcus Jones hit a grounder to shortstop. Matt Payne drove in Poulk with a single to left-center, trimming the Georgia Tech lead to 6-3.
Eryk McConnell came in to pitch for the Wolfpack in the bottom of the fourth and got Danny Payne to ground out to shortstop leading off the inning. The next three Yellow Jackets batters reached safely, however, to drive in another run. Michael Fisher got it started with a Baltimore-chop single over first base, and Matt Wieters singled through the right side of the infield. Crancer got the RBI and made it 7-1 with a solid single to center field.
NC State will return to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. against UNC Wilmington. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC, 88.1 FM, and will be available on-line on gopack.com through Pack Pass.
