North Carolina State University Athletics
Woodard, UNC Race Past Mistake-Prone Baseball, 14-5
5/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NC State entered the game already eliminated from championship contention in the tournament thanks to Virginia’s earlier victory over Georgia Tech on Thursday afternoon. The loss to the Tar Heels dropped the Pack to 36-21 for the season. North Carolina, which improved to 46-12 with the win, evened its tournament record to 1-1 and will face Virginia on Saturday for the right to advance to the championship game on Sunday afternoon.
Woodard (9-2), for three years an NC State killer, avenged an earlier loss to the Wolfpack this year, allowing five runs on nine hits in 7 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out six. Eric Surkamp (4-4) took the loss after allowing seven runs, four of them earned, on nine hits in five innings of work. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.
Reid Fronk got North Carolina’s offense started by hitting the first pitch of the game to right field for a double. Garrett Gore flied to center field for the first out, but Dustin Ackley extended his hitting streak to 14 games with an RBI single up the middle. Tim Federowicz hit a perfect hit-and-run single through the vacated right side of the infield to put runners on first and third, but Surkamp got Josh Horton to ground into a double play to end the threat.
The Wolfpack tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first on a leadoff walk from Dallas Poulk and an opposite-field double to the wall in left-center by Pat Ferguson.
Fronk drove in a run for North Carolina in the top of the second. Tim Fedroff rolled a one-out single up the middle and Surkamp hit Kyle Seager with an inside curveball that didn’t really curve to put runners on first and second. Seth Williams hit a grounder to shortstop. Tommy Foschi threw to second to retire Seager, but Williams beat the relay to first to put runners on first and third with two out. Fronk again hit a first-pitch fastball to right, this time for a single, an RBI and a 2-1 lead.
Foschi singled to lead off the bottom of the third inning, and Poulk singled through the right side of the infield to put runners on first and second and extend hit hitting streak to 13 games. Ferguson tried to sacrifice the runners to second and third, but bunted the ball back to Woodard, who threw to third to retire the lead runner. Ryan Pond followed with a popup to shortstop that Josh Horton dropped, but with the runners holding on the fly ball to the infield he was able to throw to third and get Poulk for the second out. Ramon Corona singled to right-center to drive in Ferguson with the tying run.
North Carolina answered with a run in the top of the fourth to retake the lead at 3-2. With one away, Surkamp hit Fedroff with a pitch and Seager doubled into the right-field corner to put runners on second and third. Surkamp then plunked Williams to load the bases with one down. Fronk hit a grounder to second base and beat the relay to first for a force play. Fedroff scored on the play.
The Wolfpack took careful aim at its own foot in the top of the fifth, fired three times, and handed North Carolina a gift-wrapped four-run inning that blew the game open. Ackley led off with a double down the left-field line and went to third when Federowicz flied to center field. Josh Horton’s bloop single to shallow left drove in Ackley to make it 4-2. Chad Flack singled through the left side of the infield to put runners on first and second with one away, and from there the NC State defense was all thumbs. Fedroff grounded to Ferguson at first base and after recording the out at first Ferguson tried to nail Flack at second for an inning-ending double play. Instead, his throw hit the dirt in front of the bag and kicked away from Poulk for an error that allowed Horton to score all the way from second. Seager followed with a grounder to shortstop that kicked off Foschi’s glove for an error, with Flack scoring from second. Seager went to second on a wild pitch, then came around to score when Poulk couldn’t field Williams’s grounder to second base for the third error in as many plate appearances, giving the Tar Heels a commanding 7-2 lead.
While NC State was unraveling defensively, Woodard settled in on the mound and retired seven men in a row, four of them on strikes, following Corona’s RBI single in the third. Ryan Pond broke the string with a single up the middle to lead off the sixth, and after Corona grounded into a force play to erase Pond, Jeremy Synan singled to right to put runners on first and second. Woodard balked the runners to second and third, and Corona scored on Mangum’s single to right field to cut the lead to 7-3. Synan was thrown out at the plate for the final out of the inning.
Flack drew a one-out walk off reliever Andrew Taylor in the top of the seventh and Fedroff followed with a single up the middle to put runners on first and second. Seager popped up for the second out, but Williams singled to center field to drive in Flack. Fronk walked to load the bases, and Kyle Rutter came in to pitch for the Wolfpack. Garrett Gore grounded to shortstop, but Foschi tried to make the forceout at second unassisted and Fronk beat him to the bag. The fielder’s choice for Gore drove in another run to give North Carolina a 9-3 lead.
With one out in the top of the eighth, Horton singled to left and Flack was credited with a single when his grounder to shortstop took a bad hop and ate up Foschi as he went to field the ball. Fedroff’s single to right drove in Horton to make it 10-3.
With one down in the bottom of the eighth, Pond walked and went to third on Corona’s double to left-center. Synan drove Pond home with a grounder to third base, and Jones drove in Corona with a single to center field.
North Carolina made it a blowout with four runs in the top of the ninth. Gore doubled down the right-field line and went to third on a wild pitch. Ackley singled up the middle to drive in Gore, and after Federowicz struck out for the second out, consecutive doubles down the left-field line by Horton, Flack and Fedroff drove in three more runs to make the final score 14-5.
NC State will resume play in the ACC Tournament on Saturday against Georgia Tech. Game time is scheduled for 10 a.m. The game will broadcast live on radio on WKNC-FM (88.1). The radio broadcast will be available on-line at gopack.com through Pack Past. The games also will be televised on Sports South and will be available in North Carolina on FSN South. The telecast will be available on-line through ACC Select.
