North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Salvages Final Game of ACC Tournament, 8-7
5/26/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NC State, which dropped its first two games of the tournament, won one of three games in Jacksonville and improved to 37-21. Georgia Tech fell to 32-25 with the loss. McConnell (3-2) allowed three hits, walked one and struck out one, lowering his ERA top 1.19 in the process. Matt Wieters (1-4) took the loss for the Yellow Jackets after yielding just one run on two hits in one inning of work.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Marcus Jones, who scored the winning run, led the NC State offense with four hits in five at-bats. He was a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Dallas Poulk went 3-for-4 and scored twice, and Mangum went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBIs. Patrick Long went 3-for-5 for the Yellow Jackets. Jason Haniger was 2-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Poulk led off the game with a single up the middle, then stole second. With two away, Jones delivered a run-scoring single to right field to give the Wolfpack the early 1-0 lead.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->The 1-0 lead turned into a 2-1 deficit in the bottom of the second, thanks to a one-out single by Long and a two-out, two-run home run by Tony Plagman.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->The Pack turned the deficit back into a lead in the top of the third. Poulk led off with a single to center field and scored all the way from first on the close play at home plate on Ramon Corona’s double to right-center. Corona went to third on the throw to the plate, then scored on Ryan Pond’s single through the left side of the infield. Jones made it 4-2 with a triple into the gap in left-center, ending starter Ryan Turner’s day after two-plus innings. Chris Hicks came in to pitch for the Yellow Jackets, struck out Mike Roskopf and then got Pat Ferguson to bunt right back to the mound. Hicks threw home to easily get Jones for the second out, but Mangum made it 5-2 with an RBI-double to left-center, driving in Ferguson all the way from first base.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Danny Payne led off the bottom of the third with a double to left-center, went to third and scored on groundouts to shortstop by Michael Fisher and Wieters. That cut the NC State lead to 5-3, and the Yellow Jackets tied the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run home run by Haniger.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Pond led off the top of the fifth with a walk and Roskopf stroked a one-out single up the middle to put runners on first and second. Ferguson broke the tie with a single through the left side of the infield, driving in Pond to make it 6-5 in favor of the Wolfpack.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Wally Crancer led off the bottom of the sixth for the Yellow Jackets against reliever Andrew Taylor and walked. After Chris House popped up a bunt attempt for the first out of the inning, Long singled through the right side of the infield. Kyle Rutter came in to pitch and Haniger singled up the middle to load the bases. Plagman hit a sharp grounder to third base that Corona kicked for an error. Crancer scored on the play to tie the game at 5-5. Jason Garafalo hit a grounder to shortstop, but the Wolfpack could only to retire Plagman at second base as Long scored the go-ahead run to give the Yellow Jackets a 7-6 lead.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Jones hit a one-out double down the left-field line in the top of the seventh and Roskopf walked. Payne came in from center field to face Ferguson and walked him on four pitches to load the bases with one away. Brad Rulon came in to pitch for the Yellow Jackets and fanned Mangum, but Jeremy Synan walked for force in the tying run.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->Jones led off the top of the ninth against Wieters, in to pitch for Georgia Tech, and walked. Vince Gutierrez hit for Roskopf and sacrificed Jones to second base. Ferguson flied to right field, with Jones advancing to third base on the play. Mangum topped a pitch from Wieters to the left of the mound. Once the ball got past Wieters, it was up to Long, who was playing a deep third base and was unable to come up with the ball. The infield single scored Jones to give NC State the lead at 8-7.
<!--[if !supportEmptyParas]-->NC State will head back to Raleigh to await word on its fate for next weekend’s NCAA Tournament regionals. Pairings for the 64-team field will be announced on Monday at noon on ESPN.
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