North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Defeats Quinnipiac 7-2
3/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Marcus Jones hit a pair of home runs, including a mammoth shot over the scoreboard in left-center field. Jones finished 2-for-3 with three RBIs. Pat Ferguson belted a solo shot to right, had two hits and wound up with a pair of RBIs. And then there was the pitching. Five Wolfpack pitchers combined to scatter 10 hits and held the Bobcats scoreless over the game’s final six innings.
Jeff Stallings worked the middle three innings and picked up the win, his first decision of the season. Stallings allowed four hits but kept Quinnipiac off the scoreboard, did not walk a batter and struck out four. Jason Zinser worked two very tidy innings, allowing just a lone single and recording four strikeouts. Joey Cutler and Alex Sogard combined to pitch the ninth.
The Bobcats actually jumped to an early 1-0 lead off NC State starter Sam Brown in the top of the second. Mike Bartlett hit a one-out sinking line drive to center field, and Jones made the mistake of diving for the ball. Instead of making the diving catch, however, Jones just missed making the catch and the ball scooted past him for a double. Tyler Turgeon drove the run in with a two-out single to right.
The lead vanished quickly. Jeremy Synan led off the bottom of the second and reached on an infield single. Ryan Pond took one off his shoulder to put runners on first and second with none down. Ferguson singled through the right side of the infield to drive in one run, and Nick Stanley gave the Pack a 2-1 lead with an infield single.
A hit batter, and single to left and a groundout to the right side of the infield put runners at second and third for the Bobcats in the top of the third, and Jeff Carino’s infield single tied the score at 2-2.
That was the last Quinnipiac would see of the scoreboard. The Bobcats managed to advance just four more runners to scoring position over the final six innings, two of them after two men were out.
The Wolfpack, meanwhile, continued to swing away at Quinnipiac starter Andy Mayer (1-1), who wound up allowing seven runs on eight hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out five. He served up solo homers to Jones and Ferguson in the third and fourth innings, respectively, then stood and watched as Jones deposited a first-pitch changeup over the scoreboard in left for a two-run bomb in the fifth. That made it 6-2, and Jeremy Synan tacked on the final run with a sacrifice fly to left in the seventh.
NC State will return to action in the Atlantic Coast Conference this weekend when the fifth-ranked Miami Hurricanes come to town for a three-game series. Games times are 6:30 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1:30 p.m. on Sunday. Saturday will be the first of four St. Lawrence Homes trading card giveaway promotions. The first 10 cards in a 40-card set of NC State baseball trading cards will be given to the first 1000 fans through the gates at the Doak.
