North Carolina State University Athletics
Payne Blast Lifts Baseball Past No. 5 Miami, 11-10
3/16/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The unusual circumstances came about because of Atlantic Coast Conference travel policy for the final game of a three-game series. Because Miami had a 7:20 p.m. flight out of Raleigh-Durham International Airport, the umpires determined that no inning could start after 4:45 p.m. Payne’s home run, which erased a 10-8 deficit and made a loser of Miami closer Carlos Gutierrez, came at 4:48 and should have ended the game, only home plate umpire Joe Marion did not check the time until Gutierrez had made one more pitch, a strike to Russell Wilson. Marion then signaled that the marathon game was officially over.
With the deadline rapidly approaching during the game’s final innings, the tension in the ballpark seemed to mount. NC State scored a run in the bottom of the seventh on Dallas Poulk’s single through the right side of the infield, scoring Drew Martin, who got the rally started with a two-out walk. The seventh inning ended at 4:37.
That cut the Miami lead to 9-8, but the Hurricanes got the run back when Jemile Weeks slammed Jimmy Gillheeney’s first pitch in the top of the eighth off the scoreboard in center field for a solo home run. Gillheeney, who wound up picking up the win to improve to 1-0, recovered and retired the next three batters in order to set the stage for the bottom of the eighth, which began at 4:43. Gillheeney wound up throwing 2 2/3 innings and allowed just one run on one hit. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.
Nick Stanley got things started in the bottom of the eighth with a one-out walk, and Ryan Pond singled to right-center to put runners on first and second. Payne then hit Gutierrez’s second pitch to straightaway center field, just over the outstretched glove of Blake Tekotte.
The NC State comeback salvaged the final game of the three-game series, which Miami won two games to one. The comeback also salvaged a game that the Wolfpack led early, only to surrender the lead in the middle innings. Adam Severino gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with an RBI single in the top of the first, and Tekotte’s RBI triple down the right-field line in the second made it 2-0.
The Wolfpack came back in the bottom of the second. Miami starter Enrique Garcia, who shut the Pack out on five hits a year ago in Coral Gables, did not get out of the second inning. Pat Ferguson and Payne led off the inning with singles, and Martin lined an RBI single to left-center. Chris Schaeffer, who entered the game hitting .120, then hit Garcia’s 1-2 pitch over the scoreboard in left-center, a towering shot that gave NC State a 4-2 lead.
Jason Hagerty cut the lead to a run at 4-3 with an RBI double to right-center in the top of the third, but the Wolfpack made it 6-3 in the bottom of the inning on Martin’s RBI single and Schaeffer’s run-scoring groundout.
Despite the 6-3 lead, NC State starter Eryk McConnell never seemed to get comfortable, and Miami finally drove him from the game in the top of the fourth after a two-run single by Tekotte and a walk to Weeks. Alex Sogard came in and Yonder Alonso greeted him with an opposite-field RBI single to left. Joey Terdoslavich followed with a sacrifice fly to give the Canes the lead at 7-6.
Ryan Pond’s RBI groundout in the bottom of the fourth tied the game at 7-7, but a potential big inning short-circuited when the Wolfpack pulled off its third baserunning blunder in two games. This time, with Devon Cartwright on second and Marcus Jones on first, Stanley single to left field. Cartwright held at third base, but Jones rounded second and never stopped. With two runners on third base, Jones retreated to second, but Stanley, sensing the probable out on the basepaths, had alertly advanced to second on the play. Jones was tagged out.
Dennis Raben led off the top of the fifth with a homer to right, and Mark Sobelewski doubled, advanced to third on Ryan Jackson’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on a throwing error by Tommy Foschi to extend the Miami lead to 9-7 and set the stage for the wild finish.
With the win, NC State improved to 10-5 overall and 2-2 in the ACC. Miami fell to 13-2 and 5-1.
NC State will return to action this week with a two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday vs. Towson. Game time for both games is 3 p.m. Both gamea will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and can be heard on the internet at gopack.com through Pack Pass.
