North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Falls To Virginia Tech, 4-3
4/19/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BLACKSBURG, Va. Austin Wates belted a two-run homer in the sixth inning and Josh Wymer pitched 4 2/3 inning of shutout relief Saturday as Virginia Tech defeated NC State 4-3 in the middle game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference baseball series at English Field.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for NC State, which fell to 26-12 overall and 11-8 in the ACC. Virginia Tech improved to 17-22 overall and 4-16 in the ACC. Lefthander Drew Taylor (2-2) gave up a pair of runs in 1 1/3 innings to take the loss. He allowed one hit, a home run, walked two and struck out one. Wymer (5-4) allowed one hit, walked three and struck out eight.
NC State came out of the gates scoring. The Wolfpack, which scored single runs in each of the final eight innings on Friday, ran its string of consecutive one-run innings to 10 with runs in both the first and second innings. Devon Cartwright led off the first with a double into the corner in left field, went to third on Ryan Pond’s fly ball to right and scored on Marcus Jones’s single up the middle.
Cartwright’s second double of the game, a shot over the third-base bag and down the left-field line, scored Nate Cockman in the second. Cockman had reached on a force play. That made it 2-0, but the Hokies kept the Wolfpack off the board in the third, robbing Cockman for the third out on a leaping catch by shortstop Tony Balisteri.
Matt Payne led off the top of the fifth inning with his fourth homer of the season, upping the NC State lead to 3-0. The Pack went on to load the bases with one out in the inning, but Wymer came out of the bullpen and avoided further damage by striking out Cockman and Drew Martin.
The Hokies scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth off starter Eric Surkamp, who picked up his 18th no-decision in 37 career starts. Matt Blow was hit by a pitch with one down and went to second on a passed ball. Balisteri struck out but reached on a passed ball, putting runners on first and second. O’Brien singled up the middle to drive in Blow, and Sean Ryan’s sacrifice fly scored Balisteri.
Drew Taylor came in to pitch for the Wolfpack in the bottom of the sixth and walked Klint Reed, then served up a two-run homer to Austin Wates to give Virginia Tech its first lead of the series at 4-3.
NC State and Virginia Tech will play the final game of this weekend’s three-game ACC series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on the internet at gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
The loss snapped a five-game winning streak for NC State, which fell to 26-12 overall and 11-8 in the ACC. Virginia Tech improved to 17-22 overall and 4-16 in the ACC. Lefthander Drew Taylor (2-2) gave up a pair of runs in 1 1/3 innings to take the loss. He allowed one hit, a home run, walked two and struck out one. Wymer (5-4) allowed one hit, walked three and struck out eight.
NC State came out of the gates scoring. The Wolfpack, which scored single runs in each of the final eight innings on Friday, ran its string of consecutive one-run innings to 10 with runs in both the first and second innings. Devon Cartwright led off the first with a double into the corner in left field, went to third on Ryan Pond’s fly ball to right and scored on Marcus Jones’s single up the middle.
Cartwright’s second double of the game, a shot over the third-base bag and down the left-field line, scored Nate Cockman in the second. Cockman had reached on a force play. That made it 2-0, but the Hokies kept the Wolfpack off the board in the third, robbing Cockman for the third out on a leaping catch by shortstop Tony Balisteri.
Matt Payne led off the top of the fifth inning with his fourth homer of the season, upping the NC State lead to 3-0. The Pack went on to load the bases with one out in the inning, but Wymer came out of the bullpen and avoided further damage by striking out Cockman and Drew Martin.
The Hokies scored a pair of unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth off starter Eric Surkamp, who picked up his 18th no-decision in 37 career starts. Matt Blow was hit by a pitch with one down and went to second on a passed ball. Balisteri struck out but reached on a passed ball, putting runners on first and second. O’Brien singled up the middle to drive in Blow, and Sean Ryan’s sacrifice fly scored Balisteri.
Drew Taylor came in to pitch for the Wolfpack in the bottom of the sixth and walked Klint Reed, then served up a two-run homer to Austin Wates to give Virginia Tech its first lead of the series at 4-3.
NC State and Virginia Tech will play the final game of this weekend’s three-game ACC series on Sunday. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on the internet at gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
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