North Carolina State University Athletics
No. 22 Baseball Completes Sweep Of BC, 14-4
4/27/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. Eleven NC State hitters had base hits, and seven drove in at least one run Sunday to lead the Wolfpack past Boston College 14-4 in the final game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series. The Wolfpack, which won the first two games by scores of 5-1 and 3-2, swept the series.
With the sweep, NC State inches closer to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Atlantic Division. The Wolfpack improved to 30-13 overall and 15-8 in the conference. With North Carolina’s 2-1 extra-inning victory over Florida State on Sunday, the second-place Pack is now 3 games behind the Seminoles in the division race. NC State and Florida State meet one another in Tallahassee in the final series of the regular season. Between then and now, the Wolfpack has a three-game series at Maryland, while the Seminoles have a three-game set at Clemson.
Boston College fell to 20-24 overall and 5-19 in the Atlantic Division. The Eagles are fading fast in the race for the final spot in the field for the ACC Tournament. The top eight teams in the conferene standings go to the tournament. Boston College is in 11th place and three full games behind eighth-place Duke.
BC actually had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 Sunday before a pair of three-run innings by NC State put the issue to rest. Garret Smith hit a second-inning sacrifice fly to put the Eagles up 1-0. Drew Martin’s infield single in the bottom of the inning scored a hustling Nick Stanley from second base to tie the score at 1-1. Tony Sanchez doubled home Marc Perdios in the top of the third to make it 2-1, and the Wolfpack took charge from there.
Marcus Jones tied the score in the bottom of the third with an RBI groundout, and Ryan Pond made it 4-2 with a two-run homer to left. Tommy Foschi led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple down the right-field line and Dallas Poulk drilled a one-out, two-run homer to right. An error by BC first baseman Michael Belfiore scored Pat Ferguson with an unearned run to make it 7-2.
Back-to-back RBI doubles by Matt Hamlet and Smith in the top of the sixth inning sliced two runs off the NC State lead, but Matt Payne’s two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning made it 9-4 in favor of the Wolfpack, and a five-run bottom of the eighth decided the final margin of victory.
In the eighth, Russell Wilson hit a pinch-single to drive in a run, and Jones and Chris Schaeffer each hit two-run singles with the bases loaded to finish off the scoring.
Jake Buchanan (1-0), the second of six pitchers used by the Wolfpack, got credit for the win. Buchanan pitched three innings and allowed one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out two. Boston College starter James MacDonald (3-7) took the loss after allowing seven runs, six earned, on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out two and did not allow a walk.
NC State will now take four days off for final exams before returning to action Friday night against Campbell. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 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.
With the sweep, NC State inches closer to the top of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s Atlantic Division. The Wolfpack improved to 30-13 overall and 15-8 in the conference. With North Carolina’s 2-1 extra-inning victory over Florida State on Sunday, the second-place Pack is now 3 games behind the Seminoles in the division race. NC State and Florida State meet one another in Tallahassee in the final series of the regular season. Between then and now, the Wolfpack has a three-game series at Maryland, while the Seminoles have a three-game set at Clemson.
Boston College fell to 20-24 overall and 5-19 in the Atlantic Division. The Eagles are fading fast in the race for the final spot in the field for the ACC Tournament. The top eight teams in the conferene standings go to the tournament. Boston College is in 11th place and three full games behind eighth-place Duke.
BC actually had leads of 1-0 and 2-1 Sunday before a pair of three-run innings by NC State put the issue to rest. Garret Smith hit a second-inning sacrifice fly to put the Eagles up 1-0. Drew Martin’s infield single in the bottom of the inning scored a hustling Nick Stanley from second base to tie the score at 1-1. Tony Sanchez doubled home Marc Perdios in the top of the third to make it 2-1, and the Wolfpack took charge from there.
Marcus Jones tied the score in the bottom of the third with an RBI groundout, and Ryan Pond made it 4-2 with a two-run homer to left. Tommy Foschi led off the bottom of the fourth with a triple down the right-field line and Dallas Poulk drilled a one-out, two-run homer to right. An error by BC first baseman Michael Belfiore scored Pat Ferguson with an unearned run to make it 7-2.
Back-to-back RBI doubles by Matt Hamlet and Smith in the top of the sixth inning sliced two runs off the NC State lead, but Matt Payne’s two-run homer in the bottom half of the inning made it 9-4 in favor of the Wolfpack, and a five-run bottom of the eighth decided the final margin of victory.
In the eighth, Russell Wilson hit a pinch-single to drive in a run, and Jones and Chris Schaeffer each hit two-run singles with the bases loaded to finish off the scoring.
Jake Buchanan (1-0), the second of six pitchers used by the Wolfpack, got credit for the win. Buchanan pitched three innings and allowed one run on three hits. He walked one and struck out two. Boston College starter James MacDonald (3-7) took the loss after allowing seven runs, six earned, on nine hits in 3 1/3 innings. He struck out two and did not allow a walk.
NC State will now take four days off for final exams before returning to action Friday night against Campbell. Game time is scheduled for 6:30 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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