North Carolina State University Athletics
No. 17 Baseball Splits With Maryland Behind Buchanan Gem
5/10/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
COLLEGE PARK, Md. Freshman righthander Jake Buchanan tossed a complete-game five-hitter and Jeremy Synan and Nick Stanley belted three-run home runs Saturday as NC State won the second game of a doubleheader with Maryland by a 12-1 score to split a twin-bill with the Terps. Maryland took the opening game 6-2 behind the eight-hit pitching of Kevin Biringer.
The split decision leaves the Wolfpack at 34-16 overall and 16-9 in the ACC, and looking to win the series from the Terrapins, who fell to 29-25 and 9-20. A series win would keep NC State’s hopes alive of hosting an NCAA regional the weekend of May 31-June 3. The Wolfpack, which entered the weekend at No. 12 in the country in the NCAA’s RPI rankings, has lost three of its last six games, to High Point, UNC Wilmington and Maryland, but stands a solid fourth in the ACC’s overall standings. The ACC is easily the top-rated conference in the country.
The first game was not pleasant for the visitors, who took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Marcus Jones’s RBI single, only to watch as the Terps battered ace Clayton Shunick (6-5) for four runs on 11 hits in six innings of work. Maryland scored twice in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Will Greenberg and an RBI double by Chad Durakis, the first of three doubles he hit in the game. After Durakis doubled with two down in the bottom of the third, A.J. Casario drove him home with a single to right field to make it 3-1.
Matt Payne’s solo homer in the top of the fifth cut the lead to 3-2, but Durakis and Casario combined for back-to-back one-out doubles in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1. The Terps wrapped up the scoring in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Nick Jowers and a double by Jensen Pupa.
By that point, Biringer was in command. After Payne’s homer in the fifth, he retired 11 of the next 13 men he faced heading into the ninth. When Biringer started the ninth by hitting Tommy Foschi with a pitch and surrendering a single up the middle to Stanley, Dan Gentzler came out of the bullpen to nail down the final three outs for his first save of the season.
NC State took out its frustrations in the first inning of the second game, hammering Maryland starter Brett Jones (1-1) for seven runs on three hits and four walks in two-thirds of an inning. Synan got the inning rolling with a three-run homer to center field, and Jones followed with a double into the right-field corner, the first of four hits in the game for the Washington, D.C., native. An RBI single by Stanley and walks to Russell Wilson and Foschi loaded the bases and drove Brett Jones to the showers. Reliever Adam Kolarek came in and promptly served up a three-run double to Devon Cartwright for the 7-0 lead.
A seven-run lead was overkill for Buchanan, who was dominant from the very beginning. He set down the first five men he faced, hit a batter and gave up a two-out single to Casario, then retired 20 of the next 23 men he faced before Mike Murphy led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run. Buchanan then settled down and retired the next three batters on nine pitches. Buchanan allowed just the one run on five hits. He struck out four and did not allow a walk. He threw the complete game on just 98 pitches.
The Wolfpack added a run for Buchanan on Pat Ferguson’s sacrifice fly in the fifth, then tacked on four more in the top of the eighth, on a single by Jones and a three-run home run by Stanley.
NC State and Maryland will play the final and deciding game of their three-game ACC series on Sunday. Game time is 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on-line on gopack.com through Pack Pass.
The split decision leaves the Wolfpack at 34-16 overall and 16-9 in the ACC, and looking to win the series from the Terrapins, who fell to 29-25 and 9-20. A series win would keep NC State’s hopes alive of hosting an NCAA regional the weekend of May 31-June 3. The Wolfpack, which entered the weekend at No. 12 in the country in the NCAA’s RPI rankings, has lost three of its last six games, to High Point, UNC Wilmington and Maryland, but stands a solid fourth in the ACC’s overall standings. The ACC is easily the top-rated conference in the country.
The first game was not pleasant for the visitors, who took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning on Marcus Jones’s RBI single, only to watch as the Terps battered ace Clayton Shunick (6-5) for four runs on 11 hits in six innings of work. Maryland scored twice in the bottom of the first on an RBI single by Will Greenberg and an RBI double by Chad Durakis, the first of three doubles he hit in the game. After Durakis doubled with two down in the bottom of the third, A.J. Casario drove him home with a single to right field to make it 3-1.
Matt Payne’s solo homer in the top of the fifth cut the lead to 3-2, but Durakis and Casario combined for back-to-back one-out doubles in the bottom of the inning to make it 4-1. The Terps wrapped up the scoring in the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Nick Jowers and a double by Jensen Pupa.
By that point, Biringer was in command. After Payne’s homer in the fifth, he retired 11 of the next 13 men he faced heading into the ninth. When Biringer started the ninth by hitting Tommy Foschi with a pitch and surrendering a single up the middle to Stanley, Dan Gentzler came out of the bullpen to nail down the final three outs for his first save of the season.
NC State took out its frustrations in the first inning of the second game, hammering Maryland starter Brett Jones (1-1) for seven runs on three hits and four walks in two-thirds of an inning. Synan got the inning rolling with a three-run homer to center field, and Jones followed with a double into the right-field corner, the first of four hits in the game for the Washington, D.C., native. An RBI single by Stanley and walks to Russell Wilson and Foschi loaded the bases and drove Brett Jones to the showers. Reliever Adam Kolarek came in and promptly served up a three-run double to Devon Cartwright for the 7-0 lead.
A seven-run lead was overkill for Buchanan, who was dominant from the very beginning. He set down the first five men he faced, hit a batter and gave up a two-out single to Casario, then retired 20 of the next 23 men he faced before Mike Murphy led off the bottom of the ninth with a solo home run. Buchanan then settled down and retired the next three batters on nine pitches. Buchanan allowed just the one run on five hits. He struck out four and did not allow a walk. He threw the complete game on just 98 pitches.
The Wolfpack added a run for Buchanan on Pat Ferguson’s sacrifice fly in the fifth, then tacked on four more in the top of the eighth, on a single by Jones and a three-run home run by Stanley.
NC State and Maryland will play the final and deciding game of their three-game ACC series on Sunday. Game time is 1 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on-line on gopack.com through Pack Pass.
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