North Carolina State University Athletics
Errors Doom Baseball Against Georgia Tech, 10-9
5/21/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
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JACKSONVILLE, Fla. NC State committed five errors Wednesday, three of them to start Georgia Tech’s game-winning rally in the top of the ninth inning, and took a 10-9 loss to the Yellow Jackets in the opening round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
NC State, ranked No 19 nationally, lost its third game in a row for the first time in 2008 and fell to 37-19 with the loss. Georgia Tech improved to 39-17 with the victory.
The game could have implications for both teams’ hopes of hosting an NCAA regional next weekend. The Yellow Jackets entered the game sixth in the NCAA’s latest RPI (ratings performance index) rankings, released today, and finished the season in fifth place in the ACC. The Wolfpack is 10th in the RPI rankings and finished fourth in the ACC’s overall regular-season standings. With North Carolina, Miami and Florida State virtually assured of hosting and the conference not certain to be awared more than four host sites for the NCAA Tournament, both teams went into Wednesday’s game feeling it might need to win this game in order to host next weekend.
The game featured 19 runs, 28 hits, eight errors, four lead changes, four blown saves, an ejection and near-brawl, four strikeouts in one inning by the third pitcher of the inning, and no 1-2-3 innings from either pitching staff.
Wolfpack starting pitcher Eric Surkamp threw one of his best games of the season, allowing two runs, one earned, on seven hits in six innings, but did not figure in the decision. Reliever Eryk McConnell (4-2) took the loss despite allowing no earned runs and no hits in an inning of work. In between, three Wolfpack relievers combined to allow six runs on seven hits in two innings.
Surkamp actually wobbled through the first inning, allowing a pair of runs on an RBI double by Jay Dantzler and a run-scoring error of the glove of first baseman Pat Ferguson. The Wolfpack tied the game at 2-2 with unearned runs in the second and third innings. Ferguson led off the second with a single up the middle and Marcus Jones walked. The runners stole second and third, and Ferguson scored when catcher Jason Haniger’s throw to second sailed into center field for an error. Ryan Pond drew a one-out walk in the third and Jeremy Synan hit a dribbler to first baseman Tony Plagman. Plagman’s throw to pitcher Deck McGuire covering the bag was behind McGuire for an error, and Pond came around to score on Ferguson’s RBI single to center field.
The Wolfpack took the lead in the bottom of the fourth on a leadoff double by Tommy Foschi and an RBI single by Dallas Poulk, then made it 6-2 with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Synan reached on an error and was forced out at second base on Ferguson’s grounder to first base. An RBI double by Chris Schaeffer drove in Ferguson, and NC State made it a big inning thanks to back-to-back RBI singles by Foschi and Drew Martin.
Luke Murton’s two-out solo homer to right field in the top of the seventh cut the Wolfpack’s lead to 6-3, and thew wheels began to come off the wagon for the Pack in the eighth. Brad Feltes and Tony Plagman led off the inning with singles off reliever Sam Brown, driving Brown to the showers. Pinch-hitter Thomas Nichols singled off reliever Drew Taylor to load the bases with none out, and Patrick Long walked to force in a run and make it 6-4.
Joey Cutler came in at that point and struck out Haniger for the first out of the inning, but Charlie Blackmon’s two-run single up the middle tied the score at 6-6, and Jeff Rowland’s single to center field drove in a run to give the Yellow Jackets the lead at 7-6. Cutler struck out the next three hitters, one of whom reached first base on a wild pitch, giving him four strikeouts in the inning.
The Wolfpack tied the game at 7-7 in the bottom of the seventh on Martin’s RBI double down the left-field line, then retook the lead in the bottom of the eighth. Synan singled leading off, and Pat Ferguson was hit by a pitch. Marcus Jones bunted the runners to second and third, and Tommy Foschi received an intentional walk. Nick Stanley pinch-hit and drove a double into the right-field corner. Synan and Ferguson scored easily, but second baseman Patrick Long’s relay throw to home plate was in time to retire Foschi, whose hard collision with Haniger resulted in Foschi’s ejection and both benches emptying. Angry words were exchanged, and fingers were pointed, but no punches were thrown and the bruhaha was quickly broken up.
Foschi’s ejection proved costly. Poulk moved from second base shortstop, Payne from right field to third, and Russell Wilson came in off the bench and went to second base. Nichols led off the top of the ninth with a grounder to first that Ferguson bounced off Ferguson’s glove for an error. Long was up next with a grounder to second base that Wilson couldn’t handle for the second error of the inning. Haniger followed with a grounder to shortstop that kicked off Poulk’s glove, allowing both runners to score.
NC State will return to action in the ACC Tournament on Thursday with an 8 p.m. game against Clemson. T will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and can be heard on the internet at gopack.com through Pack Pass.
