North Carolina State University Athletics
No. 17 Baseball Rallies Past Campbell 6-3
5/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BUIES CREEK, N.C. Marcus Jones smoked an eighth-inning, opposite-field double off the right-field wall to drive in two runs and break a 3-3 tie Tuesday night, propelling NC State to a 6-3 victory over Campbell at Taylor Field.
The 17th-ranked Wolfpack, which improved to 33-14 with the victory, struggled offensively, but rode stellar pitching from Eric Surkamp and Jimmy Gillheeney (2-0), who combined on a five-hitter. Campbell lost its eighth consecutive game and dropped to 17-31 with the loss.
For Surkamp, the game was redemption of sorts. Three days earlier, on Saturday at Doak Field at Dail Park, Surkamp turned in the worst outing of his college career, two forgettable innings and six runs against High Point. Given a chance to make amends on Tuesday, Surkamp stopped the Camels dead in their tracks for five innings.
Before tiring in the sixth inning, Surkamp was ahead of almost every hitter, spotted his fastball to both sides of the plate, threw all of his offspeed pitches for strikes, and struck out a career-high 12. He took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and a two-hit shutout into the sixth. During one stretch over the first three innings, he struck out seven of eight hitters, three of them on three pitches apiece.
NC State gave Surkamp a 3-0 lead on just two hits in the third inning. Drew Martin and Ryan Pond, batting in the leadoff spot in the batting order, drew one-out walks, and Pat Ferguson drove a double off the top of the 15-foot-high batter’s eye in straightaway center field, scoring both runners. Jeremy Synan made it 3-0 with a single through the right side of the infield.
Unfortunately for Surkamp, the Camels got a terrific pitching performance from reliever Hunter Ford, who came in and stopped the bleeding in the top of the third and held the Wolfpack without a hit for 4 1/3 innings. The only baserunner Ford allowed came on an error by second baseman Ellis Lowe in the third, and Ford easily pitched around that.
Ford and Surkamp traded zeroes on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth, when the Camels tied the game. The inning began innocently enough, with Surkamp fanning Graham Fronk for his 12th strikeout, but Ryan Hamme stroked a line single to center field, and Lowe rolled a ground ball through the right side of the infield for single that put runners on the corners. Brandon Scott followed with another grounder through the right side to drive in a run, and Mike Causey was safe on an infield single to put runners on first and third with one away. Causey and Lowe pulled off a double steal to cut the lead to 3-2, and John Watlington hit a bloop single to right field to drive in Causey with the tying run.
The sixth was Surkamp’s last, and because of that inning, his final line does not do justice to how well he performed. He allowed three runs on six hits, walked two and struck out 12, a season high for strikeouts in the game by an NC State pitcher in 2008. He threw 100 pitches, 68 of them for strikes.
Ford worked through the seventh inning, then was relieved by Scott to begin the eighth inning, and the Wolfpack struck immediately. Pond led off the inning with a single up the middle, and Ferguson walked. Scott jumped on Matt Payne’s sacrifice bunt attempt and retired the lead runner at third base, but after Synan fouled out to left field, Jones crushed a line drive over the head of Causey in right field and off the wall, driving in both runners.
Pond drove in the final run of the game with an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Jones’s two-run double in the eighth made a winner of Gillheeney, who worked the final three innings and allowed no runs on just one hit. He walked none and struck out three. Scott took the loss and dropped to 2-4. Scott allowed three runs on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.
NC State returns to action on Wednesday at UNC Wilmington. Game time is 7 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 17th-ranked Wolfpack, which improved to 33-14 with the victory, struggled offensively, but rode stellar pitching from Eric Surkamp and Jimmy Gillheeney (2-0), who combined on a five-hitter. Campbell lost its eighth consecutive game and dropped to 17-31 with the loss.
For Surkamp, the game was redemption of sorts. Three days earlier, on Saturday at Doak Field at Dail Park, Surkamp turned in the worst outing of his college career, two forgettable innings and six runs against High Point. Given a chance to make amends on Tuesday, Surkamp stopped the Camels dead in their tracks for five innings.
Before tiring in the sixth inning, Surkamp was ahead of almost every hitter, spotted his fastball to both sides of the plate, threw all of his offspeed pitches for strikes, and struck out a career-high 12. He took a no-hitter into the fourth inning and a two-hit shutout into the sixth. During one stretch over the first three innings, he struck out seven of eight hitters, three of them on three pitches apiece.
NC State gave Surkamp a 3-0 lead on just two hits in the third inning. Drew Martin and Ryan Pond, batting in the leadoff spot in the batting order, drew one-out walks, and Pat Ferguson drove a double off the top of the 15-foot-high batter’s eye in straightaway center field, scoring both runners. Jeremy Synan made it 3-0 with a single through the right side of the infield.
Unfortunately for Surkamp, the Camels got a terrific pitching performance from reliever Hunter Ford, who came in and stopped the bleeding in the top of the third and held the Wolfpack without a hit for 4 1/3 innings. The only baserunner Ford allowed came on an error by second baseman Ellis Lowe in the third, and Ford easily pitched around that.
Ford and Surkamp traded zeroes on the scoreboard until the bottom of the sixth, when the Camels tied the game. The inning began innocently enough, with Surkamp fanning Graham Fronk for his 12th strikeout, but Ryan Hamme stroked a line single to center field, and Lowe rolled a ground ball through the right side of the infield for single that put runners on the corners. Brandon Scott followed with another grounder through the right side to drive in a run, and Mike Causey was safe on an infield single to put runners on first and third with one away. Causey and Lowe pulled off a double steal to cut the lead to 3-2, and John Watlington hit a bloop single to right field to drive in Causey with the tying run.
The sixth was Surkamp’s last, and because of that inning, his final line does not do justice to how well he performed. He allowed three runs on six hits, walked two and struck out 12, a season high for strikeouts in the game by an NC State pitcher in 2008. He threw 100 pitches, 68 of them for strikes.
Ford worked through the seventh inning, then was relieved by Scott to begin the eighth inning, and the Wolfpack struck immediately. Pond led off the inning with a single up the middle, and Ferguson walked. Scott jumped on Matt Payne’s sacrifice bunt attempt and retired the lead runner at third base, but after Synan fouled out to left field, Jones crushed a line drive over the head of Causey in right field and off the wall, driving in both runners.
Pond drove in the final run of the game with an RBI single in the top of the ninth.
Jones’s two-run double in the eighth made a winner of Gillheeney, who worked the final three innings and allowed no runs on just one hit. He walked none and struck out three. Scott took the loss and dropped to 2-4. Scott allowed three runs on three hits in 1 2/3 innings.
NC State returns to action on Wednesday at UNC Wilmington. Game time is 7 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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