North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Series Finale Ends In 11-11 Tie
11/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Pratt Maynard, Ryan Mathews and Harold Riggins hit two homers each, and Drew Poulk and Kyle Wilson each hit one. For the series, the two teams combined for 14 long balls, and neither team went deep in the middle game of the series on Saturday.
The downside of the power display is that seven pitchers combined to allow 22 runs, 10 walks and 20 hits in 14 innings of work. Defensively, the teams committed seven errors.
“Overall, I was pleased with the way the series went,” Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. “We kicked the ball around defensively today, but the first two games were both excellent, and you’re going to have games like that from time to time, I was really pleased with the way the guys got after it. Both sides really wanted to win and they played hard. We showed a lot of power, which was encouraging. We have a lot of work left to do, but this was a good weekend overall.”
Team Wolf jumped to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning, thanks to a pair of errors by Team Pack. Andrew Ciencin reached on a one-out error and went to third on a single by Terran Senay. Ciencin scored and Senay went to second when the throw from the outfield went wide of home plate for an error, and Senay scored on a double to center field by Riggins.
Team Pack cut the lead to 2-1 in the bottom of the first on a single by Drew Poulk, a walk to Danny Canela and an RBI single by Mathews.
Chris Diaz led off the top of the second and struck out, but the third strike was in the dirt and Maynard’s throw to first was high for an error. Diaz stole second and third, then scored on a sacrifice fly by Ciencin.
Wilson’s two-out solo homer to center field in the bottom of the second cut the lead to 3-2, but Team Wolfpack blew the game open in the top of the third. Cameron Conner led off, reached on an infield single and stole second. Chris Schaeffer reached on an error by Canela at third base and the runners advanced to second and third on a passed ball. Diaz walked to load the bases with none away, and that spelled the end of the day for freshman lefthander Mike Clark, who allowed three hits, walked four and struck out two.
Freshman righthander Ethan Ogburn came in to pitch and was treated very rudely. Dallas Poulk singled to center to drive in a pair and make it 5-2. Ciencin walked to reload the bases and Senay made it 6-2 with an RBI groundout. Riggins followed with a three-run homer to straightaway center field to make it 9-2.
Drew Poulk and Mathews both hit long solo homers in the bottom half of the inning to cut the lead to 9-4, but Team Wolf made it 10-4 in the top of the fourth. Schaeffer led off with a walk, went to third on Diaz’s single to right, and scored on a force play. Maynard ripped a long homer to right in the bottom of the fourth to make it 10-5.
Matt Bergquist lef off the bottom of the sixth for Team Pack and reached on a throwing error. Maynard drew a one-out walk, and Bergquist went to third on a wild pitch. Drew Poulk doubled off the top of the wall in center field to drive in Bergquist, with Maynard moving to third on the play. Lefthander Nick Rice came in to face the lefthanded-hitting Canela, and Canela drove in Maynard with a sacrifice fly to trim the lead to 10-7. Mathews came up next and drove a ball off the scoreboard in left-center to make it 10-9.
Riggins made it 11-9 with a leadoff homer to right field in the top of the seventh, and that insurance run appeared big at the time.
Felix Roque came in to close out the game for Team Wolf in the bottom of the seventh, and got off to a fast start, striking out Anthony Tzamtzis and Bergquist, but he hit Wilson with a pitch, and Maynard hit the next pitch for a two-run homer to center to tie the game at 11-11.
