North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Stunned In 12 In Miami, 7-6
3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
CORAL GABLES, Fla. - Jason Hagerty belted a two-out, two-run homer in the bottom of the 12th inning Friday night to lift eighth-ranked Miami over NC State 7-6 in 12 innings at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.
NC State, which went to extra innings for the second game in a row, had taken a 6-5 lead in the top of the 12th and had Kyle Rutter (1-1) on the mound. Rutter went into the bottom of the 12th having retired all seven men he had faced through 2 1/3 innings, then easily set down the first two men he faced in the 12th.
With two down, however, Ryan Jackson worked Rutter to a full count before drawing a walk. Hagerty followed and drove a 1-0 fastball over the fence in right-center for the walk-off home run. Rutter wound up being charged with two runs on just one hit, the home run. He walked one and struck out two.
The Wolfpack wasted several standout performences with the loss. Starting pitcher Jimmy Gillheeney overcame early command problems and worked seven strong innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked four, but tied his career high with nine strikeouts.
Also, outfielder Wade Moore came into the game to pinch hit in the top of the seventh and drove the 1-0 pitch from reliever Travis Miller into the third level of the parking deck beyond the right-center field wall. Moore then drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th with a one-out squeeze bunt that he beat out for an infield single, scoring Devon Cartwright from third base.
Hurricanes closer Kyle Bellamy (1-0) worked three innings, allowing the run in the top of the 12th, which was unearned. He struck out a career-high six and did not issue a walk.
Gillheeney started the game uncharacteristically wild, walking three in the first two innings, including a pair of walks in the second inning that figured directly into a two-run inning for the Hurricanes. Harold Martinez led off with a single up the middle and Dave DiNatale srew Gillheeney’s first walk of the inning. Gillheeney recovered to strike out Chris Herrmann, but Yasmani Grandal walked to load the bases. Gillheeney struck out Jonathan Weislow for the second out of the inning, but Nathan Melendres singled through the left side of the infield to drive in Martinez and DiNatale and give the Canes a 2-0 lead.
Miami starter Chris Hernandez was strong from the start, but he Wolfpack finally got to him in the top of the fifth. Cartwright drew one-out walk and went to third base on Drew Martin’s single up the middle. Chris Schaeffer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Cartwright and get NC State on the scoreboard.
NC State got Hernandez for two more in the sixth. Kyle Wilson led off with an infield single and Dallas Poulk walked. Drew Poulk hit a bouncer to second baseman Scott Lawson, who forced Dallas Poulk at second, but Jackson’s relay to first skipped past the bag for an error. Wilson scored on the play to tie the game at 2-2. Harold Riggins gave the Pack the lead with a line single to right-center, just over the outstretched glove of Lawson. Cartwright followed with a double down the left-field line, but Riggins ran through a stop sign from third-base coach Chris Hart and was an easy out at the plate to end the inning.
Martin led off the seventh with a walk and strolled home on Moore’s home run, the first pinch-homer allowed by the Hurricanes since the 2004 season. Moore’s blast gave the Wolfpack a 5-2 lead.
While the offense was scratching for five runs, Gillheeney righted himself and shut down Miami over the next five innings. After Melendres’s two-run single, Gillheeney retired 13 of the last 17 men he faced. Two of the men who reached base in that time did so on errors, so Gillheeney should have been credited with retiring 15 out of 17. He helped himself out by picking off a runner in that span, his second pickoff of the game and his fourth of the season, and the defense came to his aid with a double play in the sixth. Then, with runners on first and second and two down in the seventh, catcher Chris Schaeffer picked off the trail runner at first base to end the inning.
Miami cut the lead to a run with a pair of unearned runs off reliever Sam Brown in the bottom of the eighth. With one away, Scott Lawson reached on a throwing error by Wilson. Jackson’s grounder to second base forced Lawson, but Haggerty doubled to right-center to put runners on second and third for Martinez, who singled to left to drive in both runners and cut the lead to 5-4.
Herrmann led off the bottom of the ninth for Miami and walked. Iden Nazario pinch-hit for Weislow with one down, went to second on a wild pitch, and took third on Grandal’s groundout to second base. Brown’s second wild pitch of the inning brought home Herrmann with the tying run to send the game into extra innings.
The win lifted the Hurricanes to 8-2 on the season, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wolfpack, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 7-3 and 0-1.
NC State and Miami will play the second game of the series Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
NC State, which went to extra innings for the second game in a row, had taken a 6-5 lead in the top of the 12th and had Kyle Rutter (1-1) on the mound. Rutter went into the bottom of the 12th having retired all seven men he had faced through 2 1/3 innings, then easily set down the first two men he faced in the 12th.
With two down, however, Ryan Jackson worked Rutter to a full count before drawing a walk. Hagerty followed and drove a 1-0 fastball over the fence in right-center for the walk-off home run. Rutter wound up being charged with two runs on just one hit, the home run. He walked one and struck out two.
The Wolfpack wasted several standout performences with the loss. Starting pitcher Jimmy Gillheeney overcame early command problems and worked seven strong innings, allowing two runs on three hits. He walked four, but tied his career high with nine strikeouts.
Also, outfielder Wade Moore came into the game to pinch hit in the top of the seventh and drove the 1-0 pitch from reliever Travis Miller into the third level of the parking deck beyond the right-center field wall. Moore then drove in the go-ahead run in the top of the 12th with a one-out squeeze bunt that he beat out for an infield single, scoring Devon Cartwright from third base.
Hurricanes closer Kyle Bellamy (1-0) worked three innings, allowing the run in the top of the 12th, which was unearned. He struck out a career-high six and did not issue a walk.
Gillheeney started the game uncharacteristically wild, walking three in the first two innings, including a pair of walks in the second inning that figured directly into a two-run inning for the Hurricanes. Harold Martinez led off with a single up the middle and Dave DiNatale srew Gillheeney’s first walk of the inning. Gillheeney recovered to strike out Chris Herrmann, but Yasmani Grandal walked to load the bases. Gillheeney struck out Jonathan Weislow for the second out of the inning, but Nathan Melendres singled through the left side of the infield to drive in Martinez and DiNatale and give the Canes a 2-0 lead.
Miami starter Chris Hernandez was strong from the start, but he Wolfpack finally got to him in the top of the fifth. Cartwright drew one-out walk and went to third base on Drew Martin’s single up the middle. Chris Schaeffer lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive in Cartwright and get NC State on the scoreboard.
NC State got Hernandez for two more in the sixth. Kyle Wilson led off with an infield single and Dallas Poulk walked. Drew Poulk hit a bouncer to second baseman Scott Lawson, who forced Dallas Poulk at second, but Jackson’s relay to first skipped past the bag for an error. Wilson scored on the play to tie the game at 2-2. Harold Riggins gave the Pack the lead with a line single to right-center, just over the outstretched glove of Lawson. Cartwright followed with a double down the left-field line, but Riggins ran through a stop sign from third-base coach Chris Hart and was an easy out at the plate to end the inning.
Martin led off the seventh with a walk and strolled home on Moore’s home run, the first pinch-homer allowed by the Hurricanes since the 2004 season. Moore’s blast gave the Wolfpack a 5-2 lead.
While the offense was scratching for five runs, Gillheeney righted himself and shut down Miami over the next five innings. After Melendres’s two-run single, Gillheeney retired 13 of the last 17 men he faced. Two of the men who reached base in that time did so on errors, so Gillheeney should have been credited with retiring 15 out of 17. He helped himself out by picking off a runner in that span, his second pickoff of the game and his fourth of the season, and the defense came to his aid with a double play in the sixth. Then, with runners on first and second and two down in the seventh, catcher Chris Schaeffer picked off the trail runner at first base to end the inning.
Miami cut the lead to a run with a pair of unearned runs off reliever Sam Brown in the bottom of the eighth. With one away, Scott Lawson reached on a throwing error by Wilson. Jackson’s grounder to second base forced Lawson, but Haggerty doubled to right-center to put runners on second and third for Martinez, who singled to left to drive in both runners and cut the lead to 5-4.
Herrmann led off the bottom of the ninth for Miami and walked. Iden Nazario pinch-hit for Weislow with one down, went to second on a wild pitch, and took third on Grandal’s groundout to second base. Brown’s second wild pitch of the inning brought home Herrmann with the tying run to send the game into extra innings.
The win lifted the Hurricanes to 8-2 on the season, 1-0 in the Atlantic Coast Conference. The Wolfpack, which had its seven-game winning streak snapped, dropped to 7-3 and 0-1.
NC State and Miami will play the second game of the series Saturday at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
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