North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Wallops La Salle, 18-3
2/20/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — NC State did the bulk of the damage early, but the result was more of the same — the Wolfpack handed La Salle a lop-sided 18-3 defeat Saturday at Doak Field at Dail Park in the second game of a three-game series.
The Wolfpack, which scored 17 runs in the first two innings Friday in a 32-3 blowout, scored six in the second, three in the third and six again in the fourth before putting the offense away until the eighth.
NC State set school records for most runs in a game and largest margin of victory on Friday, actually tied the school record for the most runs in the first three games of a season with its 18-run output Saturday. The Wolfpack now has scored 50 runs in two games, matching the 50 runs the 2006 team scored in its season-opening three-game sweep of Delaware State.
Individually, sophomore third baseman Andrew Ciencin went 3-for-5 and drove in six runs. For the season he is 6-for-9 and has nine RBIs. He drove in 24 runs all last season. Senior second baseman Dallas Poulk went 2-for-3 with three RBIs. He is 4-for-7 for the season with eight RBIs. He drove in 23 runs in 2009.
The first two games of the season have been big for the Wolfpack’s 11th-ranked recruiting class. Wolfpack newcomers are hitting .567 (17-for-30) with five doubles, two home runs, 18 runs scored and 16 RBIs.
Unlike the series opener, the first inning was scoreless, but the Wolfpack took the lead with a six pack in the bottom of the second. Ryan Mathews led off and laced an opposite-field double into the right-field corner, then came around to score when Dallas Poulk singled up the middle. Chris Schaeffer walked to put runners on first and second, and the runners moved up 90 feet on a passed ball. Matt Bergquist flied to center field to drive in Poulk, with Schaeffer advancing to third on the play. Kyle Wilson singled to left to drive in Schaeffer with the third run of the inning, then advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Wilson stole third base, his first steal of the season, and scored on Andrew Ciencin’s grounder to second base to give NC State a 4-0 lead.
Drew Poulk kept the inning going, reaching on a high chopper over the mound, and Maynard singled up the middle to put runners on the corners. Harold Riggins hit what should have been an inning-ending grounder to second, but Jeff Flax booted it for an error. Poulk scored and Maynard went to third on the play, and that was the end of the afternoon for La Salle starter Sean Kennedy (0-1), who gave seven hits and two walks in 1 2/3 innings.
Reliever Kevin Christy came in and issued a balk to score Maynard, but then struck out Mathews to end the inning with the Wolfpack holding a 6-0 lead. All six runs were charged to Kennedy, four of them earned.
Chris Schaeffer led off the bottom of the third was hit by a pitch. Christy moved Schaeffer to second base by throwing away a pickoff attempt at first, and Bergquist reached on an infield single to third base. Schaeffer had to hold at second on the play, but scored on Wilson’s single through the right side of the infield. Bergquist motored around to third on the play, and Wilson stole second to put runners on second and third with one down. Ciencin drove in both runners with a single to right-center, making it 9-0.
Wolfpack starter Cory Mazzoni (1-0) cruised through the first three innings, facing one batter over the minimum and striking out five, but ran into trouble briefly in the fourth. Flax led off with a single up the middle, and John Malloy walked. Jon Gyles made it 9-1 with a single to center field, and Eric Kammler walked to load the bases with one away. Mazzoni wriggled out of trouble, however, when Dallas Poulk turned a sharply hit grounder by Brian Meagher into a nifty 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.
Mazzoni wound up working five innings and allowing one run on four hits. He walked three and struck out seven.
The Wolfpack made it two runaways in as many games with six more runs in the fourth inning. Riggins led off and walked, the first of eight consecutive Wolfpack hitters to reach safely in the inning, and Christy hit Mathews with a pitch to put runners on first and second with none out. Christy unleashed a wild pitch to move the runners to second and third, and Dallas Poulk made it 11-1 with a two-run single to center field.
Pat Christensen came in to pitch for La Salle and immediately gave up an RBI single to Schaeffer to make it 12-1 and close the book on Christy, who allowed six runs on four hits in 1 1/3 innings. He walked one and fanned three.
Bergquist singled through the left side, and Christensen hit Wilson with a pitch to load the bases with none out. Ciencin promptly unloaded them with a three-run double off the wall in left, pushing the lead to 15-1.
The Wolfpack added three more runs in the bottom of the eighth, all with two outs. Danny Canela was hit by a pitch, Mathews singled to left, and Russell Wilson walked to load the bases. Schaeffer singled to drive in a run, and Chris Diaz and Terran Senay walked to force in runs to make it 18-1.
La Salle got two of those runs back in the top of the ninth. Eric Kammler, Chris Umstead and Joe Bennie all walked to load the bases with two outs. Dan Klem doubled down the left-field line to drive in Kammler and Umstead and make the final score 18-3.
NC State and La Salle will conclude their three-game series on Sunday at 1 p.m. Freshman righthander Danny Healey will start for the Wolfpack and will be opposed by sophomore righthander Cody Weiss for the Explorers. The game will be broadcast live on-line on gopack.com via Pack Pass.
