North Carolina State University Athletics
Kyle Wilson, Bullpen Lead Baseball Past ODU, 7-3
4/1/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — Kyle Wilson hit two homers and drove in three runs Wednesday night to lift NC State past Old Dominion 7-3 at Doak Field at Dail Park.
The two-homer game was the second of Kyle Wilson’s career. His second homer was the first ball hit off NC State’s new scoreboard in right field. Both home runs gave NC State, now 16-9, the lead in the game. Old Dominion dropped to 12-17.
Junior righthander Russell Wilson made his first start as a pitcher, and while it wasn’t a show-stopper, he kept his team in the game through four innings. Wilson proved adept at making pitches when he needed to, inducing double-play grounders to escape jams in the second and third innings.
Wilson wound up allowing three runs on six hits before turning the ball over to the bullpen, and relievers Danny Healey, Grant Sasser, Felix Roque and Rey Cotilla were nearly perfect, setting down 13 batters in a row before Kenny Stoneback singled off Cotilla with one down in the ninth inning. Cotilla was unfazed by the hit and got the next two men to end the game. Healey, who pitched 1 2/3 innings, got the win to even his record at 1-1.
Kyle Wilson led off the bottom of the first inning for the Wolfpack and belted a solo homer down the right-field line for the game’s first run. Dallas Poulk followed with a four-pitch walk, and Pratt Maynard made it 3-0 with an opposite-field, two-run homer to left.
The Monarchs answered right away with three in the top of the fourth. Edgar Hernandez led off and singled up the middle. Chris Buss followed with a single to right to put runners on first and second with none out. After Stoneback flied out, Nathan Hartman grounded a single to left field to load the bases. Brett Harris drove in Hernandez with a groundout to the right side of the diamond, and Chris Baker tied the game with a two-run double to the gap in right-center.
Monarch starter C.J. Huyett seemed rejuvenated by the tie score. Following NC State’s three-run third inning, he set down eight of the next 10 hitters before running headlong into Kyle Wilson again in the sixth. Huyett actually retired the first two batters of the inning, but Chris Diaz slapped a single the other way into right field, and Wilson hit a towering home run off the line-score portion of the scoreboard, giving the Wolfpack a 5-3 lead.
Dallas Poulk followed Wilson’s homer with a single up the middle, and that was it for Huyett (0-3), who worked 5 2/3 innings and was charged with five runs on eight hits. He walked four and struck out six.
NC State went to work on the ODU bullpen in the seventh. Andrew Ciencin led off a hit a bloop single down the right-field line off reliever Cory Toth. Pinch-hitter Chris Schaeffer bunted Ciencin to second base, and Terran Senay moved him to third with a grounder to second base. Matt Bergquist pinch-hit and sent a dying quail into left field that Donnie Corsner dived for and missed. The ball skipped past him and Bergquist legged out a double. Phil McCarthy came in to pitch for ODU, and Chris Diaz drove Bergquist home with a line single to left. That gave the Wolfpack a 7-3 lead.
NC State will be back in action this weekend for a three-game series vs. top-ranked Virginia. Game times are 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line on gopack.com through the Pack Pass program.
The two-homer game was the second of Kyle Wilson’s career. His second homer was the first ball hit off NC State’s new scoreboard in right field. Both home runs gave NC State, now 16-9, the lead in the game. Old Dominion dropped to 12-17.
Junior righthander Russell Wilson made his first start as a pitcher, and while it wasn’t a show-stopper, he kept his team in the game through four innings. Wilson proved adept at making pitches when he needed to, inducing double-play grounders to escape jams in the second and third innings.
Wilson wound up allowing three runs on six hits before turning the ball over to the bullpen, and relievers Danny Healey, Grant Sasser, Felix Roque and Rey Cotilla were nearly perfect, setting down 13 batters in a row before Kenny Stoneback singled off Cotilla with one down in the ninth inning. Cotilla was unfazed by the hit and got the next two men to end the game. Healey, who pitched 1 2/3 innings, got the win to even his record at 1-1.
Kyle Wilson led off the bottom of the first inning for the Wolfpack and belted a solo homer down the right-field line for the game’s first run. Dallas Poulk followed with a four-pitch walk, and Pratt Maynard made it 3-0 with an opposite-field, two-run homer to left.
The Monarchs answered right away with three in the top of the fourth. Edgar Hernandez led off and singled up the middle. Chris Buss followed with a single to right to put runners on first and second with none out. After Stoneback flied out, Nathan Hartman grounded a single to left field to load the bases. Brett Harris drove in Hernandez with a groundout to the right side of the diamond, and Chris Baker tied the game with a two-run double to the gap in right-center.
Monarch starter C.J. Huyett seemed rejuvenated by the tie score. Following NC State’s three-run third inning, he set down eight of the next 10 hitters before running headlong into Kyle Wilson again in the sixth. Huyett actually retired the first two batters of the inning, but Chris Diaz slapped a single the other way into right field, and Wilson hit a towering home run off the line-score portion of the scoreboard, giving the Wolfpack a 5-3 lead.
Dallas Poulk followed Wilson’s homer with a single up the middle, and that was it for Huyett (0-3), who worked 5 2/3 innings and was charged with five runs on eight hits. He walked four and struck out six.
NC State went to work on the ODU bullpen in the seventh. Andrew Ciencin led off a hit a bloop single down the right-field line off reliever Cory Toth. Pinch-hitter Chris Schaeffer bunted Ciencin to second base, and Terran Senay moved him to third with a grounder to second base. Matt Bergquist pinch-hit and sent a dying quail into left field that Donnie Corsner dived for and missed. The ball skipped past him and Bergquist legged out a double. Phil McCarthy came in to pitch for ODU, and Chris Diaz drove Bergquist home with a line single to left. That gave the Wolfpack a 7-3 lead.
NC State will be back in action this weekend for a three-game series vs. top-ranked Virginia. Game times are 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line on gopack.com through the Pack Pass program.
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