Baseball Falls To Boston College, 9-5

RALEIGH, N.C. – Robbie Anston drove in three runs and Taylor Lasko scattered five hits over 4 1/3 innings Friday to lift Boston College past NC State 9-5 in the first game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at Doak Field at Dail Park.

The Eagles improved to 21-17 overall, 10-9 in the ACC. The Wolfpack dropped to 26-14 and 9-10. Lasko (2-0) came into the game with a runner on second with two down in the bottom of the fifth inning and shut the door on NC State, allowing just one run the rest of the way. He struck out four and did not issue a walk. Wolfpack starter Jake Buchanan (4-4) cruised through the first four innings, but then hit the wall, allowing eight runs, four of which were unearned, on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. This, after retiring 11 of the first 12 men he faced and 12 of the first 15. And two of the three men who reached in that time did so on errors, meaning Buchanan should have retired 14 of the 15.

Boston College starter Pat Dean came into the game with a 5-0 record and went through the first two innings without a hitch, but the first six Wolfpack hitters to bat in the bottom of the third inning got base hits, and the Pack cashed that in for four runs. Russell Wilson got it started with a flare to shallow right field for a single. Chris Diaz’s sacrifice attempt rolled foul, so with two strikes he hit a liner to right field for a single. Dallas Poulk’s bunt attempt was so good that it got past Dean and into no man’s land on the infield and went for a single to load the bases with none out. Andrew Ciencin lined a double past third base, down the left-field line and into the corner. All three runners scored, and Drew Poulk followed with a single up the middle to drive in Ciencin and give NC State a 4-0 lead.

John Spatola finally broke Buchanan’s spell with a one-out solo homer to right. Buchanan righted the ship and escaped the inning without further damage, but he was not so fortunate in the fifth. Mike Sudol, a lefthanded hitter, led off and with the outfield shifted to the right anticipating him to pull. Sudol spoiled the strategy by hitting a fly ball along the left-field line that rattled around in the corner and went for a triple. Brad Zapenas reached on an infield single to drive in Sudol, and Garret Smith laid down a sacrifice bunt to move Smith to second. Anston followed with a ground ball that took a wicked hop over Danny Canela at first and rolled all the way to the right-field corner for a triple, driving in Zapenas with the second run of the inning. Matt Hamlet walked to put runners on first and second. Mickey Wiswall hit a grounder to second base to drive in Anston. Dallas Poulk fielded the ball behind the second-base bag and stepped on the bag to retire Hamlet, but his throw to first was wide of the base for an error, allowing Wiswall to reach second. Spatola hit a sharp single through the right side to drive in Wiswall and give the Eagles the lead at 5-4.

The wheels came off the wagon in the top of the sixth. Sudol reached on a one-out single to right and Zapenas was safe on an error. Smith grounded out to advance the runners to second and third, and Anston drove them both in with a double to left. Hamlet hit a chopper up the middle off the glove of Buchanan and then off the glove of Diaz and into center field for an RBI single. Grant Sasser came in to face the lefty-hitting Wiswall, and struck him out for the final out of the inning, but the three runs, all unearned, gave Boston College an 8-4 lead.

BC tacked on an insurance run in the top of the eighth. Zapenas led off and walked. Smith bunted the runner to second base, and Anston hit a bloop double down the right-field line. Zapenas tried to score on the play but was cut down at the plate for the second out of the inning. Matt Hamlet, however, hit a single to center field to drive in Anston and give the Eagles a 9-4 lead.

After leaving runners on base in four consecutive innings, including three runners in scoring position, the Wolfpack finally got back in the scoring column in the bottom of the eighth on back-to-back doubles by Chris Schaeffer and John Gianis.

NC State and Boston College will play the second game of this weekend’s three-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line on gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.

North Carolina State University Athletics

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