Courtesy: NC State Dallas Poulk tied his career high with four hits to lead NC State past third-ranked North Carolina 8-6.
CARY, N.C. – After struggling offensively and losing four times in five games, NC State needed a morale boost and a character-builder. It got both Saturday in an 8-6 come-from-behind victory over North Carolina in the second game of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series at the USA Baseball Training Complex.
The Wolfpack, which improved to 15-9 overall and 5-6 in the ACC, carried a 2-2 tie into the bottom of the sixth inning, only to have the baseball gods conjure up a four-run inning for the Tar Heels on three hits, two walks, two wild pitches, a sacrifice bunt and a balk against starter Eric Surkamp and reliever Jake Buchanan. That gave North Carolina a 6-2 lead, but the Wolfpack rallied against the leading pitching staff in the conference, scoring three runs in the seventh and three more in the eighth to hand UNC only its second loss in its last 12 games.
“That was the NC State energy you saw out there today, the blue-collar style, working hard and never giving up,” Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said. "We've struggled lately, but we talked about believing in ourselves and not quitting, and you saw that today."
Surkamp nine of the 10 batters he faced in the first three innings, and carried a 1-0 lead into the bottom of the fourth on a solo home run by Marcus Jones in the top of the fourth. But North Carolina took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run single by Kyle Shelton. The Wolfpack tied it in the fifth on an RBI single by Dallas Poulk, the third of his four hits on the game.
Then came the bottom of the sixth. Tim Federowicz led off and worked Surkamp for a walk, then scored on Chad Flack’s triple down the right-field line to score Federowicz with the go-ahead run. Seth Williams walked to put runners on the corners, and Buchanan came in to pitch for the Pack and immediately balked to send Flack home and Williams to second. Shelton bunted Williams to third, and Mark Fleury singled to left to score Williams and make it 5-2. Buchanan unloaded a pair of wild pitches to advance Fleury to third, and Garrett Gore singled to center to drive in Fleury and give the Tar Heels a 6-2 lead.
In four of its previous five games, NC State managed seven, two, one and five hits. The Wolfpack got eight hits in the final three innings Saturday, starting with a three-run seventh. Nick Stanley led off with a single and scored all the way from first on Poulk’s fourth hit of the game, an RBI-triple down the line in right field. Drew Martin beat out a bunt up the third-base line to drive in Poulk, and went to second when Flack’s throw was wide of the bag for an error. Matt Payne singled to right-center to drive in Martin, trimming the lead to a single run at 6-5.
Jeremy Synan led off the top of the eighth with a single through the right side of the infield, then was forced at second on Ryan Pond’s ground ball to third. Stanley reached on catcher’s interference to put runners on first and second, and Chris Schaeffer singled to left to drive in Pond with the tying run. Shelton’s throw back to the infield from left skipped through the infield for an error, allowing Schaeffer to go to second and Stanley to go to third. Both scored on Pat Ferguson’s opposite-field, pinch-hit double to left field, giving the Wolfpack the lead at 8-6.
While the offense was stirring to life, lefty reliever Alex Sogard was turning in his best outing of the season in an NC State uniform. Sogard (1-1), a transfer from Oregon State, went 2 1/3 shutout innings and allowed just one hit to record his first collegiate win.
“Alex Sogard was outstanding for us today,” Avent said. “He really had a great curveball and just did a tremendous job for us.”
Sogard retired the first seven men he faced before pinch-hitter Ryan Graepel singled with two down in the eighth. That brought closer Jimmy Gillheeney out of the bullpen, and he needed just one pitch to retire Gore on a fly ball to center field.
UNC threatened in the ninth. Tim Fedroff and Kyle Seager hit one-out singles to put runners on first and second. Federowicz popped out to second for the second out, bringing Flack to the plate. Gillheeney went to a 1-1 count on Flack, then struck the Tar Heel slugger out with a wicked changeup and an even nastier curveball to record his sixth save of the season.
NC State and North Carolina conclude their three-game ACC series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. Due to a conflict with NC State’s appearance in the women’s NIT, the NC State-North Carolina game will be broadcast only on the internet at at gopack.com through Pack Pass.
Courtesy: NC State
