BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. – Five NC State pitchers held South Carolina’s powerful offense to just three hits Sunday night to beat the Gamecocks, 2-1, and win an NCAA regional championship for just the third time in school history.
Sophomore Sam Brown (4-1) got the victory and junior Alex Sogard retired all four hitters he faced for his first career save, continuing stellar bullpen performances for the Wolfpack. Since blowing a two saves in the same game against Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack bullpen has pitched 15 1/3 scoreless innings and allowed just one hit.
The Wolfpack (41-20) got its offense from outfielder Jeremy Synan, who hit a home run in the fifth and an RBI-single by Matt Payne.
"You can't even describe what it feels like to win this," Payne said.
The Wolfpack advances to play the winner of Monday's 7 p.m. game between Georgia and Georgia Tech the NCAA Athens (Ga.) Regional next weekend. If the Bulldogs win, the three-game series will be played in Athens, Ga. If the Yellow Jackets win, they will come to NC State's Doak Field at Dail Park for a three-game set. Ticket information for either location will be announced later this week on GoPack.com.
"This was a geat tournament all-around," said Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent. "We had two great games against South Carolina and I am really proud of our team for the way we battled. We may not have scored a lot of runs, but we did win what championship teams have to do. A lot of clutch hits, clutch plays and clutch pitching from a lot of people.
"We are very proud of our players."
This will be the Wolfpack's second Super Regional since the NCAA went to the expanded format in 1989. State's first regional title, won in Gastonia in 1968, sent the Wolfpack directly to Omaha, Neb., the traditional site of the College World Series. State also won a four-team regional it hosted in 2003, but that was played at Wilson's Fleming Stadium while Doak Field was undergoing renovations. The Pack lost both its Coral Gables (Fla.) Super Regional games to Miami to end the 2003 season.
Sunday night's championship game was delayed for one hour and 19 minutes, as a brief thunderstorm rolled through the Triangle area, chasing Wolfpack starter Eric Surkamp out of the game. The short shower cooled off Dail Park, but not the NC State bullpen. Associate head coach Tom Holliday turned to Brown after the delay to face the heart of the Gamecock lineup.
Brown did not allow a runner his first two innings, but gave up a single to catcher Kyle Enders in the seventh and a sacrifice bunt to Scott Wingo. Holliday turned to Drew Taylor to face the top of South Carolina's batting order, and Taylor retired both Havens and Smoak, who had hit four home runs between them Sunday afternoon.
Smoak hit two in the 7-5 win over James Madison, while Havens ended that game with a two-run blast to right field. He opened the game against the Wolfpack with a mammoth shot to essentially the same place agaisnt starter Eric Surkamp. But the Gamecocks got only two more hits the rest of the night.
"Their pitching staff was very good," South Carolina coach Ray Tanner said. "Associate head coach Tom Holliday deserves a lot of credit. They mixed and matched in the bullpen very, very well. Their guys had to make pitches, and they did. They did one heck of a job and it was very impressive.
"The thing that makes them as good as they are right now is their bullpen. Not to take anything away from Clayton Shunick, because he is about as good as it gets, but they are able to go to that bullpen and use different guys. I know they miss [Jimmy] Gillheeney, but thye have other guys down there who are quality pitchers in their bullpen."
The Wolfpack’s first hit of the game was also a solo home run, by Synan in the top of the fifth inning. Shortstop Tommy Foschi followed with his team’s second hit of the day and second baseman Dallas Poulk walked to put runners on first and second with no outs, but the Pack was unable to push across another run.
Synan, who was ejected from Saturday night’s first game against South Carolina, became the second Wolfpack player this post-season to hit a home run the day after getting tossed. Foschi did the same thing in the ACC Tournament, hitting his first home run of the season against Clemson a day after being ejected against Georgia Tech.
The Wolfpack loaded the bases in the top of the seventh, forcing a pitching change. Catcher Chris Schaeffer and third baseman Drew Martin both singled and Ryan Pond walked to load the bases.
Payne drove in the go-ahead run with an infield hit to the hole between shortstop and third, scoring Schaeffer.
The Gamecocks got runners on first and third with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, as catcher Kyle Enders singled to right field and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. NC State associate head coach Tom Holliday brought in Drew Taylor from the bullpen to face the top of the Gamecock lineup.
Taylor got Havens out on a grounder to shortstop, moving Enders to third. Centerfielder Whit Merrifield walked, bringing dangerous first baseman Justin Smoak to the plate. But Taylor, for the second night in a row, got Smoak to hit an inning-ending fly ball, this time to centerfield.
Sogard is the sixth Wolfpack reliever to record a save this season.
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
Courtesy: Peyton Williams/NC State
