Courtesy: NC State Jake Buchanan struck out a career-high nine in NC State's 9-6 loss Saturday to High Point.
RALEIGH, N.C. – Randy Schwartz drove a one-out, bases-loaded double off the center-field wall Saturday night to highlight a ninth-inning rally that lifted High Point to a dramatic 9-6 win over 18th-ranked NC State at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Schwartz’s drive off Wolfpack closer Jimmy Gillheeney came after NC State had overcome a 6-0 deficit to tie the game at 6-6 in the bottom of the seventh. The Panthers, who won for the fifth time in seven games and the 14th time in their last 20 games, rallied in the ninth to improve to 18-24. The Wolfpack had its four-game winning streak snapped and lost for just the fifth time in its last 22 games to fall to 31-14.
The harshest irony for NC State was that freshman reliever Jake Buchanan was tagged with the loss after turning in one of the most impressive performances by an NC State pitcher this season. Buchanan was summoned from the bullpen to begin the third inning after High Point worked over starter Eric Surkamp for six runs on four hits, two walks and a hit batter in just two innings of work. Billy Alvino’s sacrifice fly and Matt Gantner’s RBI groundout gave the Panthers a 2-0 lead in the top of the first, and a two-run single by Kyle Mahoney and a two-run home run by Chris Norwood in the top of the second made it 6-0.
Exit Surkamp and enter Buchanan, who was asked to hold High Point to six runs and give his team a chance to climb back into the game. Buchanan did exactly that and more. From the third inning through the eighth, he retired 18 of 23 batters, nine of them on strikes. Five of his strikeout victims were caught looking. Four of them went down on just three pitches. Buchanan allowed six hits and hit a batter. Prior to High Point’s winning rally in the ninth, Buchanan allowed just three runners to reach scoring position, only one of whom advanced as far as third base.
And while Buchanan kept the Panthers off the board, the Wolfpack began to claw its way back into the game. Dallas Poulk led off the bottom of the third with a double down the right-field line and scored on Pat Ferguson’s single up the middle for the Pack’s first run. Ryan Pond led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk, which resulted in High Point head coach Sal Bando Jr. being ejected over a “tastes great, less filling” argument with home plate umpire Reid Churchill. After the bruhaha subsided, Nick Stanley singled Pond to third, and Tommy Foschi’s sacrifice fly made it 6-2. Drew Martin singled through the left side to chase Panthers starter Ryan Basham from the game. Reliever RJ Chlebnikow hit Poulk with a pitch to load the bases, and Ferguson drove in Stanley with a groundout to cut the lead to 6-3.
Missed opportunities hurt NC State, which stranded 12 runners, eight of them in scoring position. The Pack left a runner on third with one out in the second inning, left runners on second and third with two out in the fourth, and left runners on second and third with none out in the fifth.
Synan led off the bottom of the seventh with a double to the opposite field, down the left-field line. Marcus Jones also went the other way, grounding a single through the right side of the infield to score Synan and cut the lead to two runs at 6-4. Stanley’s grounder to second base forced Jones at second, but Foschi singled to center, and Gantner booted the ball for an error that allowed the runners to advance to second and third. They both scored easily when Domonique Rodgers crushed a double off of Panthers closer Bubba O’Donnell and over the head of Max Fulginiti in left field, tying the score at 6-6.
O’Donnell was nearly flawless after that and wound up working 2 1/3 scoreless innings, allowing three hits, to get the win and improve to 4-1.
The Panthers’ winning rally began when Jeff Cowan led off the ninth with a single to right and Chris Norwood singled through the left side of the infield on a bunt-slash play. Cowan went to third on the play, and Joey Cutler came in for Buchanan. Cutler’s first two pitches to Alvin were wide of the zone, and when Norwood stole second base, the Wolfpack opted to walk Alvin intentionally and instead allow Gillheeney to deal with Gantner, who struck out for the first out of the inning. Schwartz was up next and walloped an 0-1 pitch off the wall in straightaway center field to drive in both runners and give the Panthers an 8-6 lead. Alfie Wheeler’s grounder to third base drove in the final run of the inning.
NC State and High Point will play the second game of this two-game series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line at gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
Courtesy: NC State
