WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. – Caleb Mangum drove in two runs and freshman Jimmy Gillheeney pitched his best game of the season to lead NC State past Wake Forest 3-2 in the final of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference baseball series at Hooks Stadium. The Wolfpack, which won the first game of the series, took the series from the Deacons two games to one.
Gillheeney (2-1), a freshman lefthander, picked up the win after working 5 2/3 innings and allowing just one run on three hits. He walked three and struck out a career-high nine. Eryk McConnell picked up his sixth save with 1 1/3 innings of relief. He allowed one run on three hits, walking one and striking out two, and was part of a succession of moves by Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent in the game’s final two innings. Wake Forest starter Eric Niesen (2-3) took the loss after allowing two runs on six hits in six innings. He walked four and struck out eight.
Mangum homered and singled in four at-bats to account for his two RBIs. Pat Ferguson went 2-for-2 and drove in the Pack’s other run. Eric Williams had two hits in three trips for Wake Forest, and Austin Jones drove in a run with a double in three at-bats.
The Wolfpack jumped to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Joe Florio led off with an opposite-field single to left, went to second when Ryan Pond walked, and scored on Mangum’s line-drive single to right field.
The Deacons tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the second on back-to-back two-out doubles by Andy Goff and Jones.
Mangum broke the tie with a long home run to left field leading off the top of the fifth inning. The Wolfpack added to its lead in the top of the seventh against reliever Phil Negus, who got the inning started by hitting Pond with a pitch. Mangum bunted Pond to second, and Ferguson sliced a single to left field along the foul line to score Pond and give NC State a 3-1 lead.
Wake Forest made it a one-run game in the bottom of the eighth. Allan Dykstra led off against lefthander Andrew Taylor and flied to center field. Avent moved Taylor to left field at that point and brought McConnell into the game to pitch. Taylor and McConnell both appeared twice on the mound while switching off between left field and pitcher. Willy Fox was the first man to face McConnell and he hit a one-out single to left. Evan Ocheltree gave the Deacons runners on first and second with a two-out single to left, and Williams drove in Fox with a single to left-center field, the first earned run allowed by McConnell in 18-plus innings this season.
Wake Forest made it interesting in the ninth. Pinch-hitter Michael Murray singled up the middle off of McConnell, and Avent switched Taylor and McConnell at this point, sending McConnell to left bringing Taylor in from left to face Brett Linnenkohl, who bunted pinch-runner Keith Mauney to second. That forced another Taylor-McConnell flop, with McConnell coming in to pitch and Marcus Jones going in to the outfield as Taylor was done for the day. Walden Woodall pinch-hit for Ben Terry and McConnell struck him out looking. McConnell then walked Dykstra intentionally before retiring Willy Fox on a grounder to second base to end the game.
NC State will return to action at Doak Field at Dail Park on Wednesday vs. UNC Greensboro at 6 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC (88.1 FM) and on-line at gopack.com through Pack Pass.
Courtesy: Peyton Williams/NC State
