RALEIGH, N.C. – NC State and Virginia opened the
2008 Atlantic Coast Conference baseball season by splitting a doubleheader at
Doak Field at Dail Park. The Cavaliers took the opener 5-3 in 10 innings on a
two-run home run by Phil Gosselin. The Wolfpack bounced back to salvage the
nightcap 2-0 behind a splendid three-hit pitching performance from Clayton
Shunick.
Shunick (2-0) retired the first 10 batters he
faced, allowed just four baserunners to reach scoring position, and wound up
setting career highs with eight innings pitched and nine strikeouts. He walked
one, and pitched around three errors. He worked out of a bases-loaded, two-out
jam in the fourth, then stranded the potential tying runs at second and third
with one down in the sixth.
Jimmy Gilheeney pitched the ninth inning, striking
out two and retiring the side on 10 pitches to record his second save of the
season.
The Wolfpack scored the only runs of the game in
the bottom of the second. Matt Payne led off with a walk and Russell Wilson
singled through the right side of the infield. Chris Schaeffer bunted the
runners to second and third, and after Cavaliers first baseman Jeremy Farrell gunned
out Payne at the plate on Tommy Foschi’s grounder to first, Drew Martin stroked
a two-run double to left-center.
Virginia starter Pat McAnaney (1-1) pitched out of
a second-and-third, one-out jam in the fourth, then retired 12 of the last 13
batters he faced. Kevin Arico pitched around a pair of walks in the ninth.
The Wolfpack jumped to a 2-0 lead off Virginia
All-America righthander Jacob Thompson in the opening game before falling extra
innings. Nick Stanley got a one-out single to left-center and Pat Ferguson hit
a two-out double down the left-field line. Marcus Jones drove in both runs with
a soft single to right-center. Thompson recovered nicely after that, setting
down 14 men in a row before running into and pitching out of trouble in the sixth.
NC State starter Eric Surkamp made the lead hold
up until the sixth inning. The Cavs got one run in the top of the fourth on
Farrell’s RBI-double down the right-field line. That cut the lead to 2-1. In
the sixth, Virginia loaded the bases with none out, but Surkamp avoided a huge
inning by inducing Farrell to ground into a double play. The tying run scored
on the play, but that was the extent of the inning.
Pinch-hitter Dan Grovatt gave Virginia a 3-2 lead
with a pinch-hit, RBI-single in the top of the seventh inning, but NC State
touched UVa closer Michael Schwimmer for a run in the bottom of the ninth
inning to tie the score. Joe Florio pinch hit with one down and walked.
Schwimmer sent Florio to second on a wild pitch, and Domonique Rodgers got the run
home with a single through the right side that just ticked off the glove of the
diving Farrell at first base.
David Adams singled to right with one down in the
top of the 10th and Gosselin stroked a low line drive down the left-field line
that just cleared the wall inside the foul pole. Had the ball been hit just a
few feet higher, the 20- to 30-mph winds that blew most of the afternoon most
likely would have pushed the ball foul. Had the ball been hit any lower it
would have hit the wall and only one run would have scored.
Gosselin’s big hit made a winner of Schwimmer
(1-0), who allowed a run on four hits in two wobbly innings of relief. Drew
Taylor (0-1) pitched 3 2/3 innings of relief for the Wolfpack and was the
victim of the Gosselin home run.
NC State and Virginia will conclude their
three-game ACC series on Sunday at 1:30 p.m. The game will be broadcast live on
WKNC-FM (88.1) and the broadcast can be heard on the internet at gopack.com
through Pack Pass.
Courtesy: NC State
