RALEIGH, N.C. – Just when you think you’ve seen it
all at the old ballpark, you have a game like Sunday’s NC State-Miami series
finale. For the record, NC State won the game 11-10 on Matt Payne’s three-run
home run in the bottom of the eighth inning, a home run that in essence was a
walk-off shot, except that the game didn’t end until one pitch after Payne had
crossed the plate.
The unusual circumstances came about because of
Atlantic Coast Conference travel policy for the final game of a three-game
series. Because Miami had a 7:20 p.m. flight out of Raleigh-Durham
International Airport, the umpires determined that no inning could start after
4:45 p.m. Payne’s home run, which erased a 10-8 deficit and made a loser of
Miami closer Carlos Gutierrez, came at 4:48 and should have ended the game,
only home plate umpire Joe Marion did not check the time until Gutierrez had
made one more pitch, a strike to Russell Wilson. Marion then signaled that the
marathon game was officially over.
With the deadline rapidly approaching during the
game’s final innings, the tension in the ballpark seemed to mount. NC State
scored a run in the bottom of the seventh on Dallas Poulk’s single through the
right side of the infield, scoring Drew Martin, who got the rally started with
a two-out walk. The seventh inning ended at 4:37.
That cut the Miami lead to 9-8, but the Hurricanes
got the run back when Jemile Weeks slammed Jimmy Gillheeney’s first pitch in
the top of the eighth off the scoreboard in center field for a solo home run.
Gillheeney, who wound up picking up the win to improve to 1-0, recovered and
retired the next three batters in order to set the stage for the bottom of the
eighth, which began at 4:43. Gillheeney wound up throwing 2 2/3 innings and
allowed just one run on one hit. He struck out two and did not issue a walk.
Nick Stanley got things started in the bottom of
the eighth with a one-out walk, and Ryan Pond singled to right-center to put
runners on first and second. Payne then hit Gutierrez’s second pitch to
straightaway center field, just over the outstretched glove of Blake Tekotte.
The NC State comeback salvaged the final game of
the three-game series, which Miami won two games to one. The comeback also
salvaged a game that the Wolfpack led early, only to surrender the lead in the
middle innings. Adam Severino gave the Hurricanes a 1-0 lead with an RBI single
in the top of the first, and Tekotte’s RBI triple down the right-field line in
the second made it 2-0.
The Wolfpack came back in the bottom of the
second. Miami starter Enrique Garcia, who shut the Pack out on five hits a year
ago in Coral Gables, did not get out of the second inning. Pat Ferguson and
Payne led off the inning with singles, and Martin lined an RBI single to
left-center. Chris Schaeffer, who entered the game hitting .120, then hit
Garcia’s 1-2 pitch over the scoreboard in left-center, a towering shot that
gave NC State a 4-2 lead.
Jason Hagerty cut the lead to a run at 4-3 with an
RBI double to right-center in the top of the third, but the Wolfpack made it
6-3 in the bottom of the inning on Martin’s RBI single and Schaeffer’s
run-scoring groundout.
Despite the 6-3 lead, NC State starter Eryk
McConnell never seemed to get comfortable, and Miami finally drove him from the
game in the top of the fourth after a two-run single by Tekotte and a walk to
Weeks. Alex Sogard came in and Yonder Alonso greeted him with an opposite-field
RBI single to left. Joey Terdoslavich followed with a sacrifice fly to give the
Canes the lead at 7-6.
Ryan Pond’s RBI groundout in the bottom of the
fourth tied the game at 7-7, but a potential big inning short-circuited when
the Wolfpack pulled off its third baserunning blunder in two games. This time,
with Devon Cartwright on second and Marcus Jones on first, Stanley single to
left field. Cartwright held at third base, but Jones rounded second and never
stopped. With two runners on third base, Jones retreated to second, but
Stanley, sensing the probable out on the basepaths, had alertly advanced to
second on the play. Jones was tagged out.
Dennis Raben led off the top of the fifth with a
homer to right, and Mark Sobelewski doubled, advanced to third on Ryan
Jackson’s sacrifice bunt, and scored on a throwing error by Tommy Foschi to
extend the Miami lead to 9-7 and set the stage for the wild finish.
With the win, NC State improved to 10-5 overall
and 2-2 in the ACC. Miami fell to 13-2 and 5-1.
NC State will return to action this week with a
two-game series Tuesday and Wednesday vs. Towson. Game time for both games is 3
p.m. Both gamea will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and can be heard on
the internet at gopack.com through Pack Pass.
Courtesy: NC State
