Baseball: WVU Not Enough For #18 N.C. State
February 24, 2006 06:02 PM | General
February 24, 2006
GREENVILLE, N.C. – The West Virginia University baseball team couldn’t overcome a nightmarish fifth inning and lost to No. 18 N.C. State, 12-4, Friday, Feb. 24, in the Mountaineers’ first game of the Keith LeClair Classic at Clark-LeClair Stadium.
The Mountaineers had rallied to tie the score in the top of the fifth, 3-3, but the Wolfpack used a five-run outburst in the bottom of the inning to basically put the game out of reach. Remarkably, N.C. State’s five-run inning came on just one hit as WVU walked four straight batters in the inning at one point, and a total of 11 on the afternoon.
The Mountaineers were the first team to put a run on the scoreboard, however, taking a 1-0 lead. Kyle Matuszek and Casey Bowling got the Mountaineer offense started with back-to-back singles in the second inning with Matuszek scoring on catcher David Carpenter’s bloop single to right center field.
N.C. State responded in the bottom of the inning to with some offense of its own. Designated hitter Jon Still led off the inning with a double down the left field line. Still would move over on a sacrifice and later score on a fielder’s choice by the Wolfpack’s Ryan Pond. After stealing second, Pond crossed the plate on a Matt Camp single up through the middle to get N.C. State ahead, 2-1.
Trailing 3-1 in the fifth, the Mountaineers strung together a couple of hits to answer the Wolfpack. After a Tyler Kuhn single to open the inning, shortstop Doug Nelms ripped a double into left center field, moving Kuhn to third. Senior Stan Posluszny grounded out to the shortstop, allowing Kuhn to score. Then with two outs, Matuszek knocked an RBI single into centerfield as Nelms beat the throw to even the score at 3-3.
The Wolfpack then jumped on the Mountaineers in the bottom of the fifth and would never look back.
Carpenter and Matuszek each had a pair of hits and one RBI to lead WVU offensively, while Still and Eric Mangini both had two hits with a couple of RBI for the Wolfpack.
Starter Marty Fagler (0-1) gave up five hits and two earned runs in 4.2 innings on the mound, but picked up the loss. N.C. State’s Eryk McConnell (3-1) got the start and went five innings, giving up eight hits and three earned runs in his third win of the year.
WVU drops its record to 3-1, while the 18th-ranked Wolfpack improve to 10-1 on the year. The Mountaineers return to the field Saturday evening to play Virginia Tech (2-1), who lost to UNC-Wilmington earlier today. Game time is set for 5 p.m.
