NC State beats Clemson to open ACC Baseball Tourney

ACC & Other Baseball14

NC State got its bats going in its first action in the 2010 ACC Baseball Tourney Wednesday night, picking up a 13-8 win over Clemson. State put itself in very good position going forward if it can continue to play well Friday and Saturday. The game against Virginia Tech Saturday is very winnable and if NC State hits Friday like it did tonight Georgia Tech should watch out as well. Jake Buchanan, NC State’s best pitcher, will take the mound Friday against the Yellow Jackets.

Another side effect of Wednesday’s victory is that NC State could have played its way into the NCAA Tournament, which begins next week. While the Pack has been a “bubble” team for much of the last month, its strong play of late coupled with tonight’s impressive performance could push the Pack over the top for a bid.

NC State will enjoy a day off Thursday and have a chance to rest heading into Friday’s game.

Here’s more details on tonight’s game from Tim Peeler, who was in Greensboro.

Clutch 2-out hits help Pack down Tigers, 13-8

NC State used the short ball Wednesday night to down Clemson 13-8 in its first round game at the ACC Baseball Championship.

Sure the Wolfpack hit two more home runs – upping its season total to 92 – but it was five consecutive two-out singles in the top of the sixth inning that allowed Elliott Avent’s squad to break open a back-and-forth game and secure the win for surprise starter Alex Sogard.

In the seventh inning, senior second baseman Dallas Poulk hit a two-out, two-run homer over the left-centerfield wall.

In all, the Wolfpack’s clutch offense scored seven of its 13 runs with two outs at NewBridge Bank Park.

Avent selected Sogard, a fifth-year senior with nine previous starts this season, to start the opening day contest, giving his two weekend starters, Jake Buchanan and Cory Mazzoni, two more days of rest for the Wolfpack’s game Friday against Georgia Tech and Saturday against Virginia Tech, respectively. The Pack is off Thursday.

ACC & Other Baseball

14 Responses to NC State beats Clemson to open ACC Baseball Tourney

  1. NCSUPackfan 05/26/2010 at 11:29 PM #

    Way to Go Pack!!! Let’s go get that ACC Championship!!

  2. McCallum 05/26/2010 at 11:54 PM #

    You people should be forced to listen to 104.9 down here.

    Hopefully Mickey Plyler will choke on his glands.

    McCallum

  3. imawolf 05/27/2010 at 6:20 AM #

    Tremendous start. Great defense by Dallas in the early innings, as there might have been some big early innings for Clemson. Good to see the game on Television…………enjoyed the evening..

  4. ryebread 05/27/2010 at 8:10 AM #

    Great game by the Pack 9 last night. I had a feeling that Clemson was going to make a run late, and I was a little nervous in the 8th, but the guys rallied again in the 9th and put it away.

    It was really nice watching the team on TV. Keep rolling guys!

  5. GAWolf 05/27/2010 at 8:38 AM #

    The pitching gamble paid off, and that’s the sort of break that can really boost a team’s confidence AND chances of moving further than expected.

    Huge, huge win. One more in the next two and we’ve strongly positioned ourselves for an NCAA birth.

    The guys on PP were dogging the call for the sacrifice bunt to move the runners to second and third, but none of them mentioned the fact thereafter that a single drove one of them home.

    A lot of people were on Avent for some of his managing decisions but last night, while reasonably questionable, the gamble paid off. The gripe doesn’t seem to come back as praise when that happens. Hopefully our team can capitalize on the opportunity with our strongest pitching heading into the next two games.

  6. GAWolf 05/27/2010 at 8:39 AM #

    It’s a little early to be talking NCAA much less Omaha, but who was the team last year or the year before who snuck in as a low seed in a regional and went on to play strong in Omaha simply because they were hot as firecrackers? I remember the story… and pulling for them… but I don’t remember who it was. Anyone?

    EDIT: JUST LOOKED AT THE WIKI PAGES AND CANNOT SEE A TEAM RESEMBLING THIS STRICTLY FROM THE RECORDS.

  7. Daily Update 05/27/2010 at 8:49 AM #

    Gawolf: Was it Fresno St? Somebody like that anyways.

  8. Dr. BadgerPack 05/27/2010 at 8:49 AM #

    GA- Are you thinking of Fresno State from a couple of years ago? They were certainly a surprise team.

  9. Dr. BadgerPack 05/27/2010 at 8:51 AM #

    Second note… Aaron Fitt at Baseball America thinks we hit the “safe” category now… Personally, I’d like another 3 wins, to be “safe”… ’cause I’m greedy.

    http://www.baseballamerica.com/blog/college/?p=3224

  10. tulsapack 05/27/2010 at 8:53 AM #

    It was a good win, though nerve-wracking. Once Sasser was out of the game we did not have a single pitcher in the bullpen who could be trusted to get three outs without giving up a five-run lead. That’s pretty sobering. We are going to need a lot of innings out of Buchanan, and then for Mazzoni to come back really strong too.

    And that bunt call was diabolical, you absolutely don’t take the bat out of that stretch of the lineup, especially when you’re pretty deep into the other team’s bullpen. This is not a team that is going to win many games by having its all-ACC hitters playing small ball.

  11. RegularExpression 05/27/2010 at 10:41 AM #

    One thing that has always bothered me about Avent is his affinity for playing small ball. You don’t win many college baseball games with 1 or 2 run innings. You win them with huge innings, and especially with our shaky bullpen we need all the huge innings we can get.

    That said, I did like his decision to start Sogard. Clemson is 23-7 against RHP and only 14-13 against starting LHP. We’re not trying to just be alive come Friday afternoon, we’re trying to win the whole tourney. That’s the message I get – I hope the players are getting the same message.

  12. Dr. BadgerPack 05/27/2010 at 10:50 AM #

    If people are referring to the 9th inning bunt, I really don’t have a problem with it. It’s the 9th inning, you already have a 3 run lead. Clemson knows it needs to stop the bleeding. With the bunt, from Dallas Poulk who handles the bat well, about the worst you will get is 2nd and 3rd, one out, with 3 straight RBI machines coming up.

    Best case, Clemson tries to make a sensational play, and chucks the ball away somewhere. Now, in the early or mid innings, I hate the bunt- it’s college ball with the aluminum bat afterall. But when the lead already equals total remaining outs for the opposition, I don’t have an issue with trying to tack on a 4th or 5th run with some small ball.

    This win was HUGE for getting to Sunday, and not just because it’s a win. I’ve said this is built to be a tournament team, because of the offense and our top two pitchers. Not only did we win game one, we preserved the top starters for Friday and Saturday. No one in the bullpen was overly exerted, so after the off day everyone minus Sogard should be available. The pieces are in place, now comes the execution phase (easier said than done).

  13. GAWolf 05/27/2010 at 3:01 PM #

    I agree with Badger… this isnt an isolated bunt in a vacuum. Baseball is situational. With an at times shoddy bullpen every run counts for us and every bit of a lead is important. We’ve got the lead in the 9th so one more run is that much more magnified as they only have 3 outs to get it. Not to mention, it worked and we scored off of it. Nontheless, I agree with the call…but had we not scored and then lost by 1 in the 9th then I’d probably say differently. But that’S THE benefit of sitting here and critiquing after_the_fact.

  14. Classof89 05/28/2010 at 11:02 AM #

    The other key fact about this game is that we turned some double plays. The game I saw earlier this season against BC, the fielding was so poor (particularly at SS)that this wouldn’t have been a possibility.

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