April 14, 2006
Final Stats
COLLEGE PARK, Md. - Twelfth-ranked North Carolina State downed the Maryland Terrapins, 11-4, on Friday night at Shipley Field, taking the opener of a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series. The Wolfpack hit five home runs on the day, including two in the first inning, and collected 17 hits.
For Maryland (16-21, 6-13 ACC) , second baseman Dan Melvin went 2-for-3 with a homer and two walks and shortstop Steve Braun had a pair of hits in four at-bats. Casey Baron, who surrendered three of NC State's home runs, was credited with the loss after giving up five runs on 10 hits in five innings of work.
Redshirt freshman Kyle Rutter (2-0) threw two scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn the win. Centerfielder Matt Camp, second baseman Ramon Corona and first baseman Aaron Bates, the top three hitters in the Wolfpack batting order, combined to go 9-for-15 with three homers and seven RBI.
NC State jumped on the board in the top of the first with a pair of deep balls. After Camp led off with an infield single, Corona homered to put the Pack up, 2-0. Brian Aragon then added a solo blast to center with two away to push the advantage to three.
The Wolfpack would add two more against Baron (1-4) in the third. Bates led off with a homer and Jon Still scored on a bases loaded fielder's choice by catcher Caleb Magnum to make it, 5-0.
Maryland began to chip away at the lead in the bottom of the fifth. With one down, Nick Jowers and Gerry Spessard hit consecutive singles, the first base hits of the evening for Maryland. Chad Durakis walked to load the bases and, after allowing the man on third to come in on a wild pitch, NC State starter Andrew Brackman was immediately yanked from the game with a 3-1 count on the next hitter, Melvin. Reliever Travis High would finish the walk before getting Jordan Wilson to ground into a double play to end the inning.
The Terps added another run during their next at bat. Three straight singles by Mike Murphy, Braun and Dan Benick gave Maryland the bases loaded with one down for Jowers, who drove in a run on a groundball to short to cut the deficit to 5-2.
But that would be as close as the Terps would get, as NC State scored twice in the eighth to go back up by five. After walking and stealing second, Camp came home on a single by Corona and Bates hit an RBI double off righty Brad Taylor to make it a 7-2 ballgame.
The Pack then added four more in the ninth against Joe Zaccaria to go up by nine.
The Terps flexed their bats in the bottom of the ninth with a pair of solo home runs by Melvin and pinch hitter Jason Von Behren, but it would not be enough, as Maryland's home win streak was snapped at five games.
The teams will be back in action Saturday night at Shipley with first pitch scheduled for 7 p.m.
