March 12, 2009

No. 1 Tar Heels Topple ASU, 12-3
Sophomore right-hander Bryant Gaines struck out a career-best nine batters in six-plus innings, and All-America Dustin Ackley had two home runs among his four hits to pace No. 1 North Carolina to a 12-3 win over Appalachian State Wednesday at Boshamer Stadium. Ben Bunting's career-best four hits matched Ackley's effort, and Kyle Seager added three, as the Tar Heels (12-2) pounded out a season-best 20 hits.

Carolina broke open a close game with 10 runs over its final three trips to the plate, but Gaines (2-0) was the story early, as he retired the first 12 batters he faced and fanned seven the first time through the order. He finished with just three hits and one run allowed over six-plus innings with no walks to earn his second straight win.

Ackley, who ended a 2-for-22 skid with a home run in his final at bat Tuesday, picked up where he left off Wednesday with a homer in the first and added a second in the eighth for the first multi-homer game for a Tar Heels since Seager went deep twice against Boston College last season. Ackley added a pair of singles and a walk.

No. 6 Miami Beats Pitt, 11-6, For Sixth Straight Win
Jonathan Weislow's three-run homer in the fifth inning broke a 6-6 tie as the sixth-ranked University of Miami baseball team earned its third-straight come-from-behind victory in beating Pittsburgh, 11-6, Wednesday night at Alex Rodriguez Park at Mark Light Field.

For the third-straight game, Miami (12-2) faced a deficit of at least three runs only to come back behind big innings at the plate and near flawless relief pitching. Trailing Pitt 5-0 after 3 ½ innings, the Hurricanes rallied for three in the bottom of the fourth before a six-run sixth put UM up 9-6 after five.

Jason Santana (2-0) earned the win for the `Canes, allowing one run on just one hit while walking one and striking out two in 2 1/3 innings in relief. Behind Santana, three UM hurlers combined to keep the Panthers off the board from the sixth inning on. Travis Miller tossed two scoreless in the sixth and seventh before Rene Guerra and Kyle Bellamy each struck out two in an inning of work. 

Plagman, Jacob Lift No. 6 Georgia Tech Past Kennesaw State, 5-4
Tony Plagman's three-run home run in the third inning to broke a 1-1 tie, and Kevin Jacob pitched eight strong innings as No. 6 Georgia Tech (11-1) defeated Kennesaw State (5-6), 5-4, on Wednesday afternoon at Russ Chandler Stadium.

The Yellow Jackets held off a frantic Kennesaw State ninth inning rally to extend their winning streak to eight games.

Jacob improved to 2-0 in as many starts after holding the Owls to two runs in a career -high eight innings. He struck out a career-high seven batters, allowing just six hits and two walks.

Late Inning Rally Carries Florida State To Victory Over High Point
Fourteenth-ranked Florida State (9-5) used a late inning rally to down High Point (4-8) 4-3 completing the mid-week series sweep Wednesday night on Mike Martin Field inside Dick Howser Stadium. A bobble by High Point left fielder Pablo Rosario on a base hit by Rafael Lopez in the bottom of the eighth drove in James Ramsey from second base for the game-winning run.

The Panthers held a 3-1 lead after four and a half innings of play before the Seminoles slowly chipped away with a run in the fifth, another in the seventh and finally the go ahead run by Ramsey in the eighth.

Geoff Parker (2-1) made his first relief appearance of the season and pitched 3.2 shutout innings to pick up win number two on the year. The sophomore right hander allowed three hits and walked two, while striking out three Panther batters on 63 pitches.

#22 Clemson Tops Michigan State 6-1 Wednesday at Fluor Field
Mike Freeman totaled a career-high four hits and led #22 Clemson to a 6-1 victory over Michigan State in front of 5,058 fans at Fluor Field on Wednesday night. Clemson improved to 8-4, while Michigan State fell to 1-11. Clemson also improved to 4-0 all-time at Fluor Field and swept the two-game, midweek series with the Spartans.

Freeman, who went 4-for-4, led Clemson's 10-hit attack. Ben Paulsen and Wilson Boyd also had two hits apiece for the Tigers, while Boyd had a game-high three RBIs. Paulsen improved to 11-for-17 (.647) with four doubles, one homer, eight runs, and eight RBIs in four career games at Fluor Field.

Graham Stoneburner (1-2) earned the win in relief for Clemson. He pitched 3.1 innings and allowed three hits and no walks with six strikeouts. Six Tiger pitchers combined for a season-high 14 strikeouts and held the Spartans hitless in 13 at-bats with runners on base, while the Tiger hitters were 6-for-12 in that situation. Spartan starter Kyle Corcoran (0-1) took the loss, as he allowed five runs on seven hits in 6.2 innings pitched. 

No. 18 Virginia Baseball Downs VMI, 10-3
The No. 18 Virginia baseball team pushed its record to 14-0 with a 10-3 victory over VMI Wednesday at Davenport Field. Dan Grovatt (So., Tabernacle, N.J.) led a 12-hit attack with three hits and three RBI. He also ran his hitting streak to a career-best 14 games.

Phil Gosselin (So., West Chester, Pa.) had two hits and three runs scored, while Corey Hunt (R-So., Charlottesville, Va.) also had two hits and two RBI for the Cavaliers.

Virginia’s 14-game winning streak is tied with Georgia for the longest active streak in the nation. The Cavaliers and Bulldogs are the lone remaining undefeated teams this year in Division I. 

Casario Leads Terps to 11-4 Win Against UMES
A.J. Casario went 3-for-3 with four RBIs and a three-run home run to lead the University of Maryland baseball team to an 11-4 victory Wednesday afternoon against UMES, giving the Terrapins their sixth straight home victory to begin the season.

Casario, a junior outfielder, also scored three times, walked twice and stole two bases.

Casario drew a leadoff walk in the bottom of the first inning and promptly stole second base. Casario scored the game's first run two batters later, trotting home on a Will Greenberg double. The Terps (6-7) scored two more runs in the bottom of the first despite only one hit, as UMES starting pitcher Carl Huber uncorked three wild pitches in the inning. 

Duke Offense Breaks Out In 10-4 Win Over Quinnipiac
Gabriel Saade and Jeremy Gould each drove in three runs and combined for five hits, and freshman Eric Pfisterer went 4.2 scoreless innings out of the bullpen to lead Duke to a 10-4 win over Quinnipiac Wednesday evening at Jack Coombs Field.

Hitting at the one and two spots in the batting order for Duke (9-4, 2-1 ACC), Saade and Gould combined to go 5-for-10 with four two-out hits, including back-to-back two-out RBI knocks in the fifth and sixth innings. They combined to drive in six runs in that two-inning span as Duke overcame an early 4-0 deficit to put up all 10 runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh innings.

Pfisterer (1-0), a 15th round draft pick of the Cincinnati Reds out of high school, earned his first career win after logging a career-high 4.2 innings of work in which he held Quinnipiac (0-9) to three hits while striking out six. Pfisterer tossed 71 pitches in his third relief outing of the season and lowered his ERA to 3.52. 

Riggins, Cartwright Lead Baseball Past Aggies, 16-3
Harold Riggins went 4-for-5 with a home run, five RBIs and four runs scored Wednesday as NC State’s 5-6-7 hitters went a combined 9-for-11 with eight RBIs and 10 runs scored to rout visiting North Carolina A&T 16-3 at Doak Field at Dail Park.

With the win, the Wolfpack improves to 8-6, while the Aggies drop to 3-8. Kyle Rutter (2-1), the second of five NC State pitchers, held things down in the middle innings, giving up just one hit and one run in four innings to get the victory. He struck out five. Nick Oelker (0-3) got the loss, allowing seven hits and nine runs in five innings of work.

NC State fell behind early for the second straight game. George Hines walked to lead things off for the Aggies in the top of the first and promptly stole second off starter Jason Zinser. Hines came around to score when Xavier Macklin hit an RBI single up the middle and advanced to second on an error by center fielder Devon Cartwright. Macklin scored when Chris Mullins singled to left, giving the Aggies a 2-0 lead after a half-inning.

Deacs Rally Late but Fall Short in 5-4 Loss to Elon
Wake Forest rallied in the ninth inning, but fell a run short, falling to Elon 5-4 on Wednesday night at the Wake Forest Baseball Park.

Wake Forest drops to 7-5 on the season, while Elon improves to 8-4 with the victory.

Evan Ocheltree hit his fourth home run of the season in the game, a pinch hit two-run homer in the top of the ninth to bring Wake Forest within a run. Ian Tomkins had two hits in the contest for the Deacs. Carlos Lopez reached base all four times he was at the plate, going 1-for-1 and drawing a career-high three walks. Mike Murray and Weldon Woodall each had an RBI for Wake Forest.