May 22, 2003

SALEM, Va. - After sitting around the hotel for two days watching the rain fall, NC State finally got onto the playing field Thursday evening in the first round of the ACC Baseball Tournament, defeating Virginia 10-6 to advance to a second-round matchup with Georgia Tech on Friday evening. Chad Orvella and Justin Riley hit two doubles apiece, and Jeremy Dutton belted a three-run home run to lead the 12th-ranked Wolfpack (40-14) past the Cavaliers (28-24).

Redshirt-freshman righthander Michael Rogers (11-3), who stuffed Virginia when the two teams met in Charlottesville earlier in the season, had to battle spotty command, but picked up the win after working seven innings and allowing six runs on a season-high 13 hits. Three of the runs were unearned. He walked four and struck out five.

Virginia lefthander Joe Koshansky (7-2), who easily stopped the Wolfpack in the finale of the regular-season series at UVa, had his worst outing of the season, allowing eight runs, six of them earned, on eight hits in five innings. He walked three and fanned six. The Wolfpack tagged Koshansky for season highs in runs scored and hits.

With two all-conference pitchers on the mound, each of whom had experienced success against the other team, a pitchers duel figured to ensue. Instead, the game was an unexpected slugfest. Rogers wobbled through the first two innings. Virginia loaded the bases in the first, but Joe Gaetti nailed Matt Dunn at the plate to complete an inning-ending double play, and when the Cavs put runners on the corners with two out in the second, Rogers got Matt Street to fly out to right field to end the threat.

While Rogers struggled early, Koshansky cruised through the first two innings, retiring all six men he faced. The Wolfpack got three runs in sudden fashion in the bottom of the third on a double by Orvella, a single by Matt Camp and a three-run homer by Dutton, his 11th homer of the season. Virginia picked up a run in the top of the fourth when Rogers loaded the bases on a walk and two singles and walked Dunn to force in a run and cut the lead to 3-1.

Colt Morton led off the bottom of the fifth with a walk, David Hicks blooped a one-out single to left, and Orvella walked to load the bases. Marc Maynor and Adam Hargrave singled to left to drive in a run apiece, and two more runs scored when Dunn, in left field, overran Hargrave's hit for an error, giving NC State a 7-1 lead.

The Cavaliers came right back in the top of the fifth, thanks in large part to some sloppy defensive work on the part of the Wolfpack. Koshansky led off with a single to center. With two out, Eric Christensen reached on a throwing error by Hargrave at second base. Headd singled to right-center to drive in Koshansky, and Kyle Werman followed with an infield single that Dutton threw into right field for an error, allowing Christensen and Headd to score and pull the Cavaliers to within three runs at 7-4.

Riley doubled to lead off the bottom of the fifth and Morton walked. After Gaetti and Hicks flied out, Orvella ripped a double off the wall in left to drive in Riley and give the Pack an 8-4 lead. Rogers got two quick outs in the top of the seventh before hitting Werman with a pitch. Matt Street, Dunn and Ryan Zimmerman followed with three quick singles to drive in a pair of runs and pull the Cavaliers to within two runs at 8-6.

The Wolfpack tacked on another run in the bottom of the seventh when Riley led off with his second double of the game, took third on a wild pitch and scored on Morton's single to center. In the eighth, Orvella led off, reached on an error, and scored on Camp's two-out double to left.

The Wolfpack will face Georgia Tech and lefthander Kyle Bakker in the fourth scheduled game on Friday. Because of the weather, each game will start approximately 30 minutes following the preceeding game, so there is no way to accurately estimate the game time, but it should start somewhere between 7 o'clock and 8:30. The game will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM, 88.1 on the FM dial, and the broadcast and live in-game stats on the Gametracker will be available on the internet at gopack.com. Live stats for all ACC Tournament game are available at www.theacc.com.