May 24, 2006

Box Score | Quotes | Tournament Central

JACKSONVILLE, Fla.(AP)-NC State pitcher Gib Hobson survived a three-run homer in the first inning and held North Carolina scoreless the rest of the game as the seventh-seeded Wolfpack upset the No. 2 seed Tar Heels in the second game of the ACC Baseball Tournament at the Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville.

Hobson gave up singles to the first two batters he faced and North Carolina's Chad Flack followed with his 10th home run of the season. But Hobson settled down after that, scattering seven more hits the rest of the way and earning the Wolfpack's first complete game of the year.

North Carolina (45-12) came into the tournament with a school regular-season record 45 wins. They swept a three game series with NC State in late April, holding the Wolfpack to five runs in 32 innings.

Hobson, improved to 9-1 this year and won the duel with more heralded North Carolina pitcher Andrew Miller, a top candidate for national pitcher of the year. Miller, losing for just the second time against 11 wins this season, is projected to be among the top prospects for the 2006 major league draft next month.

Miller was rocked for six hits and seven runs (five earned) in six innings. It's the most runs that the junior left-hander has allowed this year and the second most in 45 starts with the Tar Heels the last three years.

NC State (36-19) loaded the bases in the third inning and then pushed across four runs on a hits batsman, two ground outs and a single by Jonathan Still.

Two innings later, the Wolfpack again loaded the bases and scored three runs on just one hit, an RBI-single by catcher Caleb Mangum.

NC State added a pair of insurance runs in the ninth inning on Bryan Aragon's two-run double. Six other Wolfpack players each drove in one run.

NC State advances to Thursday's winners' bracket against Virginia while North Carolina meets Florida State in a morning elimination game.