Wolfpack Baseball

[Mona2006]

Some happy sports news for a change.. for me anyway!! GO PACK!! :spin:

N.C. State tops South Carolina for regional title

Posted: Jun. 1 10:26 p.m.
Updated: Jun. 1 11:29 p.m.

RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina State doesn't overwhelm anyone with its bats. With a pitching staff like this, the Wolfpack don't need to.

Matt Payne's run-scoring infield single in the seventh inning - and some strong arms - lifted N.C. State past South Carolina 2-1 on Sunday night in the Raleigh Regional championship.

"I'm proud of our ball club," N.C. State coach Elliott Avent said. "We did what championship teams have to do to win - have clutch hits, make clutch plays and have clutch pitching."

The Wolfpack (41-20) claimed the third regional title in school history and first since they claimed their 2003 regional in Wilson, N.C. They advance to face the champion of the regional in Athens, Ga. - either Georgia or Georgia Tech - in next weekend's best-of-three super regional series.

"They played like a No. 1 seed," said South Carolina coach Ray Tanner, an N.C. State alum and former Wolfpack player. Pitching coach "Tom Holliday does a great job. They got great pitching performances. They stopped our offense. N.C. State is the better team."

N.C. State broke a 1-all tie in the seventh. Chris Schaeffer and Drew Martin hit one-out singles and Ryan Pond walked to load the bases. Matt Payne hit a grounder deep into the hole at shortstop, and when Reese Havens couldn't make a play, Schaeffer scored the go-ahead run.

"I just tried to put the ball in play," Payne said. "It was fantastic what happened."

[nccanes]

Nice to see the local teams doing well. My Tigers are also in a super regional, facing UC-Irvine next weekend in BR.

It would be great to see the Pack in the CWS!

[hyena]

one of my teams......actually ADVANCING to the next round of something? it's a miracle i tell you

:crazy:

[Guyute]

The local baseball around here right now is pretty exciting. Grats to everyone who has teams advancing :)

[Mona2006]

E good luck to your Tigers. :spin:

I hope a big black hole swallows up the Tar Holes! :evil::D (They NEVER get a break from me.. I hate them in all sports.. even tiddly winks!) :lol:

[nccanes]

Super Regionals start in a few minutes!

http://www.ncaa.com/Sport/Default.aspx?sid=905&id=254354

[nccanes]

Tough outing for the Pack! :(

[IceSun]

Good wins today for both NC State and Arizona State!

[nccanes]

LSU dropped theirs last night. First loss after 23 straight wins.

Who knows if would have made a difference, but UCI was able to end the 6th inning (UCI was up 6-2 at that point) as a controversial and incorrect call ended the inning when LSU had the bases loaded. On the previous play, UCI 2nd baseman fielded the ball and with no play, just held it. He went up to the pitcher and told him to stay on the grass and off the mound and kept the ball. He went back into position, waited for the LSU baserunner to step off 2nd and then attempted to tag him. The LSU player got back on the base in time, but the umps....after a bit of delay, called him out. Inning over, 3 LOB.

The UCI players really sold the tag, all yelling that they'd gotten him out and headed for the dugout. THEN the umps said he was out.

Apparently the cameras caught the fact that the LSU base runner was clearly safe, but also that none of the refs saw the play.

Too bad. Just shows you that bad calls happen in every sport.

Back at it this afternoon.

I wouldn't want to be sitting at the UNC/CC game....talk about HEAT!

[nccanes]

Poor State was never in it today.

LSU pulled out a 9th inning come from behind win, forcing the 3rd game tomorrow. Pretty exciting. Glad I was sitting in my airconditioned SALR as opposed to any of those ballfields today!

[IceSun]

Congrats on the win E. I'm sitting here cringing after watching ASU get 1 run out of two bases loaded situations... then in the 4th with two outs on Fresno State, the idiot pitcher hits a player, gives up get 3 base hits (1 run scored), they change the pitcher, and the new guy promptly gives up a grand slam. 5-2 lead changes to 7-5 deficit. Another base hit before a pop fly finally ends the inning. Crap.

[nccanes]

Ouch!

[hyena]

*sigh* what else is new?

good luck tonight, guys!

[nccanes]

The winner of the LSU/UC-Irvine game faces UNC. :)

[car3hur]

The winner of the LSU/UC-Irvine game faces UNC. :)

Go LSU?! Who y'all rooting for, now that State is out?

[nccanes]

A sub-story to the LSU/UC-Irvine series is that these Super Regional games are the last games that will be played at Alex Box Stadium. It's one of the oldest still in use by a Div I team (maybe the oldest - 70 years old)? So that 9th inning comeback win literally extended its life for 1 more game. Now they know that this will be the final game at the Box, so it'll be a pretty special game no matter the outcome. Of course a win, would make it a storybook ending.

Alex Box has boasted the highest attendance in college baseball for the last 10 years. And y'all thought the Tiger fans only cared about football! ;)

[puck_it]

Go LSU?! Who y'all rooting for, now that State is out?


anyone but Carolina, duh.

[Mona2006]

Good luck to your Tigers E... State chokes again.. in another sport. :(

ABC.... I want the Holes blown out of the water.. :mad:

[puck_it]

i could deal with them getting spanked in the final again :evil:

[IceSun]

E, looks like I'm an LSU fan now...

GO TIGERS!

[nccanes]

That was certainly a tight game...with 1 bad inning for the Sun Devils. :(

LSU certainly made a statement in that 1st inning...back to back to back HRs.

I totally get why they switched ESPN2 over to the Fresno/ASU game, but I wished they'd popped the LSU game onto ESPNU for the final inning - seemed redundant to have the same game on both channels all that time. With all the talk about the final game in Alex Box, etc....we didn't get to really see the final moments other than on replay (unless I fell alseep and missed it). Guess I'll have to catch some highlights at ESPN or YouTube.

I have to admit I would have hated to be a UC-Irvine fan watching this weekend and particulalry last night. Definitely heaping the praise on every aspect of LSU's program, stadium, fans, etc.

So now we can unite for the Tigers to take down the Heels! ;)

[nccanes]

So long "old" Alex Box (the new stadium will also be named Alex Box).

Wish I could have gotten there one more time. Guess I'll have to think back to the days I used to watch Joey (aka Albert) Belle hit home runs there (I used to play Trivial Pursuit with him and cash checks for him because he didn't have an ATM card - LOL).

http://www.nmnathletics.com.edgesuite.net/pics17/640/UY/UYFMMIZWMOJJQWR.20080610023726.jpg

[Mona2006]

So now we can unite for the Tigers to take down the Heels! ;)

*Tiger growl* :lol:

Man the Tigers fans really wear the school colors in the baseball stands as well. Good for them.

I hope the Holes choke like Linda Lovelace. :evil::D

[nccanes]

It's funny, LSU never really had a dominant color in the stands...even after all those years of great football, it was always a mix of purple and gold. The baseball team had that long win streak and I guess the gold jerseys were the most successful, so they kinda ran with that and now we see mostly gold in the stands. The team had to wear white as the home team in the Regionals, so they bought the team gold under armour to wear beneath their whites.

I wonder if the gold will spill over to football next fall (2+ months away?)

[Mona2006]

I like the gold.. I think it makes the stands look "cheery". :D