June 1, 2008
Raleigh, N.C. – Matt Payne broke a 1-1 tie in the seventh inning with a two-out RBI base hit and behind five scoreless innings of work from four relievers, NC State edged out South Carolina 2-1 to win the NCAA Raleigh Regional on Sunday evening at Doak Field. NC State improves to 41-20 and advances to the NCAA Super Regional with the loss ending South Carolina’s season at 40-23 on the year. Gamecock first baseman Justin Smoak earned Most Outstanding Player honors for the Regional with Reese Havens, DeAngelo Mack, Whit Merrifield and Blake Cooper all named to the All-Tournament Team.
Despite Sunday night’s loss, the Gamecocks received a tremendous effort from junior left-hander Will Atwood who worked 6.2 innings and through a rain delay vs. the Wolfpack. Atwood was flawless through the first three innings and had set down the first 10 batters before a one-out walk in the fourth inning. He finished allowing just two runs on five hits in 6.2 innings of work with six strikeouts and three walks. NC State reliever Sam Brown pitched 2.1 scoreless innings and earned the victory for the Wolfpack. He is 4-1 on the year. Alex Sogard threw a perfect 1.1 innings to close the game out and earn his first save of the season.
The game started off well for Carolina as the Gamecocks broke out early for a 1-0 lead. Fresh off a walk off homer vs. James Madison earlier in the day, Reese Havens followed that round tripper up with a leadoff homer in the first inning against NC State left-hander Eric Surkamp. Havens drilled a 1-0 pitch just inside the foul pole in right field for his 18th homer of the season.
With Atwood on the mound, the Wolfpack hitters were kept at bay and did not allow a hit until State finally got to the junior in the top of the fifth inning as Jeremy Synan hit a solo home run to right field, his seventh of the season and the first hit of the game for NCSU.
The rain and lightning then hit Raleigh and the game was delayed for an hour and 19 minutes with the game still deadlocked at one apiece. When the game resumed, Atwood returned to the mound and worked a scoreless sixth inning.
The Wolfpack finally went ahead 2-1 in the seventh inning. Chris Shaeffer knocked a one-out single up the middle that was followed by a single through the left side from Drew Martin to give NCSU runners on first and second base. Atwood would get the second out of the inning as he induced Devon Cartwright into foul out to Justin Smoak near the Carolina dugout and that would end the game for the junior left-hander. The Gamecocks went to the bullpen with freshman right-hander Parker Bangs. Ryan Pond walked to load the bases and that brought the three hole hitter Matt Payne up to the plate. Bangs got ahead early with two called strikes against Payne. Down 0-2 in the count, Payne was able to poke an infield single just out of the grasp of shortstop Reese Havens to score Schaeffer and give State a one-run lead. Bangs however got out of the jam as he coaxed Marcus Jones into a fielder’s choice to limit the Wolfpack to just one run in the frame.
South Carolina looked to answer in the bottom half of the seventh inning as Kyle Enders opened it with a base hit to left field. Enders would get all the way to third base as he was sacrificed to second by Scott Wingo followed up by a ground ball out against Havens. A walk to Whit Merrifield gave Carolina runners on the corners with Gamecock slugger Justin Smoak coming to bat. On a 2-2 count, NC State left-handed reliever Drew Taylor worked his way out of the mess with a fly out to center field against Smoak.
NC State used both Kyle Rutter and Sogard for the final two innings and neither allowed a Gamecock runner on base to preserve the Wolfpack victory.
