The Pack lost a heartbreaker today. They were up 7-2 after the seventh inning, but the Yellow Jackets scored eight runs the rest of the way to win the 1st game of this year’s ACC tournament 10-9. The Pack did score two runs in the eight inning to retake the lead 9-8, but State’s shortstop was thrown out at home in a collision with the catcher. On the play, the umpire ejected shortstop Tommy Foschi due to a crazy rule in college baseball that protects fielders who make a choice to block the path of the runner.
That ejection led to NC State putting in a new 2nd baseman (Russell Wilson) and moving the starter at second base over to shortstop for the top of the ninth inning. To start the inning, errors were made by the first baseman, the second baseman and the shortstop consecutively which led to Georgia Tech’s decisive two runs in the inning.
While NC State should have won the game even with the questionable judgment by the umpire, this call certainly didn’t help us defensively in the pivotal 9th inning.
Updated
Miami beat Clemson today 8-1. For the Pack to advance, Miami must beat GT, NC State must win its last two games and Clemson must beat GT on Friday.
Scenario to advance:
Pack 2-1 (beats Miami and Clemson, loses to GT)
Miami 2-1(beats GT and Clemson, loses to NC State)
Tech 1-2 (beats Pack, loses to Clemson and Miami)
Clemson 1-2 (beats GT, loses to Pack and Miami)
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Morning writeup
State opens the ACC tournament at 10am (hope the boys had their coffee) against Georgia Tech. This will be the one and only meeting of the season against GT, so this is a critical game for both teams as they aspire to host an NCAA regional. I would say State is in a “power bracket” in the ACC tournament, but there are top 10 RPI teams all over the place, and Wake Forest is the only team in the Round-Robin event that has virtually no shot at the NCAAs. It will be interesting to see how much emphasis Avent places on this game– does he play for 1 win, or play for the bracket. Surkamp is likely to take the ball in game 1– he is coming off a stellar pitching performance against Florida State in a 12-2 Thursday victory. The offense needs to get back to swinging the bats; after the 12 run outburst against FSU they were stifled by FSU pitching in the last two games.
Surkamp today, Shunick(sp) tomorrow.
Game is on TWC 50(fox sports south for those in eastern NC)
Already down 2-0. Error allows the 2nd run to score. Man on 1st, only 1 out. Bad play from 1st baseman.
State’s going to have to play comeback baseball today… GT with a two-spot in the first inning. Surkamp gets out of further trouble with the double play.
In this goofy format, what happens if Tech beats us, Miami beats Tech, then we beat Miami? Assuming everybody beats Clemson.
In that scenario(three way tie), I think Miami goes because they are the higher seed.
A loss to Tech kills us.
I thought in the 3-way tie scenario they went to run differential or runs scored… going by seed just seems so Fowler-ish (lazy).
That is really lame, if it is true that if we were to finish 2-1 with loss to Tech and win over Miami that we sit at home. What was the problem with the old double elimination format? This bracket reeks of a solution in search of a problem…
Conference winning percentage apparently… as of last year anyway.
http://www.theacc.com/sports/m-basebl/spec-rel/050207aaa.html
Weird. So a loss today kills us, unless Clemson and Miami each beats Tech (or Miami loses twice).
we didn’t come ready to play…GT has man on third with one out in bottom of 2nd…
got out of that jam…now first and second with no outs for us in bottom of 2nd (how far behind real time is game tracker?)
Picked up a gift run… I like aggressive base running- makes the defense earn their outs.
Tied up after 3… GT’s starter has to have thrown eleventy-billion pitches so far…
Tied up. 2-2 after 3.
We should be into the Tech bullpen here shortly. Deck McGuire’s thrown nearly 100 pitches through four innings.
“Deck” is a great name for a pitcher…
is Russel Wilson playing? how is Surkamp holding up? whats his pitch count?
3-2 lead in the fifth… sure would be nice to build on that.
4-2. Clutch two out double scores a man from 1st. GT changing pitchers.
5-2. Another two out hit scores the runner from 2nd.
Wild pitch moves runner to 2nd, runner scores on two out single. 6-2 still batting.
Hmm…. What should I ask for next?
Based on th paltry run support we’ve given him, Schunick needs to throw a no hitter tomorrow for is to have a chance
Surkamp did his job… now the game is turned over to the bullpen. Brown is the first to trot out.
“F”ing A… Ferguson and Foschi have combined for 6 of 11 state hits so far today…
Foschi reminds me of Jeff Blauser.
Walking in runs isn’t cool. Keep up the lead Pack!!!
Top of 8th, Bases loaded with Jackets and Taylor walks one across. Joey Cuttler is now on the mound. Bases still loaded, 7-4 Pack.
Cuttler strikes out GT catcher, one down, bases still loaded. He now faces GT’s lead off man and top hitter, Blackman. We need a double play ball here.
Blackman jacks out a single and drives in 2 runs. 7-6 Pack with Jackets on the corners and only one out.
Another base hit, score tied 7-7, one out and runners on the corners.
Come on PACK! We need to get some outs and then score some runs. Thanks for all the updates.
god almighty
Another base hit, 8-7 Tech, one out, and runners on first and second. The damn has broken and we need some help to stop the free flow of runs.
Completely fell apart.
Why Drew Taylor came in to pitch is beyond me… You don’t save arms in a friggin’ tournament.
Catcher drops the ball on the third strike, the batter makes it to first safely and the runners advance. Bases loaded again on what should have been the third out.
Not only a bases loaded walk, but they walked a guy that couldn’t hit water if he fell out of a friggin’ boat.
Please tell me that my computer is malfunctioning and that they didn’t just give up a 4 run lead in one inning.
P-N-R, Yep they gave up 5 runs in the top of the eight. We do have two on and nobody out in our half of the eight, maybe we can get it back.
I would like to know why avent just pinch hit a guy who hadn’t swung a bat all day over the guy who had an RBI double his last at bat…..retarted…….and yes the batter struck out
Nick Stanley just drove in two, Foschi plows into the catcher trying to score from first but is called out, inning over, 9-8 Pack!!! And we go to the nineth. What a game!
and how could they eject foschi for that I was a catcher and if you ask me that was a clean play
Foschi was ejected for running into the catcher, which you can not do in touch football or NCAA baseball.
and showing the replay the pitcher instigated the little fight by saying something to foschi so that ejection is total BS
Whew (wiping sweat from brow)! 3 outs to go!
Pat Fergason makes a fielding error, followed by a fielding error by Russell Wilson, followed by a fielding error by Dallas Polk, two runs in, no outs. Tech 10 State 9. We are really trying hard to give this game away.
sweat back on brow
Bottom of the nineth and its the Killer “P”s in order for the Pack. Polk, Pond, and Paine. Polk grounds out.
Pond strikes out for out two.
You are allowed to run into the catcher provided it is not (a) malicious or (b) flagrant.
I don’t care how good McConnell was at closer last year. You don’t put a guy in to close after losing his weekend rotation spot and not closing all freaking year…
Mind-boggling.
Pack puts two on but fails to score, final score GT 10, Pack 9.
was it really mcConnell’s pitching or the 3 consecutive errors?
another pack loss due to poor execution.our teams are at least consistant in error filled play.
As good as Gilheeney has been in the closer’s role it doesn’t matter.
You couldn’t script this year in Wolfpack sports if you tried. Just when you think you’ve seen or heard it all, you find out a new way to suck out loud. And Lee wants us to stay positive about athletics?? By being apathetic? That appears to be the only way to keep your sanity at this moment. Totally disheartening.
Is anyone genuinely surprised by this? Tech owns us in baseball, esp. in the ACC Tournament. I’d rather have played any other team in the conference in Game 1.
Here is the rule on the runner making contact with the catcher direct from the NCAA rule book. In this case the Ga Tech catcher was not obstructing Foschi,s ability to reach the plate and the ump judged that the contact was initiated by Foschi in an attempt to dislodge the ball.
SECTION 7. The rules committee is concerned about unnecessary and
violent collisions with the catcher at home plate, and with infielders at all bases. The intent of this rule is to encourage base runners and defensive players to avoid such collisions whenever possible.
a. When there is a collision between a runner and a fielder who clearly is in possession of the ball, the umpire shall judge:
(1) Whether the collision by the runner was avoidable (could the runner have reached the base without colliding) or unavoidable (the runner’s path to the base was blocked);
(2) Whether the runner actually was attempting to reach the base (plate) or attempting to dislodge the ball from the fielder; or
(3) Whether the runner was using flagrant contact to maliciously
dislodge the ball.
PENALTY—If the runner attempted to dislodge the ball, the runner shall be declared out even if the fielder loses possession of the
ball. The ball is dead and all other base runners shall return
to the last base touched at the time of the interference.
A.R. 2—If the flagrant or malicious contact by the runner was before the runner’s touching the plate, the runner shall be declared out and also ejected from the contest.
5 errors in the biggest game of the year? WTF?!
and NC State chokes again.
On a positive note, Fowler shot a round of 97, caught two brim and a sun perch today, and was a successful (note the positive slant) no-show for three meetings.
Was Amato roaming the sidelines…er…dugout?
I don’t trust Avent in close games he makes some very strange personnel decisions
Gilheeny was not in Jville this weekend for personal reasons. That may have cost us the game as well.
Catchme16 is correct. Plus we have now lost our last 3 consecutive baseball games.
^”Pack lost a heartbreaker”? Really we were up 7-2 thats not a heartbreaker,kinda like saying Pack came up a little short in their last 9 mens basketball games!
What happens if Miami, Tech and the Pack are all 2-1 and Clemson is 0-3? Tech beat State, State beat Miami, and Miami beat Tech. Who gets to advance?
^Miami adavances… Best conference winning percentage. We advance in a 3-way tie w/ Clemson and GT.
good news everyone, Miami escapes a nail bitter with a 4-run 9th to win 15-12. it was an incredible game if anyone caught it that pushed our starting time from 8pm to around 9:40
let’s all pray that Ga Tech takes a loss against Clemson on Saturday and that we can take on both Clemson and Miami to prove we deserve a hosting bid this year
Pack stepped up tonight. 10-0 win after 7 innings thanks to the mercy rule. we looked unstoppable tonight