It’s the bottom of the ninth, the ballgame is tied and the bases are loaded with two outs – this is the situation that every baseball player dreams of. When junior infielder Andrew Ciencin faced this situation last night, he clinched a 3-2 victory over the Camels at Dail Field at Doak Park.
Yesterday’s game was the first match-up of the season between the Wolfpack and the Camels as N.C. State prepares for the three-game series as they take on the University of Virginia this weekend in Charlottesville, VA.
State leads the series with Campbell with a record of 42-12-1. Head Coach Elliott Avent has successfully coached his players to a winning series since becoming head coach in 1997, with a record of 15-5 against Campbell University.
Campbell has won three of the last four meetings between the two. However, after State’s sweep of No. 5 ranked UNC Tarheels this past weekend, continuing with a win streak.
Junior infielder Pratt Maynard started the scoring early for the Pack with a two-run home run towards right field. Moving into the top of the second inning, Coach Avent replaced starting pitcher Danny Healey with right-handed pitcher Vance Williams. State ended the second inning with three fly-outs deep in the outfield.
“The beginning of the at-bat wasn’t going so well,” said Maynard. “I was 2-2 on the count and I saw a breaking ball down middle and took it. I was very happy with that hit because you don’t usually see a homerun pitch with two strikes.”
The Pack continued to lead with two runs into the bottom of the fourth inning as Campbell posted zeros across the board. Pratt Maynard, who leads the team with 71 bases, continued to hit well as his single in the third inning allowed the Wolfpack to have runners on 1st and 3rd.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, sophomore infielder Matt Bergquist had a single that led the way for a potential run or two as he was followed by sophomore infielder Chris Diaz and junior outfielder Brett Williams.
Following Bergquist’s single, Diaz’s bunt secured bases one and two as four infield Campbell players were chasing after the short-hit ball. With Williams at bat, a wild pitch allowed for Bergquist and Diaz to steal 2nd and 3rd.
Williams’ hit caused controversy as he was called out running through 1st base, which denied him an RBI and a chance for Bergquist to secure a run for the Pack. Coach Elliott Avent and the rest of the N.C. State crowd were doubtful as the field umpire called Brett Williams out, as it looked like a tie to the runner.
“I saw Brett run down the line thought he was safe. But it’s left to the umpire and you can’t really do much after that,” Maynard said.
In the eighth inning, Coach Avent put in sophomore pitcher Chris Overman to relieve for redshirt junior Vance Williams. Williams finished the day with six innings, four hits given up and eight strikeouts. However, Campbell struck back as a hit given up by Overman allowed for a double and RBI, tying the game at 2-2.
“Healey was dizzy before the game, his blood pressure was up, [he was] not feeling well,” head coach Avent said. “He came in when the game started and we tried to settle him down. He said he felt good enough to go back out there but when I went to him he said he wasn’t feeling it and I thought Overman was the better pick at the time.”
It was bottom of the ninth and both teams were still tied as the Wolfpack was up at bat. With two outs in the inning, Pratt Maynard was on deck while Diaz was on 2nd and Williams on 1st. As Maynard secured a single with bases loaded, Ciencin was on deck for a chance to end the game.
Ciencin blasted a single straight back towards the flags, allowing Diaz to come in and make the score 3-2. The Wolfpack won for the fourth time in a row as they move on to play UNC Wilmington, followed by the three game series this weekend.
The Pack head to Wilmington for a chance to regain their status as a strong North Carolina team both in and out of the ACC.
“I know last week we played bad against Wilmington, but that’s not who we are,” said Ciencin. “I have to be there to get these guys going and we are going to remember what they did to us last week. As for Virginia, they are number one but it doesn’t scare us. Last year UNC was number one coming into our game and we beat them two out of three.”
