Ryan Bisesi
A crowd of 423 fans joined Andrew Brackman, dressed in a gray sweatshirt and sweat pants, at N.C. State’s 12-3 victory over High Point Tuesday at Doak Field. Midway through the Wolfpack’s fourth inning rally, he emerged from the Wolfpack dugout to join in the team celebration.
State had plenty of opportunities to celebrate. The Pack put up 12 runs on 14 hits. Two of the hits left Doak Field, thanks to Ramon Corona and Matt Mangini.
Corona hit a solo home run in the sixth to come across the plate for the third time in the game. Mangini hit a three-run homer in the eighth inning as part of his 3-for-5, five RBI game.
Corona said he feels he has been inconsistent at the plate, but he felt good about his effort today.
“I’ve been pretty inconsistent with my hitting. I feel better now and I’m working to get better for the second half of the season,” Corona said.
The Pack took control of a 3-1 game in the fourth inning, scoring four runs on six hits. Matt Payne led off with a single and scored from second when Matt Camp singled.
Camp stole second, advanced to third on an error and scored on Jonathan Diaz’s sacrifice fly. Corona and Bates followed Diaz with back-to-back singles and both scored later in the inning.
State scored first with two runs in the bottom of the second inning. Jon Still led off the inning by being hit by a pitch. He later scored on a Mangini double, and Mangini came across the plate following a Payne sacrifice fly.
Randy Schwartz scored for High Point in the third inning, but the Wolfpack responded with a run in the bottom of the inning. Corona scored from third when Mangini hit into a double play.
The Panthers added a run in the fifth inning and a run in the sixth inning.
Overshadowed by the offense was the performance of State freshman Eric Surkamp, who was making his first collegiate start at pitcher.
Surkamp pitched five innings, giving up two runs on five hits, while striking out seven batters and walking one to capture his first collegiate win.
Surkamp said he was ready to get his first start. “I was excited to get out there. I’ve been waiting,” Surkamp said. “I have been throwing relief all year. It was good to get out there and get my first win.”
Coach Elliott Avent was pleased with his team’s performance after playing three games with only a day off before today’s game.
“We came out ready to play,” Avent said. “That speaks well because we came back from a long weekend down in Greenville.”
State kicks off with a weekend series against UCLA Friday at 4 p.m. at Doak Field.