In the bottom of the ninth inning in a 4-4 tie against East Carolina last night, a sea of Wolfpack red and Pirate purple was on its feet, sending a thundering wave of cheers and jeers at senior Matt Camp, who was patiently waiting at the plate for a chance to drive in junior Caleb Mangum from second for the winning run.
In one powerful motion, Camp connected, and the ball went screaming towards the left field corner.
The crowd erupted.
And as Mangum rounded third in a dead sprint headed for home, the umpire threw up his arms.
Foul ball.
Camp walked back to the plate, reset his stance and stared.
And no more than 30 seconds later, after a shot to shallow left field, his team joined him and Mangum in celebration of N.C. State’s 5-4 win over East Carolina at Doak Field.
“That’s how the baseball gods work,” Camp said. “You hit one hard, and they take it away. The next one, they give it to you. I can’t complain about that one bit.”
State (22-8) battled its way back from a 4-0 deficit and used six pitchers in the game. Senior left-hander Jason Duncan started for the Wolfpack, but only lasted two and two-thirds innings.
“We just couldn’t seem to get ahead and throw strikes,” coach Elliott Avent said. “They got the first four runs, and we’d walked five guys. I just turned around and told them to keep pitching guys until we could find someone who could throw strikes.”
Junior Caleb Mangum’s pop fly to the 380-foot marker in right field left sophomore Ryan Pond stranded at first to end the second inning with State down 1-0.
In the top of the third, Duncan found himself in a no-out, two-runners-on situation, which produced two runs to put the Pirates up 3-0. Sophomore Travis High came in to replace Duncan and lasted one and one-third inning, allowing no runs.
Wake Forest-Rolesville freshman product Andrew Taylor took over for High at the top of the fifth and inherited a slumberous squad in need of a spark. A pop fly out and four balls later, Avent called up sophomore Joel Brookens, a transfer from George Washington.
State struggled early with East Carolina’s Shane Mathews, who lasted five innings on the mound for the Pirates.
“He’s got good movement on his fastball,” Camp said of Mathews. “He’s kind of sneaky with that jump at the end. We finally got around on him, though, and when things finally started happening, we just rolled with it.”
Brookens quickly loaded the bases, but with two outs, a fielded rip to left field left three runners stranded in a one-run top of the fifth inning for the Pirates.
Camp reached first and stole second with no outs in the bottom of the sixth, and a single to center from sophomore Ramon Corona drove Camp home to pull the Pack within three. Junior Aaron Bates doubled with no outs in the inning to push Corona to third. A wild pitch allowed Bates to advance and Corona to score. After an Aragon sacrifice fly that drove in Bates, the Pack was within one of the Pirates at 4-3.
Junior Sam Walls came in the game in the top of the seventh inning and held the Pirates scoreless for two and one-third innings. He allowed only one hit in six at bats.
“ECU deserves a lot of credit,” Walls, the winning pitcher, said. “They’re a great hitting team. They’re better than a lot of other teams in the country. We had to conserve pitching a little bit because we’ve got Virginia this weekend.”
State’s three-game home series with Virginia starts Friday at 7 p.m. The win, Avent said, added to the team’s confidence after four straight losses.
“We know we’re not playing very well right now,” Avent said. “We just came back from a tough weekend at Clemson, and we’re just not clicking on all cylinders right now. To be down 4-0 and to come back feels great.”
