NC State Opens ACC Tournament With 7-0 Win Over FSU

by Akula Wolf on May 25, 2011 10:44 PM EDT

Mazzoni (5-6) gave up leadoff hits in the first and second innings, but pitched out of early trouble both times. After allowing a double to FSU’s Jayce Boyd to start the second, he struck out the side. He allowed another double in the game and pitched out of a one-out jam in the bottom of the seventh to keep his shutout going.

The right hander was particularly tough on Florida State senior Mike McGee, striking out the ACC’s reigning career leader in batting average (.346), slugging percentage (.619), home runs (52) and RBIs (237) in each of his first three trips to the plate.

Lefty D.J. Thomas relieved Mazzoni in the seventh, preserving the lead with two scoreless innings.

Mazzoni threw a lot of pitches in the early going--his pitch count was well over 30 after two innings--but he found the groove after that and made a lot of Florida State hitters look foolish. He retired 15 of 16 during the game's middle portions.

While Avent chose to go with his #1 starter, Florida State rolled the dice and went with the reliever-by-committee approach for game one. It paid off for the first four innings or so, but NC State's hitters eventually got to the Seminoles' pitching. A fielding error helped the Pack score three in the fifth, and Matt Bergquist padded the lead with a two-run home run down the left field line in the seventh.

That Avent went with Mazzoni could be a sign that he decided to adjust his strategy after last year. If you remember, Avent started Alex Sogard in the first game and saved his top two starters for the other two games, which ultimately meant that Sogard had to start the ACC title game. Now, should we get there, we'll have our best pitcher on three days' rest.

NC State plays Georgia Tech tomorrow night at 7 PM.

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some thoughts on the first day of the tournament:

oh, yeah! oh, yeah! on that win over FSU. when i noted that FSU chose not to start their ace, i figured we had a shot. and a shot we did have!
on Berquist homer, i thought it was going to hit off the Blue Monster, but it just kept on going, and going, and gone.
did anyone else get a chance to see that outstanding catch in center field by Williams on one of Ramsey’s shots? at the end of inning when he came to the dugout, State fans gave him a standing O!
i talked to a man who lives in Asheville. and as noted here, Wilson was on the Auburn campus. the local t.v. station did a piece on it. according to my source (secretive stuff you know), word is that Wilson will not honor his contract choosing to play football instead, and Colorado will release him.
why did GaTech play so badly. they didn’t get to Durham until 3a.m. Wednesday morning. history shows that they played at 11a.m. Wednesday morning. they did look sleepy!
i was interested in seeing how Wake, winners of 8 of their last 9 conference games would play. not only did they pitch and field poorly, they just plain did not play fundamental baseball constantly failing to take the sure out while trying to get a lead runner they were not going to be able to get.
finally, the highlight of the night other than State’s win was meeting Chris Overman’s girl friend, a sophomore at State, a cheerleader at State, and a very pretty young woman.

by sbas2 on May 26, 2011 12:02 AM EDT reply actions

did anyone else get a chance to see that outstanding catch in center field by Williams on one of Ramsey’s shots? at the end of inning when he came to the dugout, State fans gave him a standing O!

http://twitpic.com/52j6bb

finally, the highlight of the night other than State’s win was meeting Chris Overman’s girl friend, a sophomore at State, a cheerleader at State, and a very pretty young woman.

Pics or it didn’t happen.

Backing The Pack

by Akula Wolf on May 26, 2011 1:05 AM EDT reply actions