NC State Baseball Subdues Boston College, 4-3
Rogers, Morton Propel Wolfpack To Fifth Win Of Season


Feb. 21, 2003

Final Stats

CHARLESTON, S.C. - Colt Morton homered and doubled and drove in two runs, and Mike Rogers worked eight strong innings to lead NC State to a 4-3 win over Boston College on Friday in the first game of the Charleston Crab House Challenge.

NC State won for the third time in a row and improved to 5-2 on the season. Boston College, the preseason pick for second place in the Big East, fell to 0-1 with the loss.

Wolfpack starter Mike Rogers (2-1), a redshirt-freshman righthander, got the win after allowing two runs on seven hits in eight innings. He walked one and struck out seven. Chad Orvella, the Pack's starting shortstop, made his first collegiate appearance as a pitcher and sandwiched a pair of strikeouts around a base hit to record his first save.

Eagles starter Kevin Shepard (0-1) got the loss after allowing four runs, two of them earned, on four hits in five-plus innings. He walked one and struck out two.

Rogers was unlucky more than anything in surrendering a pair of runs in the top of the second inning. Jason Delaney's leadoff grounder to third base hit the bag and skipped past Dustin Knight for a bad-hop single, and Vinny Scavone's opposite-field line drive down the line in left field was fair by a matter of inches for a double. That put runners on second and third. Rogers struck out Garrett Greer for the first out of the inning, but Eric Wright, the nine hitter in the BC lineup, rolled a two-run single between shortstop and third base to give the Eagles a 2-0 lead. Rogers escaped further damage when right fielder Joe Gaetti cut down Josh DiScipio trying to stretch a single into a double for the final out of the inning.

NC State got its offense untracked in the bottom of the fourth when Matt Camp coaxed Shepard for a walk. Gaetti sacrificed Camp to second, and Camp advanced to third on a groundout by Justin Riley. Camp then decoyed Shepard into a balk for the Wolfpack's first run. Tim Coffield hit a grounder to shortstop for what should have been the third out of the inning, but Ryan Leahy's throw was high for an error, and Morton drove a home run to right field for a pair of unearned runs and a 3-2 NC State lead.

The Wolfpack added a run in the bottom of the sixth. Morton led off with a double down the left-field line, which knocked Shepard out of the game. Reliever Mike Gauthier got Knight on strikes, but David Hicks ripped an RBI double into the gap in right-center field, giving NC State a 4-2 lead.

While the Wolfpack was taking the lead, Rogers was setting down the Eagles. After Drew Locke led off the top of the third inning with an infield single, Rogers retired 11 in a row and 19 of the last 21 men he faced.

Brandon Shipwash relieved Rogers to start the top of the ninth and got Vinny Scavone to ground back to the mound. Garrett Greer looped a single to right field, and pinch-hitter Michael Flynn walked. That brought in Orvella, who struck out Ryan Leahy for the second out. DiScipio singled to drive in BC's third run, but Orvella fanned Drew Locke for the final out of the game.

The Wolfpack will be back in action at 1:30 on Saturday against Richmond in the second round of the Charleston Crab House Chllenge. Live stats are available on http://www.citadelsports.com.