N.C. State falls to Florida State in title game

GREENSBORO -- A one-run, seventh-inning lead slipped away and Florida State beat N.C. State 8-3 in the championship final of the ACC tournament at NewBridge Bank Park Sunday.

Even worse, N.C. State catcher Chris Schaeffer went down at the plate with a concussion in the eighth inning, waiting for the throw from right field as Florida State outfielder James Ramsey ran him over. Play was stopped for 25 minutes as an ambulance came out on the field and took him to Moses Cone Hospital.

"It's hard to go from that play and back to the game," said N.C. State outfielder Kyle Wilson. "We wanted to win the game for him. We had done it all year."

Indeed, N.C. State won seven of eight games this season in extra innings, but had no luck against relievers Sean Gilmartin and Mike McGee, who combined to allow only two hits over the final 4 1/3 innings.

"I've maybe never been more proud of them than the way they came out and finished that game even though it didn't go the way we wanted," N.C. State coach Elliott Avent.

N.C. State (38-22) got a solid start from Alex Sogard, who was pitching on three days of rest after beating Clemson Wednesday. He went 4 1/3 innings, allowing two runs on five hits, with six strikeouts.

"He hasn't done that all year because he hasn't had to," Avent said. "That's the best stuff I've ever seen him have."

Reliever Rob Chamra entered the game in the fifth and got out of a bases loaded jam. In the sixth inning, Grant Sasser relieved Chamra and got two big outs to end the inning, including back-to-back swinging strikes, the first negated because of a called balk, frustrating the Seminoles and coach Mike Martin.

"They made some quality pitches," Martin, who won his fifth ACC championship Sunday. "We weren't smiling. We weren't happy. But we couldn't do anything about it."

Until the next inning in a game that Florida State (42-17) out-hit their opponents 12-7.

N.C. State had already started to run out of pitching in the eighth inning when Schaeffer was run over by Ramsey. Shaeffer laid unconscious, and Ramsey was given the run. It was ruled an obstruction on the catcher because Schaeffer didn't have the ball, according to home plate umpire David Savage.

Avent disagreed strongly, and felt Ramsey should have been ejected for not avoiding Schaeffer.

"We thought the wrong the decision was made," Avent said. "I respect these umpires. We had a good umpiring crew here. They made what they thought was the best decision and we respect that, but we totally disagree with it."

Both teams expressed concern for Schaeffer, including Ramsey.

Schaeffer was later reported to be awake and joking with medical personnel, moving his hands, and had a CT scan planned later in the afternoon. The severity of his condition was unknown.

The play was part of a four-run eighth inning for Florida State, which had already gone ahead 4-3 in the seventh inning.

N.C. State's strong ACC tournament showing wrapped up a solid stretch of baseball stretching back a month.

The Wolfpack will gather at Sammy's Tap Room & Grill to watch the tournament selection show today at noon.

It was a long weekend for N.C. State, with Friday's game postponed until Saturday morning after a half inning and a 1:23 a.m. finish early Sunday morning in the win over Virginia Tech, to get to the final.

Less than 12 hours later, N.C. State had to face a well-rested Florida State team.

N.C. State denied being tired, though Avent said it was a weird schedule.

"We didn't know what time of day it was," he said. "It's kind of like being in Vegas. You look up and there's no clocks."

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