When the Wolfpack travels down to Florida this weekend, it will be competing against the best team in the Miami area. Not only have the Hurricanes defeated almost every opponent in the conference while compiling an 8-3 ACC record, with their only losses coming in a series sweep at Georgia Tech, they have also defeated an MLB team.
That’s correct, Miami played against the Florida Marlins, a Major League Baseball franchise, and won 9-8, in an exhibition game prior to the Marlins season.
Thanks to a loose mindset that the Pack (18-12, 5-7 ACC) has taken on since the Clemson series, sophomore pitcher Chris Overman said that the baseball team has been playing sharp lately.
“We’ve been playing loose ever since the Clemson series at home,” Overman said. “Hopefully we can take that same mentality down to Miami with us. If this team is playing that way and executing on the mound and throwing strikes, we can play with anybody in the country.”
State’s bullpen has been on a tear recently with Overman and company, which has helped the team win two straight conference games along with a crucial win over in-state rival ECU.
Overman believes the bullpen will play an important role in bringing home a series win against the Hurricanes on Sunday.
“The bullpen is going to play a big role,” Overman said. “Obviously our starters have been going pretty far into games. Cory [Mazzoni] always takes the game pretty late on Fridays. And then Saturday and Sunday the starters should hold up well, but if they don’t the bullpen’s always got them.”
The Hurricanes pitching, particularly their bullpen as well, has been consistently good this season. Miami showcases seven pitchers overall who have a sub-3.00 ERA and two pitchers out of the bullpen with ERAs lower than 1.00.
While junior infielder Pratt Maynard said he was impressed by the numbers, he knows the Pack can put together runs early and has confidence in his own bullpen.
“Their bullpen may be great, but we can put up runs on anybody right now,” Maynard said. “I’m not too worried about scoring runs against them. We have a pretty good bullpen ourselves that can keep us in games late even if we are struggling.”
The team has had a really good record at home this season, but the team has struggled thus far on the road in conference play. The Pack has lost both series in the ACC away from Doak Field at Dail Park against Duke and Georgia Tech, going 1-5 overall.
Coach Elliott Avent knows his team has shown some woes on the road, but he still believes the experience should be fun going on the road.
“I’ve always enjoyed playing on the road,” Avent said. “We obviously play well here at Doak Field, but there is something really nice about getting out of town with your team and relaxing. Miami is a fun place to play, and we have a lot of players from there so it should be fun.”
Though the team may not be performing well on the road, Avent continued to say that he is happy with the way the Pack has been playing and hopes they will continue to rely on each other over the weekend.
“I’m tickled to death with the way this team is playing right now,” Avent said. “They are starting to feed off of each other and depend on each other. When you get guys depending on one another, it makes things easier as a coach. When you can lean on your teammates, it makes the team better as a whole.”
Although Miami’s pitching has been strong to start the season, the offense has proven potent as well. Rony Rodriguez was named the ACC Player of the Week last week after hitting .750 with one home run in three games. The Canes’ Harold Martinez leads the team with 21 RBI and is second only to Rodriguez with a .289 batting average.
But with players like Maynard and sophomore infielder Chris Diaz hitting above .330, junior starting pitcher Cory Mazzoni said the Wolfpack has nothing to worry about if it sticks to a certain mentality.
“Rony [Rodriguez] and Harold [Martinez] are really anchoring that lineup right now,” Mazzoni said. “Those are two of the best hitters in the ACC, so getting them out would really help us out in some of the games. We can’t go into games looking at their stats, but instead imagine them all as .400 hitters.”
With all of the factors taken into account, sophomore infielder Matt Bergquist believes that if the team has smart at-bats down in Miami, everything else will fall into place.
“If we go up there to the plate with a plan we’ll do fine,” Bergquist said. “If we just go up there trying to find a hit we’re going to struggle. If we are moving runners over and doing the little things, [the] right things should take care of themselves and hopefully lead to wins.”
