The USA Today/ESPN coach’s preseason poll has N.C. State baseball ranked third in the ACC. In a tough conference littered with good teams and big talent, the Wolfpack is ranked high despite a few uncertainties about the fast-approaching season. Questions loom about how the team will perform with new aluminum bats regulated by the NCAA, the pitching rotation and how the team will replace the high character and major production of departed players.
Two of the players lost, Kyle Wilson and Drew Poulk, occupied two-thirds of the outfield. Coach Elliott Avent laid those concerns to rest, at least for now, with an intense off-season of competition that produced seven players capable of playing in the outfield, with three standouts.
“The outfield is a place where you feel like you can platoon,” Avent said. “This year it seems like three guys, although all seven outfielders have looked really well and are probably going to play. There are three guys that have separated themselves and that’s John Gianis in right field, Brett Williams in center and Terran Senay in left field.”
Both Gianis and Senay gained ample experience at the plate and in the field during their playing time with the Pack in previous seasons and spent the offseason improving their game.
Gianis, a junior, battled his way into the lineup the past two seasons and finished off last season as one of the Pack’s best hitters, batting .407 in his last 30 games. He hopes to continue this pattern leading off for the team this season while also performing in the field.
“Drew Poulk was the best right fielder I ever had except for maybe Jake Webber, and I was so worried about that,” Avent said. “But John Gianis has really stepped up and his game is better than it’s ever been. He wants to play, he wants to get better and John Gianis has given us promise there.”
The sophomore left fielder, Senay, displayed a lot of talent last season and said he is settled in and more prepared this season.
“I am definitely better mentally and physically prepared. I gained 15 pounds, my speed is up, I did everything coaches wanted me to do,” Senay said.
Williams, a junior, transferred from Pitt Community College, where he helped lead the team to the NJCAA World Series. Williams has impressed Avent with his play in center.
”Kyle Wilson was as good a center fielder as I have ever had here and the fact of losing him, I thought we would be down until Brett Williams stepped on campus,” Avent said. “Defensively he’s every bit as good as Kyle and some people may say a step better.”
Williams said the atmosphere of the team made him glad to be here.
“It’s amazing for me, just the atmosphere and how people come out with the attitude that ‘Hey, we are going to get better today.’ Everybody takes it so seriously and I can tell everybody wants to play together and win,” Williams said. “The competition is great, everybody is so talented and everybody is determined to get their spot, everybody wants to get better and it’s just a good thing that everyday you have to compete.”
That competition amongst the outfielders pushed them all to new levels.
”We have been competing for jobs all through the fall and the spring. I don’t know how many guys have guys like that behind them,” Gianis said. “They are pushing us everyday for a starting position.”
Avent said the players that left cannot be replaced, but with the nature of college baseball, you just have to keep plugging away.
“You never replace the great ones; you just keep adding great ones to the lineup,” Avent said.
