Like all college sports, every season coaches have to go about signing and refilling their respective rosters after players leave early to play professional sports or graduate. Unlike pro teams, coaches can’t offer lucrative contracts to players in hopes of keeping them with their team for years to come.

However, this concept is what makes college athletics so special, especially baseball. With a much smaller roster size than football, baseball coaches have to go out and find enough talented players to field a team for an entire season. And this offseason, coach Elliott Avent had a big time job as he was forced to replace his top three hitters from last season, as well as the ace of the pitching staff.

“You never replace people,” Avent said. “What you try to do is get everybody to step forward and not try to replace him but just keep getting better with the people you have. We think we have some people that have stepped up this fall and spring and we are excited to see what they can do.”

Last season seniors Kyle Wilson, Drew Poulk and Dallas Poulk, had the top three averages on the team, while accounting for 191 runs and 167 RBI. So needless to say, replacing that trio of players will be a tough task for the Pack’s offense.

But there are still some offensive holdovers from last season. Juniors Andrew Ciencin, Harold Riggins and Pratt Maynard have all been staples of the Pack offense over the last two seasons. Ciencin drove in a team-high 77 runners last year, while Riggins was second in the team in home runs, with 12. If all three players can continue to develop, along with the influx of new talent, Avent believes this offense can be one of the best in the NCAA.

“We got guys that can hit,” Avent said. “We think we have as good of a hitting team as there is in the country and we are going to do what we have to do to score runs.”

One of the players Avent will be counting on is transfer Brett Williams. The junior centerfielder from Pitt College will be given the task of replacing Kyle Wilson and has drawn lofty comparisons by his coach, especially on the base paths.

“Brett Williams has some speed on the bases,” Avent said. “He can just drive you crazy, much like Brian Roberts did a few years ago when he was in this league.”

Another big question mark for the Pack this season will be its starting rotation. Last season, State’s weekend rotation consisted of Jake Buchannan, Cory Mazzoni and Alex Sogard. But now with only Mazzoni left, younger pitchers such as sophomore Danny Healey and transfer Josh Easley will have to step up.

“I don’t think any year you can talk about question marks and be accurate when you talk about how your season is going to unfold,” Avent said. “We like our staff. We think we have plenty of depth and they are just going to have to perform like you have to do in every phase of the game. We are happy with our depth and our pitching staff.”

The back end of the pitching staff will also be a work in progress, as the season goes along. Last season, the Pack had five different pitchers record saves, and it seems at least for now, a closer-by-committee looks to be the solution.

“Everybody has a chance to close,” Avent said. “Right now it will be the closer-by-committee type of deal is where we are. It’s whoever gets the last out is the guy that is going to close the game.”

Even though the team lost some of its big name players, Avent still believes that this team has a lot of experience, much of which was gained last year during the team’s ACC Tournament run. And Avent believes that experience will help translate over to this season and help the players understand what it takes to get back to where they were a year ago.

“Those guys have been through two years at N.C. State and they can tell the story to those guys that weren’t here,” Avent said. “Those guys knew the effort, the hard work, the ups and downs and what it took to get to that championship game and what it meant to play in the championship game.

“So they have a memory and that memory will always be etched in their mind, so when we have a two-game losing streak or heaven forbid a three-game losing streak, those guys know what it takes to turn things around and they know what we need to do to get there.”

Projected lineup

1. Brett Williams CF

2. John Gianis RF

3. Pratt Maynard DH

4. Harold Riggins 1B

5. Andrew Ciencin 3B

6. Chris Schaeffer C

7. Tarran Senay LF

8. Matt Bergquist SS

9. Chris Diaz 2B