The NC State baseball team earned two tough wins over the weekend against a highly underrated Wright State team. While most people will simply see the small school’s name and assume the Wolfpack should easily pull a sweep, the Rowdy Raiders are favorites to win the Horizon League in 2016 and have several players who will be drafted in the MLB Draft.
The Wolfpack looked like the top-25 team that many media outlets project them to be in the last two games of the series. The pitching and hitting finally came together to give the Wolfpack a complete performance for the first time all season. As the team prepares for two weekday series games, here are some quick hits about the team.
Pitching Staff
After the Wolfpack pitching staff allowed 14 hits and 10 runs to Wright State in the opening game of the series, the collective ERA of the staff ballooned to 6.40. The starters were badly underperforming, with only junior Joe O’Donnell advancing past the fifth inning in a start. The bullpen wasn’t performing much better.
“Starting pitching is going to have to pick it up a little bit,” head coach Elliott Avent said. “We’re playing about as good as we can offensively, but obviously we are gonna have to pick it up pitching wise.”
Two games later, the outlook for the team is trending upwards due to a couple of strong performances by sophomore Brian Brown on Saturday and O’Donnell again on Sunday. Brown only lasted five innings but he only allowed three hits and one unearned run.
He was bailed by a strong bullpen performance by sophomore Cody Beckman, but he looked more like an ace than he did in his first start of the season.
The Wolfpack will be looking hard at redshirt junior Johnny Piedmonte and Williamson to see who can take the open weekend rotation spot.
The bullpen has reliable arms in senior Will Gilbert and sophomore Tommy DeJuneas, but is still looking for reliable arms behind its two stalwarts.
Sophomore Evan Brabrand looked strong in his first outing of the season, but he allowed four runs in just one inning of work on Saturday. Beckman seems to be in the best shape to claim a role, but his sample size is small, making it hard to christen him a reliable bullpen arm.
Third Base
With freshman Xavier LeGrant taking over at second base and not looking back, the only position still up for grabs is third base. Sophomore Evan Mendoza, a converted pitcher, made his first start at the hot corner on Saturday and not only earned his first career hit but went 3-4 and drove in a run. He again earned the nod from Avent on Sunday and went 1-3 with a run scored.
The job may still be up for grabs but Mendoza played very well over the weekend and definitely has made a better impression than sophomore Stephen Pitarra or senior Ryne Willard has in the early going. Time will continue to sort out this position battle and Pitarra and Willard will have opportunities to regain the upper hand.
Weekday Games
The Wolfpack returns to action relatively quickly with two midweek games against in-state foes, facing UNC-Greensboro on Tuesday and UNC-Wilmington on Wednesday. The Spartans are 6-1 after sweeping Binghamton over the weekend. UNCW enters the game undefeated at 6-0.
Junior catcher Andrew Knizner noted that although the midweek games aren’t against big-name schools, the importance of winning them is undeniable toward reaching a regional.
“It’s almost like the extra credit, and if you get the extra credit, when it comes time to make the regional, the extra credit is going to bump you up in that regional,” Knizner said. “Winning these midweek games is good to keep the RPI and stuff like that up so when we go into postseason time we’re in a good place.”
Piedmonte and junior right-hander Cory Wilder will each get a start in the mid-week games and, although the coaching staff hasn’t announced who will start on what day, my money is on Piedmonte on Tuesday and Wilder on Wednesday.
Avent also hinted at the possibility of DeJuneas making an appearance in the field and the team trying to get a look at redshirt junior Karl Keglovits this week as well.
Either way the team chooses to play it, it should be two wins for the Wolfpack against in-state foes before it sets its sights on next weekend’s Irish Classic.
