The No. 10 N.C. State (14-5, 3-3 ACC) baseball team entered the season with high expectations for its trio of junior pre-season All-Americans. Now a month into the season, no one anticipated that a freshman would be leading the Wolfpack offense.
Freshman third baseman Andrew Knizner has emerged as one of the Wolfpack’s key players, leading the team in batting average (.448), RBIs (15), slugging percentage (.621) and on base percentage (.484). Knizner is also tied for first on the team in doubles (4) and home runs (2). The freshman’s marks in batting average and slugging percentage are tops in the ACC, one of the nation’s premier baseball conferences.
Knizner’s video game-like numbers through State’s first 19 games make him very strong candidate for a place on the Freshman All-American team, an honor last earned in 2012 by shortstop Trea Turner and pitcher Carlos Rodon. Knizner said he is happy to get off on the right foot in Raleigh.
“To be honest, I didn’t expect this kind of success so fast,” Knizner said. “My only goal was to come in and contribute in any way possible to the team. It just so happens that right now I’m seeing the ball really well and have been getting a lot of hits.”
The third base position was a question mark for the Wolfpack entering the season. Head coach Elliott Avent was faced with the prospect of replacing graduated senior Grant Clyde, who batted .282 with 26 RBIs in the Wolfpack’s run to Omaha in 2013. Clyde also provided solid defense and, along with Turner, made the left side of State’s infield one of the best in the ACC.
But talk of the Pack’s hole at third base was forgotten in preseason forecasts, as the media concentrated on State’s losses in the bullpen and at first base. Though the Pack’s bullpen replacements have been efficient so far, not one player has shined this season quite like Knizner, a gem from Avent’s 2013 recruiting class.
Avent was able to lure the Glen Allen, Va. native out of his home state, where Knizner was a star at Hanover High School, setting the school record for career hits (104) and career runs scored (86). He also led the Hawks to 23 straight wins and the Virginia AAA state championship game. Knizner said State’s superb coaching staff and excellent academic programs led him to Raleigh.
“N.C. State fits me academically as well as athletically,” Knizner said. “They have the major I wanted to go into, which is engineering. The coaches are great here, the facilities are awesome and playing on a top-10 team isn’t too bad.”
The freshman has already proven himself against one of the nation’s best pitching staffs. Knizner went 7-of-13 against No. 2 Florida State this past weekend, including a 5-for-7 day Saturday.
With the ACC stacked with championship contenders (six of its 15 teams are in the Top 25 as of Monday), the Wolfpack will need Knizner to keep producing if it wants to contend for the NCAA title deep into June. But Knizner said none of his goals have anything to do with individual statistics.
“Our first goal is to win the ACC,” Knizner said. “I think that would be a really big step for us. But our ultimate goal is going back to Omaha and hopefully winning it this time around. Right now we are just taking it one game at a time.”
