The N.C. State baseball team’s 2014 campaign was a whirlwind of excitement, frustration, anger and confusion. The nation’s preseason No. 5 team was anticipated to be one of the most promising that State has seen in recent history, but the Pack failed to find much – if any – success this spring.
The Wolfpack had great promise heading into the 2014 season. Junior left-hand pitcher Carlos Rodon was supposed to shut down opposing batters. With junior short-stop Trea Turner leading the offensive charge, the Pack was supposed to make fools of other team’s defense. Third baseman Andrew Knizner, the freshman from Glen Valley, Va. started at the hot corner with already high expectations. State was supposed to ride on the momentum from last year, to take it all the way back to the College World Series and follow through this time around. They were supposed to.
Where did things go sour? How could head coach Elliott Avent’s dream team end with a disappointing 13-17 conference record? If someone had told me in February that Rodon would have a losing season at 6-7, I would have brushed them off as crazy. “Not Rodon, he’s leading the way to Omaha like he did last year.”
Many Pack fans will point back to the mid-March series against the Florida State, and rightfully so. N.C. State arrived in Tallahassee with a 14-2 overall record, riding on incredibly promising performances. However, the weekend series was swept by the Seminoles, who maintained a national ranking in the top 10 over the majority of the season.
The last game that weekend was one of the most impactful contests of the whole season. After 13 emotionally-charged innings, FSU hammered two runs in the final inning to snatch the lead away from State, leaving the Wolfpack bewildered.
After that momentum-crushing game, State returned to Raleigh with an intangible difference in vits gameplay. When news of another winless series in Maryland arrived, fans were left with a sick feeling – two in a row? Although the outcome was disheartening, there was still hope for a turnaround at any time.
And then they lost the third series to Miami.
At that point, N.C. State had lost nine consecutive games against ACC opponents. Halfway through the season, the team was one conference loss away from its total in 2013. Supporters pointed out how the team had dug itself in a hole last year and managed to get out. This year, however, the hole was a little too deep and the walls were a little too steep. This was rock bottom for the 2014 Wolfpack baseball program.
All effort after the triple series debacle was in vain for the Pack. Not even Rodon could pull his teammates back to the top after the irreversible damage was done – that is, if his teammates actually backed him up. Honestly, there should be no reason why a pitcher taken with the third overall pick in the MLB draft should have a losing record in his last year of college.
Now, eliminated from the ACC tournament and not invited to the College World Series, the Pack faithful can only sit back and wonder what was done wrong this year. Perhaps the rest of the team leaned too heavily on Rodon. Maybe team cohesiveness was lacking, or the team just couldn’t recover from its early stumbles.
Despite the bleak outlook, there is still hope for a successful 2015 season. Avent has coached long enough to realize that this year’s team was a poster mark for what not to do. Even though Rodon and junior catcher Brett Austin have packed their bags for Chicago, and Turner for San Diego, solid talent remains in Raleigh. Knizner in particular, whom was recently awarded a Freshman All-American selection from Louisville Slugger, will be the next big name for State. His outstanding ability to perform consistently, even throughout the team’s slump, should be a tell-tale sign of his future success.
2014 was a humbling year for State, going from College World Series contenders to the punching bag of the ACC in one year. Now is a potential turning point for the school’s baseball program. Whatever State does next season, the Pack must learn that digging itself an early hole is a sure recipe for disaster.
