There’s a certain look NC State baseball head coach Elliott Avent gets from a player that lets him know his guy is ready for the moment. Players such as legendary NC State baseball pitcher Evan Justice gave that look to Avent in 2021 before he closed out No. 1 seed Arkansas in back-to-back games to send NC State to the College World Series.
Fast forward three years later and Avent needed 14 outs for his Wolfpack team to advance to the College World Series for the second time in four years. There were only ever two arms he was going to call upon because they gave him the same look: then-freshman pitcher Jacob Dudan and then-sophomore pitcher Derrick Smith.
Dudan was summoned first. He came in the bottom of the fifth inning with one out, the bases loaded and a 4-2 lead. Oh, and Charlie Condon — the eventual Golden Spikes Award winner who led the NCAA in home runs, batting and slugging percentage — was up to bat. Unfazed, Dudan promptly struck out Condon on four pitches then got the next batter to groundout to maintain the Pack’s 4-2 lead.
Dudan returned for the sixth and gave up a run after his offense scored a run in the top of the inning. The Huntersville, North Carolina native then came back in the seventh but allowed two baserunners on with no outs. It was now time for Smith to enter.
Although Smith had never pitched three innings in an outing in his college career, Avent entrusted him to pitch the final three frames with two runners on, no outs, a 6-3 lead and a trip to the College World Series on the line.
Smith got out of the seventh — giving up just one unearned run — then had a clean eighth but was already approaching a career-high in pitches going into the ninth. With each pitch thrown, Smith’s nerves ramped up.
“I was running out of what I had in the tank,” Smith said.
He allowed a home run in the inning, but Avent stuck with him, and Smith got the last nine outs of the game to send the Wolfpack to the College World Series. Even though both came in the game earlier than usual with runners on base, Avent had no doubt they’d be the ones who’d secure the Pack’s return to the World Series.
“It got to a time where you could just see it in their eyes,” Avent said. “That’s what great players do, and Derek Smith and Dudan had that look.”
At that point in the season, Dudan and Smith had established themselves as the Wolfpack’s closers, but it wasn’t always like that. Dudan was a freshman and didn’t expect to be in high-leverage situations at all and neither did his coach.
“Jacob Dudan kind of came out of nowhere,” Avent said. “We had no idea when the season began that he was going to be who he became.”
The guy that Dudan became was a Freshman All-American who led NC State with 27 appearances, earning six saves and 56 strikeouts over 48 innings.
Smith had only pitched three innings his freshman season and didn’t make an appearance until the sixth game of last season. But as the season went on, Smith locked down the closer role when he had a 13-game stretch where he allowed just four hits and one earned run with 12 scoreless outings.
“I had the best stuff I’ve ever had,” Smith said. “Strung those outings together and together, and then from there on I got the call late in games, went out there and continued to do the same thing over and over.”
The first time they went back-to-back to close a game was in the eighth game of the season when they combined for a scoreless ninth inning against Towson. From then on they took turns closing out games, joking that they kept taking the closer role from each other. Dudan actually started the season as the closer, then Smith took the role, but there were only six instances where they pitched one after the other. Most of the time in a series, Smith closed out a game and Dudan would close out the next.
Both point to the same series where they knew they had something special in the back of the bullpen. In a series against then-No. 2 Clemson, Smith notched a one-inning save in Game 1, and in Game 2, they combined for 3.1 scoreless innings to clinch the series against the Tigers.
“That’s really when we got the closing spot,” Dudan said. “Then we go to places like Virginia, Florida State, UNC, and it’s just us two are the ones closing.”
“Clemson was when we knew the back end could be really, really scary and dangerous if me and him were back there whenever we had a lead,” Smith said.
From then on, their names were always called when the Wolfpack needed to close a game. In a series win over then-No. 11 UNC-Chapel Hill, Smith closed out the last two innings in game 1 and the next day, Dudan secured the save. In the last two games of a sweep over then-No. 8 Wake Forest, Dudan threw 2.2 scoreless innings to close out Game 2, and Smith recorded three strikeouts in the ninth the next day for a save and sweep. Then to win the Raleigh Regional, they combined for three innings and gave up just one run in a 5-3 win over James Madison.
“Just us two throughout the rest of the season it just felt like the game was over,” Dudan said. “If we were up three or even less than three, with two or three innings to go.”
Despite competing for the same role at times, neither Dudan nor Smith got jealous of one another.
“We had a ton of faith in each other last year,” Dudan said.
The only competition they had was trying to make one other better whether that was giving information to each other when one came off the mound or just looking over the scouting report together.
“Good players tend to feed off each other, and they kind of compete with one another,” Avent said. “The way you get better is not only competing with yourself, but competing with teammates in a team-oriented kind of way, and it’s just really cool to see how those guys go about their business doing that.”
For it being their first time in high-leverage situations, both thrived in it. Smith and Dudan both like the adrenaline rush they get when their name is called, knowing there is pressure on them to get the outs whether there’s no one on base or the bases are loaded.
“It’s adrenaline, and you’re just waiting to hear your name,” Smith said. “The second you hear your name, it’s showtime, and there’s no turning back now.”
“You hear your name get called, and then just like an immediate boost of adrenaline, you just start zoning in, and everyone’s just cheering, and it just gets you going,” Dudan said.
When they get into a situation where the bases are loaded or they need to get the last three outs, both make sure to focus on their breathing while dialing in on the catcher. Smith was impressed with the poise Dudan showed late in games despite having never been in high-leverage situations before. And Dudan admired Smith for staying patient his freshman year while preparing for the moment.
“We were both very calm during the high-leverage situations, which I think carried us through,” Dudan said.
As for this season, Smith expects to be in the same closer role he was in at the end of last year. He’s working on the shape consistency of his fastball and slider and is adding a changeup that he can have in his back pocket.
Dudan’s role is more up in the air. He’s not quite sure if he’ll be a starter or a high-leverage reliever again.
“No matter what my role is, of course, I’m gonna go out there and compete for the team,” Dudan said.
Avent said Dudan, who was just named a preseason First-Team All-American, has become “more of a pitcher than a thrower” and has added a third pitch that could put him in a starter role, but Avent expects him to start the year in the bullpen.
No matter what role either one plays this season, Avent will have the confidence to call on Dudan or Smith in any situation because he knows they’ll have that look in their eyes.
