Pete Ellis
After managing to score a total of five runs in game losses Friday and Saturday, the baseball team’s offense exploded to knock off Maryland 20-3 in the final game of its three-game series against the Terrapins.
N.C. State’s 18 hits Sunday were just one less than the combined total for the two previous games.
As for how his team could do poorly for two straight games and then turn it around in a just a day’s time, coach Elliott Avent couldn’t provide a definite reason.
“I can’t tell you what the difference was,” Avent said. “It was basically the same pitching we saw Friday and Saturday. So I’m not going to put it on [Maryland’s] guys.”
Junior shortstop Ramon Corona shared Avent’s confusion about the two-faced nature of the Wolfpack’s offense over the weekend, but did, however, have an explanation for the struggles.
“We were putting too much pressure on ourselves in certain situations where we had runners on. We were trying to do too much, and we were swinging at bad pitches,” he said. “Our pitchers were pitching well, and we weren’t helping them out. So we put some pressure on ourselves, and that wasn’t helping [the offense] out.”
Corona, who was a preseason All-America selection, broke out of his season-long slump Sunday with a single and a triple. Coming into the game, he was batting a .156.
“There are some frustrations when you go through a bad time. And today it felt good to get a couple of hits and just contribute to the team,” Corona said. “Before, it felt like I would kill rallies instead of getting things started.”
After four innings Sunday, the Pack held a 3-1 lead, and the game appeared to be headed toward another low-scoring affair similar to the previous two. But in the fifth, State’s bats ignited, and before the inning was over the score was 16-1.
“We had more timely hits, which we weren’t getting before,” senior catcher Caleb Mangum said of the team’s offensive breakout. “And the next thing you know you’ve scored 10 runs, and you didn’t even know it.”
On the mound for the weekend, State allowed a total of 13 runs, and junior starter Andrew Brackman suffered his first loss of the season Friday afternoon. On Saturday four different pitchers combined on a five-hitter, but gave up a two-run homerun in the ninth that proved to be the difference in the game.
But despite the losses, Avent said he is pleased with the performance of his much-heralded pitching staff.
“The pitching staff was outstanding,” he said.
Sunday, like Saturday, saw four pitchers get work for the Pack with freshman Jimmy Gillheeney picking up the first win of his career in relief of redshirt junior Jeff Stallings.
Gillheeney relieved Stallings after the third inning and allowed just one run on four hits while striking out four.
Freshman Sam Brown and junior Joel Brookens pitched the eighth and ninth, respectively, and allowed just one hit — a solo home run off Brown.
“We did a good job today,” Stallings said of the staff. “Just holding it down until our offense finally came around.”
With the win, State improved to 12-6 on the season and avoided opening its ACC schedule with a sweep at home, something Avent said was “vital” to the team’s chances of success in the conference.
“To get swept at home in this league, you put yourself — maybe not behind the eight-ball — but definitely on either side of it,” he said.
Mangum said he talked to the team before and after the game about the importance of early conference games, given the competitive nature of the ACC from top to bottom.
“A lot of guys don’t understand, when you get down the stretch, and you’ve got Miami and then Carolina and then the next weekend you’ve got Florida State, just how important these games at home are,” Mangum said. “We have trouble getting up for teams like this. And we’ve got to realize that we can’t just throw our gloves on the field and expect to win. We have to get after it every day.”