With much of the preseason discussion focusing on the potential talent on the pitching staff, N.C. State’s new-look offense stole the show over the weekend. After putting nine runs on the board Friday, the Wolfpack bats remained hot and pounded out 23 Saturday and capped the series sweep of William and Mary on Sunday with six more.

“We swung [the bats] pretty well,” junior right fielder Ryan Pond said. “It was pretty cold out there, but I thought we made consistent contact all weekend.”

In the three games, State batted .327 as a team, knocked 18 extra-base hits and outscored the Tribe by 31 runs. Coach Elliott Avent said, after Sunday’s win that this year’s offense, despite the loss of six position players off last year’s third-ranked scoring team, could be even better.

“We’re going to be a clutch hitting team and a good situational hitting team — and maybe in a lot more ways, more productive than last year,” Avent said. “Right now, I like what I see.”

Pond, who hit a two-run homerun Sunday, said all the attention being paid to the pitching staff and lack of confidence in the offense has been a source a motivation.

“That’s all everybody’s telling us — that our pitching staff is loaded and we lost so much offense,” Pond said. “It’s almost like a slap in the face.”

But despite the offensive nature of the team, the much-heralded pitching staff did not disappoint, with all three starters picking up wins.

Junior Andrew Brackman got the win Friday after five innings of work in which he allowed just three hits and one earned run.

“Andrew was outstanding,” Avent said.

Sophomore lefty Eric Surkamp was Saturday’s winner, and redshirt junior Jeff Stallings returned from elbow surgery to pick up the win Sunday. Stallings went five innings and allowed three runs while striking out four.

After the game he said it was a “relief” to be on the mound after such a long rehab process.

“It’s been 22 months now,” Stallings said. “So it felt good to get back out there with no pain and no soreness.”

He did, however, admit that he had some nerves before the game.

“I had all these thoughts in the back of my head. And I even got a little emotional before I got out there,” he said. “But other than that, once I threw the first pitch I was fine.”

Sunday’s win also marked the debut of former starting pitcher Eryk McConnell as the closer. McConnell came into the game in the eighth inning and allowed just one base-runner — on a walk — in two innings of work to record the first save of his career at any level of baseball.

“I wasn’t nervous at all. I was really just excited,” McConnell, a redshirt junior, said about working out of the bullpen for the first time. “I was a little worried, actually, going in, that I was going to be a little wild and a little too excited. But I think I did all right.”