The baseball team is looking to bounce back from a disappointing trip to Miami with this weekend’s home conference opener against Maryland.
With his team coming off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Hurricanes and losses in four of the last five games, coach Elliott Avent said it is crucial his team avoid falling any further behind in the competitive ACC.
“It is an important series because we are 0-3, and you don’t want to fall too deep in the well in this league, because it is awfully tough to climb out,” Avent said. “The further down the well you go, the deeper the hole looks, and it becomes impossible, so it seems, to dig [your way] out.”
The team responded well to the disappointment in Miami and to the 11-4 loss Tuesday night to George Mason, which Avent referred to as “hopefully one of the worst games we are capable of ever playing again,” with a 16-3 whitewashing of NC A&T that saw the teams 5-6-7 hitters drive in eight runs on 9-11 hitting.
Junior lefthanded ace Jimmy Gillheeney said he was encouraged by what he saw from the team’s bats Wednesday night, and he went on to say the team’s hitters are in a zone going into the series against Maryland.
“That win Wednesday was a really big confidence booster for our team,” Gillheeney said. “Our hitters seemed so much more relaxed and confident in themselves at the plate, and I feel that our hitters are now more comfortable than ever.”
Though the pitching rotation has not yet been set in stone, State’s probable starters for the weekend are Gillheeney, sophomore right-hander Jake Buchanan and redshirt junior left-hander Alex Sogard.
Gillheeney has followed his All-ACC campaign a year ago with a 2-0 start to this season, and says it will be very important to set the tone early in the Maryland series this weekend.
“The first series at home is always very important, not only for the team but for our fans,” Gillheeney said. “We’re definitely going to get out there and set the tone early, especially in that first game and that usually dictates how the weekends go.”
According to Avent, the team played well in both the Miami series and in Wednesday’s game, and he said his team’s main focus going into the Maryland’s series is on consistency.
“We are very proud of the way we played last night, and we are proud of the way we played in Miami. And we want to be able to put that together on a consistent basis,” Avent said. “Weekday games, weekend games, we want to get some consistency and some emotion and intensity from our team. Hopefully that starts this weekend.”
Despite a disappointing recent stretch of losses, Avent said his team is very talented and that with hard work, a very successful season might be in store for the Pack.
“We are a team that has some guys that have great aspirations,” Avent said. “They want to be good baseball players, they have pride in what they do, and if we keep working toward that, this is going to be a good baseball team. We’re not there yet, we just have to keep working.”
