The NC State baseball team is at a crossroads this season. After being ranked as high as No. 6 in the nation in preseason polls, the Wolfpack sputtered out of the gate, losing a series to Wake Forest and two of three in the Irish Classic.
The team has started to right the ship with a series win over a struggling Miami team, but still sits unranked with a disappointing record of 12-9, with 3-3 in the ACC.
Add in the fact that the No. 1 team in the country is visiting Doak Field this weekend and you can understand why it is imperative the Wolfpack starts playing better baseball. Namely, it must get out of its own way when trying to win baseball games.
Take Sunday’s game against the Hurricanes as a prime example. The Wolfpack was one game away from a needed three-game sweep, playing against a Miami offense that had labored to score runs all season. In the first two games of the series, the Hurricanes had lost both games due to an inept offense, allowing the Wolfpack to pull away late in each contest.
Instead of the matchup following a similar script, the Wolfpack gifted the Hurricanes seven runs in the first three innings, using a combination of errors, wild pitches and walks to ensure it did everything possible so Miami could score.
If this result sounds familiar, it’s because it’s happened several times this season.
The Wolfpack walked two batters in the eighth inning against Austin Peay on Feb. 26, allowing the winning run to score on a wild pitch.
Thanks to two errors and three walks, Western Carolina scored four unearned runs on March 6 to steal a win from the Wolfpack.
A throwing error against Wake Forest allowed two runners to advance 90 feet, where they both eventually scored on sacrifice flies. The Wolfpack would go on to lose by a single run in extra innings.
The main culprit for the Wolfpack’s struggles has been the pitching staff, which ranks 192nd in NCAA baseball in strikeout-to-walk ratio and is 214th in walks allowed this season. The staff has held opponents to just .240 batting average against, and as a group holds a 3.84 ERA. But it is weighed down with 99 walks and 12 wild pitches.
Getting junior Brian Brown more involved as he gets healthy should help, as should the eventual full return of redshirt junior Cody Beckman.
Freshman Dalton Feeney and Michael Bienlien have obvious talent, but they are just a little way away from unlocking it fully. Their freshman struggles are understandable and expected.
However, the early season mishaps of junior Tommy DeJuneas and seniors Cory Wilder and Sean Adler are not. The three pitchers all have the talent and tools to be successful, but until they can consistently find the strike zone, it will continue to be maddeningly frustrating to watch them pitch.
Although, this isn’t to say that the offense is completely without fault for the team’s struggles. NC State is hitting just .251 as a team, and many of the pieces expected to carry the team this season have struggled.
Junior third baseman Evan Mendoza is hitting just .224 this season, after batting .362 and stringing together a 23-game hitting streak last season.
Junior Stephen Pitarra has become an afterthought in the Pack lineup, earning just three hits in 33 total at-bats this season, a year removed from hitting .291 with 25 RBI and 36 runs scored.
Juniors Brock Deatherage and Shane Shepard have scuffled and Joe Dunand has shown good power but little else.
In fact the only reliable pieces to the offense have been freshmen Will Wilson, Brad Debo and stud junior centerfielder Josh McClain, who is having an unbelievable season.
The Wolfpack has the talent to be the team that everyone expected it to be when the season began, but it also carries several fatal flaws that have cost it several wins this season. With a formidable Louisville Cardinal team lurking this weekend, the pressure will be on for the Wolfpack to elevate its game or face a surefire sweep at the hands of its opponent.
