In a historic night at Doak Field, NC State baseball head coach Elliott Avent won his 1000th game as a college baseball head coach in a 13-0 win over NC Central.
Avent, in his 21st season as the NC State head coach, has won 776 games as the head coach of NC State after starting his head coaching career at New Mexico State in 1989. The win puts him in an elite category among Division I head coaches. Only 16 other active head coaches in the country have reached the 1000-win milestone.
The win came with little drama, as the Wolfpack jumped on the Eagles early and often.
NC State opened the scoring in the first on a sac fly by junior Joe Dunand, starting a career night for the shortstop. Dunand went 3-3 with two home runs and a double. He drove in five runs and scored two more.
The bottom of the second inning brought five more runs for the Wolfpack, as junior third baseman Evan Mendoza laced an RBI double into right-center field and then scored on a wild pitch to make the score 3-0. Later in the inning with two on, freshman catcher Brad Debo crushed a two-run triple over the center fielder, making the score 5-0. He would later score on a passed ball to complete the inning.
Senior right hander Cory Wilder started the game for NC State but was given the quick hook when he struggled in the first inning. After facing just three batters and allowing a single and a walk, Wilder was pulled by NC State pitching coach Scott Foxhall.
Junior right hander Tommy DeJuneas took over on the mound and pitched well, allowing just two hits in 4.2 innings to earn his third win of the season. The bullpen behind DeJuneas shut down the Eagles just as well, as sophomore Tim Naughton and junior Zach Usselman combined to pitch four scoreless innings to seal the win.
While the arms locked it down, the bats woke up from a tough weekend against Boston College, continuing to pour on runs against the Eagles. The Wolfpack hit three home runs in the 4th inning, starting with junior center fielder Josh McClain, who golfed an 0-2 slider over the left field fence to make it 7-0.
Two batters later, Dunand struck with his first home run of the game, a moonshot that scraped the sky on its way out of the ballpark. Sophomore outfielder Brett Kinneman went back to back with Dunand, ripping a line-drive over the right field fence to make it 10-0. Dunand would strike again in the 5th with a two-run home run and a Debo sac-fly in the 8th put the finishing touches on the rout.
The win may have been a nice way for the Wolfpack to get its bats started again after scoring only four runs against Boston College, but the night belonged to Avent. The win was a culmination of years of hard work and winning at NC State and there will be many more to come in the following years. While the team’s struggles may have made the moment come a little later than expected, the game felt like a perfect way to commemorate perhaps the greatest coach in NC State history.
