Back in late April, many fans might have regarded post-season expectations for the baseball team as little more than wishful thinking. It had dropped four straight games, including three losses in three days against Boston College and had also fallen to in-state rival Elon to further hurt its chances of qualifying for the ACC Tournament. Upcoming series against then-No.’s 6 and 5 Georgia Tech and Florida State, respectively, did little to make post-season play seem any more likely.
But with the 2010 ACC Tournament kicking off Wednesday in Greensboro, the baseball team has found its stride, and it could not have done so at a better time.
The Pack finished with a three-game sweep of Duke in its final regular season action to clinch a place in the ACC Tournament. Including the sweep of Duke, the Wolfpack won 10 of its last 13 regular season games.
“Our team has a lot of fight,” sophomore catcher Pratt Maynard said. “We hit a few bumps during the season but kept working hard. It just feels good to end the season on a high note and earn a spot in the ACC tournament.”
Having split six games in that span against the nationally ranked Seminoles and Yellow Jackets, State has no shortage of confidence in its chances in Greensboro.
“From year to year, our conference proves to be one of the most competitive in the entire nation so it is going to be exciting,” coach Elliott Avent said. “But with the way our guys are playing right now though, I think we have a great chance in the tournament.”
State’s success down the stretch has come thanks in large part to its bats. The Pack scored 106 runs over its final 13 games, and no two players had more to do with it than senior cousins Dallas and Drew Poulk. Both recently received All-ACC honors, with Dallas making the first team and Drew being named to the second team. Their season-long dominance at the plate made for interesting circumstances going into the season finale Saturday against Duke. The cousins entered the game sharing the conference lead with 84 hits apiece. Knowing this, both players had strong outings, as Dallas went 2-for-4 to finish the regular season with 86 hits. But his cousin Drew outdid him, finishing the season with an ACC-best 87 hits after going 3-for-3 against the Blue Devils.
“If our bats continue to stay hot like they have all year and we get good pitching from our starters and bullpen, we can definitely be a force in the tournament,” Dallas said.
The eight tournament teams will be divided into two pools, Division A and Division B, of four teams each. Starting Wednesday, each tournament team will play three games in four days. After Saturday, the team from Division A with the best three-game record will take on whichever team performs the best in Division B.
State took on No. 2 seed Clemson Wednesday night and WHAT HAPPENED, The Pack will take on No. 3 seed Georgia Tech at 8 p.m. Friday and will play No. 6 seed Virginia Tech at the same time Saturday night.
Dallas said he is excited about his team’s opportunity to go out and accomplish the goal it has had in mind all season.
“We’ve been talking about winning the ACC championship all year long,” Dallas said. “So that is the ultimate goal. We need to go into the tournament, make some noise and hopefully get a bid to NCAA Regionals.”
