David Tracey
Senior infielder Evan Edwards takes a pitch against Louisville on April 13 at Doak Field. Edwards went 2-3 with one triple, one double and two runs scored in the Wolfpack’s 14-10 loss to the Cardinals.
NC State baseball’s recent struggles continued over the weekend with a series loss to ACC opponent Wake Forest. The Wolfpack lost the first game and split a Saturday doubleheader against the Demon Deacons.
The Pack (31-10, 13-7 ACC) has an opportunity to bounce back from its slump with a midweek game against Tennessee Tech (17-20, 5-13 OVC), who currently sits in second-to-last place in the Ohio Valley Conference.
The Golden Eagles as a team are hitting .278 on the season and four of its six batters with over 100 at-bats are hitting over .300 this season. Leading the charge at the plate for the Golden Eagles is senior outfielder Kevin Strohschein, who is hitting .361 with a team-high 57 hits.
Strohschein usually bats second for the Golden Eagles and boasts a .445 on-base percentage, and with first baseman Jason Hinchman, who has a team-high .759 slugging percentage, batting behind him, the top of the Golden Eagles order could cause the Wolfpack some issues.
One of the issues over the recent slump for the Wolfpack, which began on April 2 with a loss to South Carolina in Charlotte, has been on the defensive side. The Wolfpack on average this season allows 4.7 runs per game, but over the skid the Pack has allowed 7.4 runs per game.
Due to the high-scoring nature of some of the Wolfpack’s games during the stretch, such as the 16-4 win over Boston College on April 6 or the 10-14 loss to Louisville on April 13, some may overlook the drop in offense the Wolfpack has experienced. On the season as a whole, which includes the skid, the Wolfpack averages 8.14 runs per game, but during the recent 12-game slump the Wolfpack has averaged 6.75 runs per game.
One player who seems to be pulling out of an individual slump and who could help pull the team out of the slump is freshman center fielder Tyler McDonough. Across the first nine games of the slump, McDonough, who has the second highest batting average on the team at .347, went just 8 for 36 at the plate, but in the series against Wake Forest, the freshman went 7 for 14.
The one player having a better season at the plate for the Wolfpack than McDonough is senior infielder Evan Edwards. Edwards, who is hitting .350 for the season, has hit .396 during the team’s last 12 games, beginning with the South Carolina game, and failed to register a hit in just two of the 12 games.
If the Wolfpack pitching staff can stifle the top of the Golden Eagles’ order, and the other batters can follow the lead of Edwards and McDonough, then the Wolfpack should be able to get its season back on track with a win.
The opening pitch is set for 6 p.m. on Tuesday at Doak Field and can be watched on ACC Network Extra.