We’ve known the participants since Monday, we might as well meet them and look for things to watch for in the first regional hosted by the Wolfpack since 2003 (and the first in Raleigh, as the 2003 regional was in Wilson). Let’s take a look at some team stats first. RPIs are from warrennolan.com. State’s matchup with James Madison is slated for 7:00 tonight. Charlotte tackles South Carolina in the 2:00 opener.
| Team | RPI | Runs Scored | Runs Allowed | HR | SB/Att | ERA | Errors |
| NC State | 9 | 403 | 237 | 58 | 52/73 | 3.41 | 75 |
| South Carolina | 19 | 416 | 289 | 103 | 31/53 | 4.38 | 51 |
| Charlotte | 51 | 484 | 306 | 53 | 92/118 | 4.33 | 79 |
| James Madison | 57 | 419 | 342 | 71 | 77/108 | 5.64 | 62 |
All of these teams can score runs. Anyone who’s read what I write knows I have a thing for homeruns, and South Carolina is a team that can certainly tear the cover off the ball, with 103 of them. Of the participants in the regional, only Charlotte has fewer homeruns as a team than State. South Carolina doesn’t run very much, but then again if I had a team full of bombers I probably wouldn’t want to burn too many outs on the basepaths. State has the fewest runs scored of the participants in the regional, but has also allowed the fewest runs. The Wolfpack’s staff ERA is nearly a run lower than the closest team (Charlotte). A glance at the error column shows that defense may play a factor, as only SC has fewer errors than games played on the season (State, while it’s ERA is nice, gave up 42 unearned runs on the season- which is getting close to a run a game! Not good.) State also has an unsettled closer situation (I would guess McConnell will “settle” it, but I’ve been wrong once or twice) as Gillheeney won’t be around for the regional.
As far as individuals are concerned, hear are some names to pay attention to as the weekend unfolds. GASP! For the most part the hitters are the guys that knock the something-or-other out of the ball. (Like you’ve ever seen Juan Pierre highlighted in a preview…)
- OFFENSIVE LEADERS
| Player | Team | Average | Homers | RBI |
| Ryan Pond | NCST | .337 | 8 | 43 |
| Marcus Jones | NCST | .329 | 7 | 47 |
| Pat Ferguson | NCST | .325 | 9 | 38 |
| Matt Payne | NCST | .313 | 9 | 47 |
| Brett Sellers | JMU | .414 | 16 | 52 |
| Steven Caseres | JMU | .349 | 21 | 68 |
| Rob Lyerly | CHA | .367 | 14 | 73 |
| Chris Taylor | CHA | .343 | 19 | 69 |
| Justin Smoak | USC | .377 | 21 | 66 |
| Reese Havens | USC | .363 | 16 | 53 |
| James Darnell | USC | .310 | 18 | 78 |
| Phil Disher | USC | .309 | 19 | 57 |
A note on the USC leaders is that these players represent the 1B, SS, 3B and C positions- that’s a heck of an offensive infield. (What, they couldn’t get Chase Utley for 2B??)
Here’s a quick glance at some pitchers to watch for this weekend. Beneficial to the Wolfpack is the fact that there don’t appear to be any real strikeout artists out there, and you can work a walk out of a lot of the opposing pitchers. (As a sidenote, check out Shunick’s K/BB numbers. That’s pretty solid.
- PITCHING LEADERS
| Player | Team | W-L | ERA | K/BB |
| Clayton Shunick | NCST | 7-5 | 2.12 | 100/21 |
| Jake Buchanan | NCST | 2-2 | 3.10 | 34/12 |
| Eric Surkamp | NCST | 5-2 | 4.39 | 82/34 |
| Turner Phelps | JMU | 7-0 | 3.80 | 83/38 |
| Kurt Houck | JMU | 7-2 | 4.86 | 71/27 |
| Joe Yermal | CHA | 8-1 | 3.81 | 44/20 |
| Zach Rosenbaum | CHA | 5-2 | 4.34 | 41/40 |
| Nick Godwin | USC | 7-3 | 3.02 | 77/22 |
| Blake Cooper | USC | 5-6 | 4.22 | 50/23 |
This should be a fun regional to watch, or track on GameCast as those stuck in Florida, like yours truly, will do. I’ll leave you with a quote from James Madison head coach Spanky McFarland. JMU, or at least the head coach, is clearly not intimidated by their first round matchup. I hope Avent is paying attention and has the boys ready to play.
I know we have a good alumni base down in Raleigh too so that’s good for everybody. That way we should have a nice crowd down there. The other thing I thought about immediately is that it’s an ACC school. We’ve played them before and we’ve beaten them before. So it’s not like we’re going to an SEC school or Pac 10 school with that element of not knowing anything about them.
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May 29th, 2008 at 11:02 am
I hope Coach Tanner like our new facilities. He had to leave NC State because of the lack of them.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:27 am
Something dangerous for State to consider is the fact that JMU will be playing extremely loose. JMU is a young team that everybody thought was still a year away. The team is mostly frosh and sophs and were picked to finish seventh in the CAA. They came together and won the CAA tourney. Basically, my point is that this is all gravy to the Dukes and they are playing with a nothing to lose attirude. Usually that’s a good quality when it comes to baseball. I still think the Pack’s pitching gets the better of JMU and State wins on Friday, 6-4.
May 29th, 2008 at 11:33 am
Lets hope some “home cooking” propels us to a Super Regional. Go Pack!
May 29th, 2008 at 11:45 am
I haven’t managed to slap it in the main body yet, but looking through the schedules UNCW played both us and James Madison. For what it’s worth, we split with UNCW, 12-5 win and 3-2 loss in 11 innings. UNCW swept a three game set against James Madison, outscoring them 41-12. The obvious disclaimer is, much as we’ve seen with other sports, there isn’t really a transitive property when it comes to common opponents.
May 29th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Look at our errors vs. Carolina and then the homeruns. We just don’t have enough big sticks to overcome ANY mistakes.
May 29th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Does anyone know if this game (or any of the Raleigh regional) will be televised in North Carolina on Satellite?
May 29th, 2008 at 7:29 pm
My wife’s father has been going to State baseball games for 50 years. He is excited about this series, except…
Her mother went to JMU! Class of ’40!
They will both be at the game tomorrow.
May 29th, 2008 at 10:07 pm
Can’t wait for tomorrow! As soon as I get out of my class I’m gonna walk over for the S. Carolina v. Charlotte game. I think it’s important that our bats come to life against JMU so we’ll have some offensive confidence going into Saturday
gotta love baseball
Go Pack!
May 30th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
wow… its getting crazy out there already! man I wish I didnt have to miss the game tonight! and I am the one who HATES baseball… but I will pull for the Pack like crazy in ANY post season.
May 30th, 2008 at 12:17 pm
For those around the ballpark, I would LOVE to hear some comments on the atmosphere, if the department has done anything unique, etc. for the regional.
May 30th, 2008 at 10:20 pm
most of the park attendants wore NC State baseball tops which was kinda neat, Mr. and Mrs. Wuf were out makin the rounds, I can’t say there was a whole lotta difference otherwise, though I didn’t walk around too much. I noticed we didn’t play any of our batters’ songs when they stepped up to bat, and there weren’t any sound effects or anything to fill spaces, I’m guessing that’s some lame NCAA rule
May 31st, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Tied up~~Still batting~~