Presbyterian Weekend Preview

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Wolfpack Baseball takes a break from the conference grind this weekend and welcomes the Blue Hose of Presbyterian College to town for a three game weekend series.

Not to be confused with the Blue Hoes (we played them last week), the Presbyterian Blue Hose hails from Clinton, South Carolina and is a member of the Big South Conference.

Blue Hose is apparently a Scottish thing and refers to something worn beneath the kilt.  All this time I thought part of the attraction of the kilt was going freestyle under there.  But I guess in the heat of battle it’s probably better to have one’s weapons secured.  Either way, I will now take the high road and not resort to anymore “Blue Hose” related smart assery (probably, at least).

We’ll get right to the Blue Hose preview and save the ACC and extraneous stuff for the bottom…

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PC_block-logoPresbyterian College Blue Hose

23-22 (9-9, 2nd South Division, Big South)
2012: 24-31 (10-14, 9th Big South)

The Presbyterian Blue Hose have been as least somewhat of an upstart this season.  Currently one game above .500 overall at 23-22, and with a .500 mark in their league (9-9), they currently sit in 2nd place of the South Division of the Big South standings, four games behind perennial power Coastal Carolina.  The Blue Hose had been picked 6th in their division and 10th overall in the preseason.

With three more weeks left in the regular season, Presbyterian needs just one more win to tie their season best overall win total (24) since moving to D1 in ’08, and just one more conference win to likewise match their Big South record (10).  They have 11 games remaining (@NCSU x3, @Vanderbilt, @SC), with 6 in conference (vs Longwood x3, @Gardner-Webb x3).

To say the least they have their work cut out for them in their remaining non-conference matchups, but hopefully they can score at least two more wins in conference to set season bests for overall and conference wins.

This is the first season the Big South has used a divisional format.  Presbyterian’s 9-9 conference record is currently 7th best overall as compared to their 9th place non-divisional finish last season.

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At The Plate

The Blue Hose aren’t (isn’t? is it singular or plural?) particularly frightening offensively, but they aren’t exactly terrible either.  Well, maybe that’s debatable, but they do have a few guys to keep an eye on.  Keep in mind the competition levels when looking at these numbers, however.

On the season, they’ve been batting .258 as a team with 14 HRs, 187 runs scored (4.16 r/g) with 155 batted in, and a team slugging pct of .340.  They’re not a particularly disciplined bunch at the plate, striking out 259 times (5.76 K/g) against only 131 walks (2.91 bb/g).

They’ve stolen 49 bases on the year in 67 attempts.

Brandon Paul (#14, Jr, RF/C) leads the Blue Hose with a .321 batting average.  He’s also knocked in 20 (3rd) and scored 20 (4th).  He hasn’t gone deep yet this season, but he has doubled 10 times (t1st).  His 8 steals (11 attempts) is 3rd best on the team.

Brad Zebedis (#19, Jr, 1B) is probably their best all around offensive weapon.  He bats .308, leads the team in RBIs (27), is tied for second with 24 runs scored.  He also has occasional power with 3 HRs on the season (2nd) and is tied for the team lead with 10 doubles.  His .419 slgpct is the second best mark on the team.

With a .302 average, Aaron Preston (#17, Sr, CF) holds his own at the plate as well.  His .426 slgpct is tops on the team as are his 10 doubles (t1st) and 2 triples.  He’s also gone deep twice on the year.  His .400 onbase% is best on the team, and his 10 steals (11 attempts) is tied for team best as well.  He has knocked in 22 runs (3rd) and scored 31 (1st) on the year.  He’s drawn the most walks on the team this year (23) but has also struck out the most (46).

And then there’s Nate Chong (#12, JR, LF), who’s a feast or famine type guy.  He leads the Blue Hose with 7 HRs on the year and is tied for the lead with 10 steals (13 attempts).  He also has scored 24 times on the season, good enough for second best on the team.  At the same time however, he bats only .215 and has walked only 16 times against 37 strikeouts.  When he gets on base he’s dangerous, but he generally keeps himself off base.

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In The Field

The Presbyterian pitching staff isn’t particularly horrible, but again consider the competition levels.  Their staff currently sports a 3.93 ERA.  They’ve struck out 242 (5.38 K/g) while walking only 135 (3.0 bb/g).  Their 1.31 WHIP isn’t abhorrent at all.  They’ve given up only 16 HRs on the year, opposing batters are averaging .262 against them and they’ve given up an average of 4.62 runs per game.

The three starters the Pack is likely to face over the weekend (this is a bit of a guess at this point, but it is an educated guess.  If I’m wrong then I might update this…or I might not):

Beau Dees (#11, Soph, LHP) – 5-4, 2.23 ERA, 76.2 IP, 3 HRs, .228 against avg, 50 Ks, 22 BBs
Chandler Knox (#27, Jr, RHP) – 4-4, 5.11 ERA, 68.2 IP, 3 HRs, .292 against avg, 42 Ks, 14 BBs
Bud Jeter (#31, Jr, RHP) – 5-4, 2.21 ERA, 85.2 IP, 1 HR, .241 against avg, 71 Ks, 24 BBs

The Blue Hose are solid in the field defensively overall (.972 team fldpct) though a couple of guys have had some adventures at times, including both middle infielders Hagan (SS) and Montroni (2B).

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Links

No. 5 NC State Hosts Presbyterian on ESPN3 (GoPack.com)

Presbyterian College Baseball Home (GoBlueHose.com)

Weekend Notes

College Stock Report: Week 11 (BaseballAmerica.com)

National Seeds

SECURE TEAMS: North Carolina, Vanderbilt, Louisiana State

ON THE BUBBLE (IN): Virginia, Cal State Fullerton, Oregon State, North Carolina State, Oregon

ON THE BUBBLE (OUT): South Carolina, Indiana, Florida State

No change from last week. We are being a little more cautious with our “secure teams” list, downgrading Virginia, Fullerton and Oregon State to national seed bubble status, although we still think all of those teams are on track to earn national seeds if they finish as expected. And we continue to think the winner of the series between Florida State and N.C. State in Raleigh will determine which team gets a third national seed out of the ACC. We are projecting the Wolfpack to win that May 11-13 series at home.

2013 NCAA Regional Projections (May 2nd) (CollegeBaseballDaily.com)

Raleigh Regional

  • 1. NC State
  • 2. *UNC-Wilmington
  • 3. *Campbell
  • 4. *Western Carolina

College Baseball Daily’s Ginger Poulson apparently thinks we’ll drop the FSU series at home and not garner the national seed, but she’s cute so we’ll cut her some slack for being wrong on this one 😀

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Games Schedule – Pitching Probables

  • 5/3 Friday 6:30pm – Ethan Ogburn vs Beau Dees
  • 5/4 Saturday 6:30pm – Anthony Tzamtzis vs Chandler Knox
  • 5/5 Sunday 1pm – Carlos Rodon vs Bud Jeter

***All three games to be streamed live over ESPN3***

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ACC Update

After splitting last weekend’s rain shortened 2 game series with Carolina, the Pack moved up to #5 in the Baseball America Top 25 poll this week.  As noted above, Baseball America’s Aaron Fitt is also currently projecting that State will be one of 8 national seeds for the upcoming NCAA Tournament.

Nonetheless, the Wolfpack (34-11, 15-8 ACC) is currently sitting in 2nd place in the ACC’s Atlantic Division a half game behind 1st place FSU (16-8), which took Wake (7-17, 5th Atlantic, 9gb) down three straight last weekend at home.  Like the Pack, the ‘Noles take a break from conference play this weekend and will welcome UCF to town for three, while Wake will be taking the weekend off completely for exams.

Clemson (15-9) finds itself in 3rd in the Atlantic, a game behind FSU and a half game behind the 2nd place Pack.  Maryland (8-16, 4th Atlantic, 8gb) travels to Clemson to face the Tiggers this weekend and can hopefully be a spoiler and provide some breathing room at the top before next weekend’s showdown between the Pack and FSU.

And then there’s BC…Holy series win, Batman.

After dropping their first 20 ACC contests of the year and looking as if they might go winless in conference for the season, the Eagles’ juggernaut (2-21) up and thumped the Hurricanes of Miami, taking two of three on the weekend and providing South Beach with yet another source of embarrassment.

Oh Miami, oh the humanity.  How the mighty have fallen.

BC hosts VT this weekend for three.

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ACC Standings

(As Of May 2)
ATLANTIC DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
Florida State 16-8 .667 35-9-0 .795
NC State 15-8 .652 34-11-0 .756
Clemson 15-9 .625 30-14-0 .682
Maryland 8-16 .333 27-21-0 .562
Wake Forest 7-17 .292 26-23-0 .531
Boston College 2-21 .087 10-35-0 .222
COASTAL DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
North Carolina 19-3 .864 42-4-0 .913
Virginia 17-7 .708 39-8-0 .830
Georgia Tech 12-12 .500 28-16-0 .636
Miami 11-13 .458 29-18-0 .617
Virginia Tech 11-13 .458 28-18-0 .609
Duke 9-15 .375 25-22-0 .532

Only two conference matchups this weekend, with everyone else playing out of conference or not at all.

Virginia Tech @ Boston College
Maryland @ Clemson

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Back to the Blue Hose for a minute…

Now I know this piece is about baseball, and I’m wandering into football (sort of) here with this.  But am I the only one who thinks this looks like…well, nevermind.  Maybe it’s just me.

1298_Blue_Hose_Tunnel

Disclaimer: This is not technically to make fun of “Blue Hose”.  Well I guess it depends on how you look at it, so to speak.

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Please make your way over to the SFN Forums and do some talking over there…it’s been getting kinda lonely in that place since basketball ended but we’ve got links to basketball and football info (and other NCSU sports too) that don’t necessarily make it here on the main blog.  Not to mention some interesting discussions.

And also, please do check us out on facebook and give us a “like”.

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About Wufpacker

A 2nd generation alumnus and raised since birth to be irrationally dedicated to all things NC State. Class of '88 and '92.

Baseball

33 Responses to Presbyterian Weekend Preview

  1. elvislives 05/02/2013 at 10:44 PM #

    Hoping to see Tz get it going this weekend.

    Am I the only one concerned that State is 2-6 against the ACC teams with a .500 or better conference record? The FSU series is going to be huge.

    EDIT: Enjoyed the clever quips Wuf. Your write-ups this season have been dynamite.

  2. Wufpacker 05/03/2013 at 12:00 AM #

    Considering the timing of the Turner injury, etc…yes, but trying not to dwell on it. Remember, VT and GT both were ranked and rolling when we took them down. We’re part of the reason both are currently not looking quite as hot. FSU will indeed be huge.

    And thanks for the kind words, though I’m not sure clever is exactly the best descriptor. But when the eyes start crossing after looking at incessant numbers/stats and clicking on way too many pages/links, the stupid definitely seems to come out without a doubt.

  3. wolffpride 05/03/2013 at 12:24 AM #

    It looks like a big fat wang. Someone had to say it 🙂

  4. Dr. BadgerPack 05/03/2013 at 3:26 AM #

    Elvis- If it makes you feel better, GT fits your .500 or better criterion, so we’re 5-6.

    Side note: With 6 conference games to play, we’ve wrapped up an ACC tourney slot.

    Side note 2: Ginger Poulson is not particularly good at projecting the tournament. That’s me being nice.

    Finally, for folks wondering what needs to be done to get a national seed, this is a nicely done RPI needs report (note seeding won’t go strictly by RPI, but it’s still fun):

    http://www.boydsworld.com/baseball/rpi/rpineeds.html

  5. PackerInRussia 05/03/2013 at 5:25 AM #

    Yeah, Wuf, it looks like a giant caterpillar with a football helmet to me too.

  6. TheCOWDOG 05/03/2013 at 8:33 AM #

    Home field advantage. No way could visitors take pre game drills seriously.

  7. Gowolves 05/03/2013 at 8:51 AM #

    14-7 against the RPI top 50 is a nice stat. Playing a tough schedule will only help.

  8. Fastback68 05/03/2013 at 9:01 AM #

    It looks too small to be a beaver cleaver. Go Pack!

  9. Wufpacker 05/03/2013 at 9:16 AM #

    I’m w/ PIR…giant blue caterpillar w/ FB helmet.

    Dunno what the hell the rest of you are seeing. Sick bastards.

  10. redcanine 05/03/2013 at 9:54 AM #

    Looks like a Smurf Boner.

  11. Fastback68 05/03/2013 at 9:57 AM #

    I will have to retract my previous comment. It is unclear how far into the tunnel the hose has traveled. It certainly is not helmet deep. Are you sure that isn’t Kenan field house??? Fedora is probably on the other side putting a ring on it. Now that is sick in so many ways.

  12. elvislives 05/03/2013 at 11:09 AM #

    Blue Hoes – 2013 Backdoor Division Champions

    Thanks for the RPI links Dr. BP and Wuf for reminding me how VA Tech and GT were indeed ranked when they got beat down by the Pack. This weekend’s Presby series comes at a great time (exam week I’m guessing?) and a chance to gain confidence for the stretch run.

  13. groupthink 05/03/2013 at 12:08 PM #

    give em hell pack—http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d108/phoenix030405/Creations/afamclass2.jpg

  14. vtpackfan 05/03/2013 at 2:23 PM #

    Buddy of mine played Golf at PC. He was told
    The Blue Hose is akin to, say when Cincinnati were the Red Stoking’s (and of course you have the White Sox and Red Sox). No mention of things Scottish, haggis, taber toss, and what have you.

    Anywho- was hoping Avent would start Stone (like another piece to the body of work before FSU), Ogburn and Tzas. Give Rodon a week off before we head into the second season.

  15. 44rules 05/03/2013 at 3:14 PM #

    I think it’s caber toss. IIRC, they’re big telephone-pole like things that are fun to see chucked. But I’d never try to lift one.

  16. tjfoose1 05/03/2013 at 4:51 PM #

    I like Ginger.

  17. Pack78 05/03/2013 at 5:26 PM #

    Blue Hoes…Wuf, that was a good one…as a proud Calvinist Presbyterian Scottish-American, here is a recap on the derivation of our foe’s nickname:

    http://www.gobluehose.com/ViewArticle.dbml?DB_OEM_ID=18100&ATCLID=1505337

    Go Pack!

  18. redcanine 05/03/2013 at 7:30 PM #

    I still can’t get over that dumb looking Pez dispenser.

    Clinton, SC aint no fun. If you’ve never been there, it’s located half way between Greenville and BFE.

    I’m looking forward to a sweep.

  19. Wufpacker 05/03/2013 at 8:38 PM #

    Helluva job by Obgurn (Stone too).

    5-1, Pack wins.

  20. Wufpacker 05/04/2013 at 9:19 PM #

    8-1 final Saturday. 18 of last 19.

    Combined 2 hitter today, have yielded just 3 hits in first two games.

    Senay homers again, Turner with a 2RBI triple.

  21. Dr. BadgerPack 05/04/2013 at 9:20 PM #

    And Jernigan is back and threw well- that may be critical in postseason…

  22. Wufpacker 05/04/2013 at 9:27 PM #

    Yes he did. It somehow got past me that he had been injured. Do you know the story there DBP?

  23. Dr. BadgerPack 05/05/2013 at 1:16 AM #

    Wuf- No, I do not. Down here in Gainesville I am not close enough to get injury info- and the team (rightfully so) does not disclose it. It was mentioned in the broadcast he had been hurt. That’s all I’m working on.

  24. Wufpacker 05/05/2013 at 7:47 AM #

    ^ Yep, same here. That was the first I’d heard of it.

  25. Wolfpackjack76 05/05/2013 at 9:18 AM #

    Fwiw. Poster on scout said he slugged dugout wall after being pulled in uncg game. ???

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