Wolfpack Baseball Looking for Huge Season - StateFans Nation StateFans Nation

Happy Easter to all!

Easter weekend for me as a young person always meant there were baseball tournaments to be played. With the Wolfpack basketball team’s run through the NCAA tournament, we unfortunately (or fortunately for a change) found ourselves caring about basketball well into the college baseball season.

While many folks weren’t looking, the NC State Baseball team has put itself in position at the halfway mark to put itself in legitimate contention for its own magical tournament run.

Seriously, this team is poised to make the first run to Omaha by a Wolfpack team since Chris Cammack led the 1968 squad to the CWS.

Coach Avent’s 2012 team currently sits at 20-7 overall, 8-3 in conference play. The Pack beat Old Dominion 16-6 in a rain shortened game this week and travels to face Maryland in a three game series beginning tonight and finishing on Easter Sunday. For those of you who live close enough to Raleigh you can listen to the games on the student radio station, 88.1. The rest of you can follow the games via the team’s fantastic Twitter account which gives virtual play-by-play of each game. (@NCStateBaseball)

The Pack is second in the Atlantic Division only behind Florida State which boasts an almost perfect 11-1 conference record.

Freshman pitcher Carlos Rodon has been named the top freshman in the nation at the halfway mark of the season by Baseball America.

While numerous college baseball polls vary wildly, Avent’s team is currently #13 in the country in at least one poll.

In a year that has seen a lot of positive trends in Wolfpack athletics, the baseball team is poised to break a ridiculously long absence from the College World Series. With perhaps the best pitching we’ve ever had and an offense that can score runs when necessary, this could easily be Avent’s best team to date built on several strong recruiting classes in the last few years.

Get it done gentlemen!

33 Responses to Wolfpack Baseball Looking for Huge Season

BJD95 04/08/2012 at 7:49 AM #

As a saberist, I value taking extra bases over actual steals. But speed is especially valuable on defense. Range is extremely important, especially to a pitching team like ours.

Long story short, I like how this team is constructed. I look forward to seeing them play in person.
TOBtime 04/08/2012 at 8:11 AM #

People VASTLY underestimate the value of speed in baseball. If you can keep a ball from hitting the ground in the outfield it not only counts for that out but will translate into a great number of baserunners getting thrown out by a quick thinking, snap-throwing outfielder. You don’t have to have the cannon arms in the outfield if you have great speed.A good base running team will get very tentative after a couple of guys get shot down.
Dr. BadgerPack 04/08/2012 at 8:49 AM #

Not to mention a guy like Turner who has a very high SB percentage takes the focus of the pitcher from the batter somewhat. It also gets the hitters behind him a lot more fastballs to see, creates some holes in the infield, etc.

If I have a player who can be successful more than 75% of the time I tell him to run all day long.
GAWolf 04/08/2012 at 2:03 PM #

I’m not sure how many of you listened to the game last night, but we jinxed the hell out of Turner. I believe he got caugt up in a run down between third and home that ended an inning, and was picked off first. I listened probaly only to half of the game, so I cannot say that was the limit of his baserunning mistakes.
gcpack 04/08/2012 at 10:50 PM #

Well i’m peeved that we, once again, lost a series to lowly Maryland. We did the same thing either two or four yrs ago when we supposedly had a strong team. We should never lose to the terms. They don’t put any emphasis on baseball.

I can’t figure out how Avent always manages to have a team with good potential but still manages to lose a series or two to less than qualified teams.

We don’t ever seem to have the killer instinct.
Now have Clemson on the road which will be a hard road series. Losing to Maryland any where is inexcusable. Now we ARE behind the eight ball facing Clemson.
graywolf 04/09/2012 at 7:19 AM #

^ Well said…..I brag about our progress and we lose the series to UM…….
Dr. BadgerPack 04/09/2012 at 10:30 AM #

I’m done talking baseball on this site.
gcpack 04/09/2012 at 9:49 PM #

No reason to bail badgerpack. I am just expressing my frustration at losing a series to an inferior program. All we have to do is win 2 out of 3. One loss does not bother me but losing a series does. This happens too often for my taste each year to low quality teams.