North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball to Host UNC-Wilmington
4/26/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
The Pack will be looking to rebound from last night's 4-3 defeat to Coastal Carolina.
Back on March 29, junior righthander Jason Blanton, making his first college start, held UNC-Wilmington to just one hit over six innings as the Pack blasted the Seahawks 12-0.
Craig Lee provided a spark at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a triple and a career high four RBI's. Catcher Dan Mooney added three hits and two RBI's to help pace NC State's 15-hit attack.
Tonight's contest between the Seahawks and Wolfpack can be heard on WKNC 88.1 fm and GOPACK.com.
In his last start, this past Friday vs. Miami at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, Combs was roughed up for 10 runs, seven of them earned, on 10 hits in five innings. He walked four and struck out two against the 11th-ranked Hurricanes.
In his three previous starts, Combs allowed just six earned runs on 17 hits in 21 2/3 innings. He went 2-0 with a 2.49 ERA.
This was Prochaska's second hitting streak of at least 15 games this season. He has played in 43 games and has hit safely in all but four of them. He has hit safely in 32 of his last 34 games, batting .381 (53-for-139) with 10 doubles, one triple, one home run and 24 RBIs.
Earlier this season, Wright had a 15-game hitting streak, and he has had a pair of eight-game hitting streaks, the most recent of which was snapped this past Friday night by Miami at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The NC State record for longest hitting streak by a freshman is 21 games, set last year by Brian Wright. The longest hitting streak in school history was 27 games by Greg Briley in 1986. Tom Sergio had a 26-game hitting streak as a sophomore in 1995.
In his last 29 games, dating back to March 12 against Wake Forest, Wright has batted .425 (54-for-127) with 13 doubles, one triple, nine home runs and 37 RBIs. He has struck out just 14 times in 137 plate appearances, and has had a pair of absolutely torrid streaks in that 29-game span.
In the first, an eight-game stretch from March 12 vs. Wake Forest through March 26 vs. North Carolina, Wright batted .529 (18-for-34) with five doubles, three home runs and 15 RBIs. He had two or more hits in six of those eight games, and drove in four runs or more in three of them. During one span of four games, he had 10 hits in 15 at-bats.
That hot streak gave way to a 1-for-26 slump, but when Wright broke out of his slump, he did so with a typical flourish, batting .625 (30-for-48) with seven doubles, five home runs and 21 RBIs over his next 11 games. He had three or more hits in eight of those 11 games, and four RBIs in three of them. At one point, he had gone 16 consecutive plate appearances without being retired in back-to-back PAs. During four games, from April 9 vs. Clemson through April 15 vs. Duke, Wright had 13 hits, including five doubles and two home runs, in 18 at-bats,
Thanks to some exceptional pitching from Old Dominion and Miami, Wright has just three hits in his last 16 at-bats, so if history is any guide, it's a good bet that he's due to break out in a big, big way any moment now.
Sophomore outfielder Brian Wright currently is seventh in the conference with 71 base hits and is tied for third with 11 home runs.
On the mound, sophomore lefthander Dan D'Amato ranks sixth in the ACC with 74 1/3 innings pitched. Senior righthander Josh Schmitt is tied for fifth with five saves.
In the team categories, NC State pitchers lead the ACC in fewest walks per nine innings with 3.09 and are second in strikeout-to-walk ratio at 2.19-to-1.
