North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Baseball Wraps Up ACC Play With Series At Maryland
5/3/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NC State (27-23 / 9-12) at Maryland (20-28 / 3-15)
May 5-7, 2000 / Shipley Field
College Park, Md.
* The Series vs. Maryland: NC State leads the overall series with the Terrapins by a 78-38-2 margin. The Wolfpack won two of three from Maryland a year ago, rallying for six runs in the bottom of the ninth inning in the first game of the series to win 11-10, and then taking the middle game 7-5. Maryland came back to take the finale 6-0 behind Joe Hart and Todd Ainsworth, who combined on a four-hit shutout.
In the decade of the 1990s, the Wolfpack dominated the Terps, winning 26 of 31 meetings between the two schools, with winning streaks of five games (1990-91), 12 games (1992-96), and eight games (1997-99). Current NC State head coach Elliott Avent brings an 8-1 record against Maryland into this weekend's series.
* The NC State Pitching Rotation: Freshman righthander Daniel Caldwell (1-1, 6.26) will start on Friday in the series opener vs. the Terps. This will be Caldwell's 21st appearance of the season, but only his third start. In his last start, April 28 at Florida State, Caldwell limited the Seminoles to four runs on seven hits in six-plus innings of work, He walked three and struck out five, but did not figure in the decision, a 5-4 Wolfpack victory. In his last six appearances, dating back to April 15 vs. Duke, Caldwell has allowed 15 hits in 16 2/3 innings, walked five and struck out 19 while compiling a 3.24 ERA. In his two starts, Caldwell has no decisions and has allowed just five earned runs on 12 hits in 13 innings for a 3.46 ERA. He walked four and struck out 12 in those two starts. Caldwell spent most of the season as a middle reliever and set-up man, and has been one of the Wolfpack's best pitchers at coming into a game with runners on base and less than two outs and pitching out of trouble, stranding 12 of 18 inherited baserunners.
Sophomore lefthander Dan D'Amato (5-6, 5.01) will start on Saturday in the middle game of the series. This will be D'Amato's 16th appearance and his 15th start. In his last start, April 29 at Florida State, D'Amato took his fourth loss in as many decisions after allowing seven runs, all earned, on eight hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five. A freshman All-American a year ago, D'Amato has struggled in the second half of the 2000 season. In his last six appearancces, all starts, he is 0-4 with a 7.33 ERA. In that time, he has allowed 44 hits, walked 12 and struck out 21 in 27 innings. He has had his moments, however. On April 23 against Miami at Doak Field, D'Amato went 6 1/3 innings and allowed just two runs on four hits, walking three and striking out four in the Pack's 5-4 win over the defending national champion Hurricanes. D'Amato did not figure in that decision.
Sophomore righthander Ryan Combs (5-4, 4.07) will start the series finale on Sunday. This will be Combs's 18th appearance and his 13th start. In his last start, April 30 at Florida State, Combs allowed four runs, two of them unearned, on four hits in 4 1/3 innings. He walked four and struck out one. Combs has been quite consistent for NC State over the last two-thirds of the season. In his last 10 appearances, six of them starts, he is 4-1 with a 3.80 ERA. He has allowed 41 hits, walked 17 and fanned 28 in 42 2/3 innings over those 10 games
* Wolfpack Firemen: Despite losing two of three at Tallahassee this past weekend, NC State came away from its series against second-ranked Florida State with a number of positives on which to build, not the least of which was an exceptional performance by the bullpen.
NC State relief pitchers made 10 appearances against the Seminoles and went 1-1 with a save and a 1.32 ERA. In five games that week (counting games vs. UNC-Wilmington and Coastal Carolina prior to the FSU series), Wolfpack relievers made 13 appearances, worked 17 2/3 innings, and allowed just two earned runs on 10 hits, walked seven and struck out 13. NC State relievers had a 1.02 ERA for the week, and inherited 10 baserunners, stranding all but two.
The number of inherited baserunners who score is an often overlooked and vitally important stat when judging the effectiveness of a bullpen. For NC State, relievers have inherited 128 runners this season and have allowed just 45 of them to score.
For the season, NC State relievers are 13-4 with eight saves and a 4.26 ERA.
Wolfpack Relievers And Inherited Runners
Pitcher IR Scored Relief ERA
Jason Blanton 2 0 1.00
Daniel Caldwell 18 6 7.53
Conrad Clark 12 3 5.40
Ryan Combs 7 3 3.52
Nate Cretarolo 4 1 6.23
Corey Mattison 10 4 2.70
Derek McKee 5 1 5.14
Josh Miller 23 10 2.15
Mike Prochaska 9 2 2.79
Josh Schmitt 14 3 2.08
Mike Sollie 3 1 4.50
Ryan Steadham 11 6 4.85
Kyle Stephenson 10 5 7.71
* It's Miller Time: While the entire NC State bullpen has pitched well lately, junior righthander Josh Miller has quietly fashioned a remarkable season. Miller (4-0 with a save and a team-leading 2.15 ERA) leads the staff with 22 appearances and has allowed just 29 hits in 29 1/3 innings.
Miller has not allowed a run in his last 7 1/3 innings, and has allowed just two runs in his last 17 2/3 innings. After yielding three earned runs in his first 2 2/3 innings this season, Miller is 3-0 with a save and a 1.35 ERA in 19 appearances and 26 2/3 innings since then.
The most remarkable thing about Miller is his control. He has faced 118 batters this season and walked just one while striking out 22. He faced 97 batters before issuing his first walk of the season, and currently has faced 20 consecutive batters without a walk. Miami second baseman Kris Clute is the only batter to draw a walk from Miller all season.
Interestingly, Miller is a transfer from Brevard (Fla.) Community College, the same school that sent Brett Black to NC State. Also noted for masterful control, Black pitched for the Wolfpack from 1996-97, won 22 games in two seasons, and walked just 29 of the 977 batters he faced in 238 innings on the mound. Black once faced 143 consecutive batters without issuing a walk.
* Mr. Hot Streak And Mr. Consistent: Without a doubt, the two offensive leaders for NC State this season have been sophomore outfielder Brian Wright and freshman first baseman/outfielder Mike Prochaska.
Wright heads into the Maryland series hitting .363 and leads the Wolfpack with 14 doubles, 11 home runs, 48 RBIs, 45 runs scored, and a .591 slugging percentage. Prochaska leads the club with a .370 batting average and has 12 doubles, one home run and 36 RBIs.
As similar as many of their numbers may be, however, Prochaska arrived at their current statistics in vastly different ways. Wright has been prone to incredible hot streaks punctuated by brief slumps. Prochaska has been remarkably consistent, neither slumping or going on any offensive rampages, always keeping his batting average at or near the same level.
In his last 33 games, dating back to March 12 against Wake Forest, Wright has batted .410 (59-for-144) with 14 doubles, one triple, nine home runs and 40 RBIs. He has struck out just 18 times in 157 plate appearances and has had a pair of absolutely torrid streaks in that 33-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. 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.
Prochaska, while not providing the power or the hot streaks that Wright has given the Wolfpack, also has not been prone to slumps either. In fact, through the first 47 games of his college career, the closest thing to a slump for Prochaska has been a handful of one-hit games. He has been held hitless just four times, and has not gone back-to-back games without a hit. He has yet to go more than six plate appearances without a base hit.
Prochaska has had hitting streaks of 15 and 17 games this season, the latter of which is a team high for the 2000 season. Wright, who also had a 15-game hitting streak earlier this season, set the NC State record for longest hitting streak by a freshman with a 21-game streak a year ago. The school record for longest hitting streak is 27 games, set by Greg Briley in 1986. Tom Sergio had a 26-game hitting streak in 1995.
* Mooney Guns Down The Seminoles: Prior to the 2000 college baseball season, Baseball America magazine polled the league's head coaches to determine which players had the best tools, and NC State's Dan Mooney was voted the catcher with the best arm. Through the first 48 games of the season, Mooney pretty much proved the coaches correct by throwing out 18 of 44 basestealers.
Maybe Florida State just didn't read that part of the scouting report. Whatever the case, when the Seminoles hosted NC State for a three-game ACC series April 28-30, the Noles, successful on 81 percent of their stolen-base attempts (51 of 63) to that point, challenged Mooney's arm eight times in three games, and Mooney responded by throwing out six of the eight FSU runners attempting to steal, including the last five in a row. Some were out by embarassingly large margins.
And it wasn't as if Mooney was cutting down Florida State's slowest runners. Brett Groves entered the series leading the ACC with 27 stolen bases in just 29 attempts, and Mooney gunned him down twice in as many tries. Karl Jernigan, ranked third in the conference with four triples, had stolen eight bases in nine attempts before running into Mooney, who gunned him down by several feet attempting to steal second in the 11th inning of the series finale.
Following his display of arm strength at Tallahassee, Mooney now has thrown out 25 of 53 basestealers, a phenomenal 47.2 percent.
