North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball Summer Notebook
6/27/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Prochaska Makes Frosh All-America
Wolfpack freshman Mike Prochaska has been named a third-team Freshman All-American by Baseball America magazine. Prochaska, from Raleigh's Leesville Road High School, is NC State's 11th Freshman All-American and its third in the last two years. Outfielder Brian Wright and lefthanded pitcher Dan D'Amato were named freshman All-Americans in 1999.
Prochaska finished the 2000 season batting .350 with 15 doubles, one triple, one home run and 37 RBIs. He had a .387 on-base percentage and a .439 slugging average. On the mound, Prochaska went 4-4 with a 5.67 ERA in 21 appearances and 46 innings pitched.
Cape Cod League Update
Prochaska is one of six NC State players in the Cape Cod League this summer, and he was off to a fine start through the first two weeks of the season, batting .500 (12-for-24) for the Wareham Gatemen with a team-high nine RBIs in 10 games.
Prochaska was struggling on the mound in the early going, however, posting a 14.40 ERA in his first three appearances, covering five innings. He was working with Wareham manager Mike Roberts, the former North Carolina head coach, to work out his problems.
"He's been great to work with," Prochaska said of Roberts. "I'd heard some things about him before I came up here, but he's been great. He really knows the game, and he's an outstanding teacher. He's made himself available to the players any time of the day if we want extra work, and he's made it fun on the field during the games. I've really enjoyed playing for him."
Combs And D'Amato Square Off:
Two NC State hurlers, rising junior lefthander Dan D'Amato and rising junior righthander Ryan Combs, faced one another on June 21 when Cotuit visited Yarmouth-Dennis. Neither Wolfpack hurler figured in the decision, but both pitched well enough to win.
Combs, working for Cotuit, worked seven innings and allowed three runs, all earned, on seven hits. He struck out five and did not issue a walk. His fastball was in the 88-90 mph range throughout the game. D'Amato, the Y-D starter, allowed three runs, two of them earned, on four hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out three. D'Amato, who stayed in the 85-87 range on the radar guns, left the game with a 3-2 lead, but the bullpen allowed an inherited run to score in the top of the seventh to tie the score at 3-3. That one run cost D'Amato a win and got Combs of the hook for a potential loss. Yarmouth-Dennis scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the eighth.
Brian Wright had a double and a single in four at-bats, accounting for half of the four hits allowed by D'Amato. Through games of June 26, Wright was hitting .271 (13-for-48) with three doubles, a home run and six RBIs. Combs, who pitched again on June 26 and allowed just one run on five hits in 7 2/3 innings against Bourne, is 1-1 with a 2.35 ERA. He has allowed 19 hits, walked four and struck out 17 in 23 innings.
D'Amato also pitched again on June 26 and was roughed up a little, allowing four runs, three of them earned, on six hits in 3 2/3 innings in an 8-6 loss to Brewster. The loss dropped D'Amato to 1-1 with a 3.68 ERA. He has worked 14 2/3 innings, allowed 14 hits, walked 11 and struck out eight.
Rising sophomore righthander Daniel Caldwell is a teammate of D'Amato's at Yarmouth-Dennis and was 0-1 with a 6.00 ERA. He had made just one appearance, a start at Brewster on June 20. Caldwell worked six innings and allowed six runs, four of them earned, on seven hits in six innings of work. He walked one and struck out one.
Rising junior righthander Mike Sollie is working out of the bullpen for Brewster and was 0-0 with a save and a 4.50 ERA in four appearances. Sollie earned his save with three scoreless innings of two-hit relief June 21 against Bourne, preserving an 8-4 win for the Whitecaps.
The Wolfpack's sixth player on the Cape, rising senior righthander Corey Mattison, was at Wareham, but had appeared in just one game.
Coastal Plain League Update
One NC State player was tearing up the CPL. Rising senior righthander Jason Blanton, pitching for the Durham Braves, was 2-0 with a 1.72 ERA in five appearances, all of them starts. Blanton had allowed 22 hits, walked just 14 and struck out 40, which ranked second in the league. Opponents were batting just .193 against Blanton, who had 16 strikeouts in one game.
At Peninsula, rising senior righty Josh Miller was 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA in 11 appearances, all in relief. He had allowed 21 hits, walked five and fanned nine in 18 innings. Miller's walk total was especially curious, since he issued just one walk in 38 1/3 innings during the Wolfpack's season in the spring.
At Asheboro, rising sophomore third baseman Jeremy Dutton was recovering from a slow start and was batting .200 with a double and five RBIs in 17 games. At Wilson, rising junior outfielder Jamey Shearin was batting .247 with three doubles, three triples and six RBIs.
Ward Stars In MWL All-Star Game
Former Wolfpack second baseman Brian Ward (1998-99), fifth in the Midwest League in batting with a .321 average, started for the East Division in the Midwest League All-Star Game on June 20 at Geneva, Ill. Ward went 1-for-2 with an RBI double. For the season, Ward had 12 doubles, one triple, three home runs and 24 RBIs.
