North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Travels to The Citadel for Invitational Shootout
2/15/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
February 16-18, 2001
Riley Park / Charleston, S.C.
NC State vs. West Virginia, February 16
NC State vs. The Citadel, February 17
NC State vs. George Mason, February 18
NC STATE VS. WEST VIRGINIA: NC State holds a 5-2-1 advantage in the series with West Virginia. The two have not played since February 27-28, 1993, when the Wolfpack swept the Mountaineers in a three-game series at Doak Field. The Wolfpack won the series by scores of 7-4, 2-0 and 4-2. Kevin Ross drove in three runs in the first game of the series to back the pitching of Terry Harvey, who improved to 3-0 with the victory. Shawn Senior tossed a three-hit shutout in the middle game of the series and Ross tripled in a run. Neither Wolfpack run was earned. In the finale, Andy Barkett hit a two-run game-winning homer in the bottom of the eighth (a seven-inning game), and Tommy Sports and Rob Winkler combined on a six hitter. Karl Carswell and Scott Lawler also homered for the Wolfpack.
NC STATE VS. THE CITADEL: NC State leads the overall series with The Citadel by a commanding 21-8 margin, but the Bulldogs won both games against the Wolfpack last season, winning 2-1 at Riley Park on February 12 behind the five-hit pitching of Dallas McPherson, and then taking a 5-4 decision in 20 innings over the Pack at Doak Field on March 28. Chris Morris and Tavy Smalls drove in ninth-inning runs to tie the game at 4-4, and Andy Phillips singled in the winning run in the top of the 10th.
NC STATE VS. GEORGE MASON: The Wolfpack leads the series with GMU 17-1. NC State won two out of three from the Patriots last March 3-5 at Doak Field, winning the opener 4-3, dropping the middle game 6-3 amd winning the finale 14-9. Dan D'Amato went six innings and allowed three runs in the opener, and was backed by RBI groundouts by Mike Prochaska, Jamey Shearin and Dan Mooney, and an RBI double by Jeremy Dutton. Brian Forthofer had a pair of RBI singles for the Patriots in the middle game of the series, and Mike Steller, Shawn Stiffler and Steve McGinn combined on a seven-hitter. Prochaska led the Pack offense in the finale, going 4-for-5 with three RBIs and two steals. Prochaska capped the victory by lining a double on a pitch too close to the plate on an intentional-walk attempt by the Patriots' Chris Murray.
THE PITCHING ROTATION: Sophomore righthander Daniel Caldwell (1-0, 1.50) will start for NC State on Friday vs. West Virginia. Caldwell started the Wolfpack's season opener February 9 vs. Cincinnati and earned the victory after allowing just one run on five hits in six solid innings. He walked two and struck out two. Caldwell went 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA a year ago, and finished the season as the Pack's top starting pitcher. After moving into the starting rotation on April 18 vs. UNC-Greensboro, Caldwell went 1-1 with a 3.45 ERA in his last eight regular-season appearances, five of which were starts. In those eight games, he allowed 12 earned runs on 32 hits, walked nine and struck out 32 in 31 1/3 innings.
Junior righthander Dan D'Amato (0-0, 3.38) will start on Saturday against The Citadel in his first start of the 2001 season. A Freshman All-American in 1999, D'Amato struggled at times last season, finshing the year with a 5-6 record and a 5.19 ERA. As a freshman, D'Amato went 7-2 with a 5.11 ERA. He was ACC Pitcher of the Week three times. D'Amato has made two relief appearances this season, allowing one earned run on one hit in 2 2/3 innings. He has battled control problems, walking four and striking out four.
NC State's Sunday starter will be Corey Mattison (0-1, 13.50), a senior righthander. Mattison started February 11 against Cincinnati and took the loss after allowing seven runs, six of them earned, on seven hits in four-plus innings. He walked three and struck out four.
THE SEASON TO DATE: NC State has a 1-2 record heading into action this weekend at The Citadel Invitational Shootout after dropping two games in a three-game series last weekend vs. a strong Cincinnati team at Doak Field. The Bearcats, 35-26 a year ago and with 19 of 23 letterwinners returning, have a senior-laden team that hopes to contend for an NCAA Tournament at-large berth this season. Based on their play the first weekend of the season, that could happen.
NC State took the first game of the series 4-3 behind sterling pitching performances from Daniel Caldwell and Josh Miller, plus timely hitting from Joe Gaetti, Brian Wright and Sean Walsh.Caldwell allowed just one run on five hits in six innings, and Miller pitched out of a serious jam in the top of the eighth, entering the game with one out and the potential tying and go-ahead runs on second and third. Miller got pinch-hitter Aaron Brown to fly to Brian Wright in center field, and Wright nailed Chris Hamblen trying to score from third to complete the inning-ending double play.
NC State scored all four runs in the bottom of the second off UC starter Joey List. The rally ended when Sean Walsh ripped a two-out line drive directly off of List's knee. The ball ricocheted into the Cincinnati dugout and Walsh got a single on the play. List, meanwhile, shook off the effects of the line drive (he could barely walk the next day) and held NC State hitless over the final 6 2/3 innings, but took the loss.
Cincinnati, picked third preseason in Conference USA by Baseball America, came back on Saturday, jumped to a big early lead and then withstood a late NC State rally to defeat the Wolfpack 11-9. Ryan Minges hit two homers for Cincinnati, while Justin Riley and Joe Gaetti went deep for the Pack, which scored four runs in the bottom of the eighth and had the potential tying runs on base in the bottom of the ninth, but fell short. The Wolfpack did manage to score four runs on six hits in two innings against preseason All-America reliever Curtus Moak, but Bryan Swearingen recorded the final four outs to get his first save of the season.
The Bearcats used three big innings on Sunday to win the rubber game of the series, 12-6. UC scored three in the top of the fourth and fifth, and four in the top of the seventh. Craig Tewes had three hits, and four Bearcats drove in two runs apiece. Brian Wright went 4-for-5 with two doubles and three RBIs to lead NC State.
THE WRIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB: If there was any doubt about Brian Wright's credentials as a hitter, he laid all doubts to rest February 9-11 with a devastating performance against Cincinnati.
All Wright did against the Bearcats was go 7-for-12 with three doubles and six RBIs in three games. He got base hits in four of his last five at-bats, and reached base safely in eight of his last 10 plate appearances. He also drew a walk, stole a base in his only attempt, and hit a sacrifice fly. On top of his offensive performance, he played flawlessly in center field. Aside from all that, he had a pretty ordinary weekend.
As spectacular as he was, NC State fans have come to expect that kind of thing from Wright. A Freshman All-American in 1999 and a first-team All-ACC outfielder a year ago, Wright entered the 2001 campaign with a .365 career batting average and career totals of 31 doubles, 18 home runs and 87 RBIs.
Wright had several incredible hot streaks in 2001. During one eight-game streak, he batted .529 with five doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs. That hot streak gave way to a brief slump, but when Wright broke out of his slump, he gave new meaning to the notion of breaking out. Over his next 11 games, Wright batted .625 with seven doubles, five homers and 21 RBIs. He had three or more hits in eight of those 11 games, and four RBIs in three of them. During one stretch, he had 13 hits, including five doubles, in 18 at-bats. Now that's hot!
For the 2000 season, Wright batted .366 with 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 52 RBIs.
Wright wasn't too shabby as a freshman, either, batting .363 with 14 doubles, six homers and 35 RBIs. During one hot stretch late in the season, he had a 21-game hitting streak, the longest ever by an NC State freshman and the third longest in school history.
WATCH OUT FOR PROCHASKA: Speaking of breaking out, Wolfpack sophomore jack-of-all-trades Mike Prochaska is due to start hitting up a storm, and soon. Prochaska went just 2-for-10 in the Cincinnati series February 9-11, and his history says that the Wolfpack's next opponents had better beware.
A year ago, Prochaska earned Freshman All-America honors after batting .350 for the Pack, and that was one of the most consistent .350 averages ever. Prochaska had just six hitless games in 2000, and did not have back-to-back hitless games all season. His longest hitting streak was a team-high 17 games, but he also had a 15-game hitting streak, and hit safely in 32 of 33 games at one point.
An 11th-round draft pick of the Minnesota Twins out of Raleigh's Leesville Road High School in 1999, Prochaska was second on the team last season with 21 multiple-hit games and second with nine multiple-RBI games.
Prochaska never went more than seven at-bats without a hit last season. He had two 0-for-7 streaks all year, and his longest such streak this season has been four at-bats. He comes into play this weekend in The Citadel Invitational Shootout hitless in his last three at-bats.
THE HOMETOWN TEAM: College coaches always say that to be successful you have to recruit well in your own backyard. If that's the case, then NC State should be pretty successful on the diamond the next few years.
The 2001 Wolfpack has eight players on the roster who played their high school baseball in Raleigh, one who played in Knightdale in eastern Wake County, and two who played in Durham, whose city border runs contiguous to Raleigh's for several miles along the Wake County-Durham County line.
The Raleigh-Durham-area products playing for the Wolfpack are not just run-of-the-mill players, either. Daniel Caldwell is the team's top starting pitcher and the son of former Wolfpack ace and major leaguer Mike Caldwell. Mike Prochaska was a Freshman All-American in 2000. Jamey Shearin was drafted by the Pittsburgh Pirates in 1998. Sammy Esposito, a junior co-captain, is the son of former Wolfpack coach and former big leaguer Sam Esposito. Ryan Combs is the son of former Wolfpacker Francis Combs and the younger brother of former Wolfpacker and ex-Pirates farmhand Chris Combs. Joe Gaetti is the son for ex-major leaguer Gary Gaetti. Conor Clougherty is the younger brother of former Wolfpack All-American Pat Clougherty.
CALDWELL THE NEW ACE: After beginning his career in the bullpen a year ago, sophomore righthander Daniel Caldwell has quickly asserted himself as the ace of the NC State pitching rotation.
The Wolfpack's opening day starter February 9 vs. Cincinnati, Caldwell enters play in this weekend's The Citadel Invitational Shootout with a 1-0 record and a 1.50 ERA after holding the Bearcats to just one run on five hits in six solid innings. He walked two and struck out two.
Caldwell, who went 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA a year ago, finished the 2000 season as the Pack's top starting pitcher, and has flourished since moving into the rotation. In five career regular-season starts he is 2-1 with a 3.21 ERA. He has worked 33 2/3 innings in those starts, allowed 12 earned runs on 34 hits, walked 10 and struck out 27.
Starting obviously suits Caldwell. In 18 relief appearances last season, he was 1-1 with an 8.48 ERA.
MAJOR LEAGUE BLOODLINES: For the second year in a row, NC State has to rank among the national leaders in sons of former major league players. Three Wolfpack players had fathers who played in the major leagues, and all three fathers had lengthy big league careers.
Junior co-captain Sammy Esposito is the son of former Wolfpack head coach Sam Esposito, who played in the big leagues from 1955-63, mostly with the Chicago White Sox. Esposito was head coach of the Wolfpack baseball program from 1967-87.
Sophomore righthanded pitcher and outfielder Daniel Caldwell is the son of Mike Caldwell, who pitched for NC State from 1968-71 and for four different major league teams from 1971-84. Caldwell won 137 major league games in his career, plus two World Series games for the Milwaukee Brewers in 1982.
Freshman outfielder Joe Gaetti is the son of former major league third baseman Gary Gaetti, whose big league career spanned 19 seasons and included stops with six different major league teams. Gaetti played in two All-Star Games, and was a member of the World Series champion 1987 Minnesota Twins, who beat the St. Louis Cardinals in seven games.
Daniel Caldwell, Sammy Esposito and Joe Gaetti all played their high school baseball in the Raleigh area.
MILLER TIME: There once was an old pitching coach whose motto was: "Work fast, throw strikes, and Babe Ruth is dead."
Although the identity of this apochryphal pitching coach is unknown, he most assuredly would be proud of NC State senior righthander Josh Miller. You want the game speeded up, bring in Miller. He works fast, largely because he pounds the strike zone, and he's yet to face the Bambino.
A year ago, Miller went 5-1 with a 2.35 ERA and two saves. He allowed 10 earned runs on 40 hits in 38 1/3 innings while recording 27 strikeouts. Most remarkable about Miller, however, is the following stat: He faced 155 batters in 2000 and walked just one of them.
He faced 97 batters last season before Miami's Kris Clute worked him for a base on balls, and then faced another 57 men without issuing a walk.
In two appearances in 2001, Miller has worked 2 2/3 innings and not allowed a hit or a run. He has, however, issued a walk, although it was intentional. He walked the ninth man he faced this season, Cincinnati's Kevin Youkilis. Heading into play this weekend at The Citadel Invitational Shootout, the career Miller Meter reads: 164 batters faced, two walks, one intentional.
An interesting aside to the Miller story, he came to NC State from Brevard Community College in Orlando, Fla., the same junior college that produced former Wolfpack righthander Brett Black, another noted control freak.
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.
