North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Set to Host Richmond in Weekend Series
3/2/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
vs. Richmond (3-0)
March 2-4, 2001
Doak Field / Raleigh, N.C.
NC STATE VS. RICHMOND: NC State holds a 26-5 record in the series with Richmond. The two teams split a pair of games at Doak Field last season, with the Spiders taking the first game 5-1 and the Wolfpack rebounding to take the second game 4-3 in 12 innings.
Mike Smith was the story for Richmond in the first game. Smith hurled a complete-game six-hitter, walking none and striking out six. He gave up one run on two hits and an RBI groundout in the bottom of the seventh, but allowed just two runners to reach scoring position the rest of the game. Leadoff hitter Matt Craig singled twice, tripled, scored two runs and drove in three.
In the second game, the Pack won the game in the bottom of the 11th on an unearned run. Brian Wright had a pair of hits, and Mike Prochaska, Craig Lee and Andy Baxter drove in one run apiece. Corey Mattison, the last of seven Wolfpack pitchers to work the game, tossed a scoreless 11th inning and got credit for the win.
THE PITCHING ROTATION: Junior lefthander Dan D'Amato (1-1, 5.65) will pitch the series opener on Friday for the Wolfpack. D'Amato has made four appearances, two of them starts, and has allowed 10 runs on 15 hits in 14 1/3 innings. He has pitched better than the numbers indicate. In D'Amato's two starts, the Wolfpack bullpen has allowed three of four inherited runners to score, and those runs, all earned, fluff up his ERA from 3.77 to its current 5.65. In his last start, February 24 vs. Rutgers, D'Amato was charged with four runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, but two of those runs were let in by the pen. Before allowing those runners to reach base, D'Amato had retired 13 of the previous 15 men he had faced, and left the game with the score tied at 2-2. He finished with a career-high nine strikeouts.
Junior righthander Ryan Combs (0-1, 4.38) will start for the Wolfpack on Saturday. Combs has made three appearances, one of them a start, and has allowed 12 hits, walked three and struck out 13 in 12 1/3 innings. In his last appearance, February 25 vs. Rutgers, Combs allowed three runs, two of them unearned, on two hits in 4 2/3 innings. He walked two and struck out five. In his only start, February 10 vs. Cincinnati, Combs allowed five runs on 10 hits in five innings. Interestingly, Combs has been very tough on opponents the first two times through the batting order. Through 18 batters faced in his three appearances, Combs has worked 11 innings and allowed seven hits, walked three and struck out 13. His ERA vs. those 18 batters faced is a sterling 2.45.
The Pack's Sunday starter is undecided.
THE WRIGHT MAN FOR THE JOB: NC State outfielder Brian Wright came into the 2001 season with glittering credentials as one of college baseball's most productive and dangerous hitters. Through 10 games in the '01 campaign, he has done nothing but embellish those credentials.
Wright began the season by going 7-for-12 with three doubles, three runs scored and six RBIs in three games against Cincinnati in the Wolfpack's opening series. He got base hits in four of his last five at-bats vs. the Bearcats, and reached base safely in eight of his last 10 plate appearances in the series. He also drew a walk, stole a base in his only attempt, and hit a sacrifice fly.
Never one to rest on his laurels, Wright continued to hit the ball hard last weekend at The Citadel Invitational Shootout, going 4-for-11 with a double and an RBI. For the season, Wright now is hitting .478 with four doubles and seven RBIs. Against Rutgers this past weekend and Elon on Wednesday, Wright saw a steady diet of breaking balls, but still managed four hits with a pair of RBIs. For the season, Wright is hitting .405 with five doubles and nine RBIs. He leads or is tied for the team lead in nine different offensive categories.
As good as he has been thus far in 2001, Wolfpack 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 stretch, 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 span of 18 at-bats, he had 13 hits, including five doubles. 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, and did not move into the starting lineup for keeps until the midpoint of the season. During one hot stretch late in the year, he had a 21-game hitting streak, the longest ever by an NC State freshman and the third longest in school history.
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 2001 Opening Day starter, Caldwell enters play in this weekend vs. Richmond with a 2-2 record and a 3.92 ERA. He has allowed 22 hits in 20 1/3 innings over the course of his four starts. He has walked seven and struck out seven.
Caldwell, who went 2-2 with a 5.79 ERA as a freshman a year ago, finished the 2000 season as NC State's top starting pitcher, and has flourished since moving into the rotation. In nine career starts he is 3-4, but with a 4.08 ERA. He has worked 53 innings in those starts, allowed 24 earned runs on 55 hits, walked 19 and struck out 32.
In 18 relief appearances, all as a freshman a year ago, he was 1-1 with an 8.48 ERA.
D'AMATO BACK ON THE BEAM: After struggling through the second half of the 2000 season, junior lefthander Dan D'Amato has given the Wolfpack solid and encouraging outings in his first two starts of the 2001 season.
D'Amato has a 1-1 record with a 6.17 ERA in his two starts this season, but of the four inherited runners he has turned over to the bullpen, three have scored. Without those three runs, D'Amato's ERA as a starter is 3.86.
In his last start, February 24 vs. Rutgers, D'Amato was charged with four runs on seven hits in 6 1/3 innings, but two inherited runners were allowed to score, and before those two runners reached base, D'Amato had retired 13 of the previous 15 men he had faced. He left the game with the score tied at 2-2, and finished with a career-high nine strikeouts.
A week earlier at The Citadel, D'Amato allowed just three baserunners and no runs through the first four innings, walked one and struck out four before tiring in the sixth.
A year ago, D'Amato went 5-6 with a 5.19 ERA, but as a freshman in 1999, he fashioned a 7-2 record and a 5.11 ERA, earning Freshman All-America honors.
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 have loved NC State senior righthander Josh Miller. You want the game speeded up, bring in Miller. He works very 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 seven appearances thus far in 2001, Miller has worked 8 2/3 innings, allowing nine hits and four earned runs. He has, however, issued three walks, although to his credit, one of them was intentional.
Miller issued the intentional walk to the ninth man he faced this season, Cincinnati's preseason All-America third baseman Kevin Youkilis.
Heading into play vs. Richmond, the Miller Meter reads: 195 career batters faced, four 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.
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.
With two area minor league teams competing for the local baseball market, we should all stop and remember that NC State is the Triangle's real "Hometown Team."
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.
