North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Baseball Notebook
3/21/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
at Virginia (13-9 overall, 2-4 ACC)
March 23-25, 2001
UVa Baseball Field / Charlottesville, Va.
The games on Friday (3/23) and Sunday (3/25) can be heard on WKNC 88.1 FM and via the Internet on GOPACK.com.
NC STATE VS. VIRGINIA: The Wolfpack holds an 84-49 advantage in the series with the Cavaliers. The Pack is 24-13 against the Cavs over the last 10 years, including a 9-6 mark at Charlottesville. Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent has a 10-6 record against Virginia since taking over the program in 1997, 3-3 at UVa, and the Wolfpack has won nine of the last 13 meetings in the series.
The Pack split four games with Virginia a year ago, taking two of three games at Doak Field, before the Cavaliers eliminated NC State from the ACC Tournament at Fort Mill, S.C.
The Wolfpack took the first game at Doak Field 16-13, icing the game on Eric Mosley's three-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning. Brian Wright went 3-for-4 with two doubles, a home run and five RBIs, and Mike Prochaska went 4-for-5 with two doubles, a home run and two RBIs. Josh Miller allowed one run on three hits in three innings of relief to earn the victory.
Lefthander Dan D'Amato silenced the Cavaliers in the middle game of the series, a 4-2 win for NC State. D'Amato allowed two runs on four hits in a complete-game performance. He retired 18 of the last 20 men he faced. Wright and Dan Mooney had two hits apiece for the Pack.
In the finale, righthander Mike Sollie nearly matched D'Amato's gem, but absorbed a tough-luck loss instead. Sollie carried a three-hitter and a 1-1 tie into the top of the ninth inning, but gave up two runs on four hits, one of them a two-out bunt single by Hunter Wyant. Sollie had retired 20 of the last 23 men he had faced before the Cavaliers staged a two-out rally in the ninth.
THE PITCHING ROTATION: Junior righthander Ryan Combs (1-1, 4.83) will start for the Wolfpack in the series opener on Friday. This will be Combs's seventh appearance and his fifth start. He has worked 31 2/3 innings, allowed 40 hits, walked six and struck out 32. In his last start, March 16 vs. Florida State, Combs allowed six runs on 14 hits in six innings of work, but really pitched well after a rough first inning. The first five FSU hitters of the game got hits, and the Seminoles led 3-0 before Combs registered the first out of the game. After that, he settled in and allowed just three more runs before giving way to the bullpen in the seventh. In his last three starts, Combs has allowed 11 earned runs on 28 hits in 19 1/3 innings, walking three and striking out 19.
Junior lefthander Dan D'Amato (3-2, 4.21) will start the middle game of the series on Saturday. D'Amato has made eight appearances thus far this season, five of them starts. He has worked 36 1/3 innings, allowed 41 hits, walked 16 and struck out 32. In his last start, March 17 vs. Florida State, D'Amato got credit for the Wolfpack's 4-2 victory over the Seminoles by holding FSU to two runs on nine hits in eight innings. He walked four and struck out five. In his last three starts, D'Amato has allowed eight earned runs on 26 hits in 21 innings, walking nine and fanning 14.
Sophomore righthander Derek McKee (1-1, 6.00) will make the first ACC start of his career in the series finale on Sunday. He has made five appearances, two of them starts, and has pitched well following a pair of rough starts to open the season. In his last start, March 13 at Winthrop, McKee was the tough-luck loser in a 5-3 loss. He worked seven solid innings, allowing three earned runs on eight hits, walking two and striking out five. In his last three appearances, he has allowed just seven runs, six of them earned, on 12 hits in 14 1/3 innings, walking four and striking out 13.
NC STATE AT 3-3 AFTER TWO TOUGH ACC SERIES: According to the league's coaches, Georgia Tech and Florida State should be the best and third-best teams respectively in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, which is no surprise since those two teams have both been among the ACC's perennial powers for years.
When the league's schedule-makers decided that the Wolfpack would open the 2000 season with series at Georgia Tech and at home vs. Florida State, it didn't appear that NC State had been granted favored status within the league. From 1991-2000, the Yellow Jackets and Seminoles combined to win 46 of 68 games from NC State, and the Wolfpack was hardly a pushover. The Pack went to the NCAA Tournament eight times in that 10-year span, and only a handful of teams can make that claim.
NC State went 1-5 against Tech and FSU each of the last two seasons, and a 1-5 start is an awfully deep hole to dig out of when you play in a league as tough as the ACC. To its credit, the Wolfpack stepped up and played like contenders the first two weekends of the conference season, taking two of three at Georgia Tech (the first series win ever for the Pack in Atlanta) and then managed to snap a 14-game Florida State winning streak by taking the middle game of that series at Doak Field.
The last time NC State split its six regular-season games with Florida State and Georgia Tech was 1993, when the Wolfpack spent eight weeks of the season ranked in the national top 5.
D'AMATO BACK ON THE BEAM: After struggling through the second half of the 2000 season, junior lefthander Dan D'Amato is back to his old self in 2001.
Thus far in '01, D'Amato has a 3-2 record in eight appearances, five of them starts, with a solid 4.21 ERA. In his two losses, the Wolfpack scored a combined total of three runs.
In his most recent start, March 17 vs. Florida State at Doak Field, D'Amato pitched eight strong innings, holding the Seminoles to two runs on nine hits. He walked four and struck out five. He stranded six FSU baserunners in scoring position.
In his last three starts, D'Amato has allowed eight earned runs on 26 hits in 21 innings, walking nine and fanning 14.
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.
WRIGHT LOOKING TO BREAK OUT: NC State outfielder Brian Wright has a well-earned reputation as a dangerous and very productive hitter. He also has a well-earned rep as a streaky hitter, and he has lived up to both reputations in 2001.
Wright began the '01 season on a rampage, hitting safely in 15 of NC State's first 17 games. Along the way, he racked up four hits in a game once, three hits in a game once, and two hits in a game six times. He capped off his hot streak with an exclamation point, going 6-for-6 with two home runs and seven RBIs on March 11 at Georgia Tech. In the last six games of that 17-game tear, Wright batted .577 (15-for-26) with two doubles, two home runs and 14 RBIs.
Since his record-setting six-hit game, Wright has been in a prolongued slump, collecting just two hits in 23 at-bats over the last five games, dropping his batting average from its season high of .470 on March 11 to its current .371.
Neither streak ¯ the .470 over 17 games or the 2-for-23 slump the last five games ¯ is without precedent for Wright. But upcoming Wolfpack opponents should know that when Wright does break out of his current funk at the plate, he will do so with a vengeance.
During one eight-game stretch a year ago, Wright batted .529 with five doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs. That streak gave way to an agonizing 1-for-26 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 the 11 games, and four RBIs in three of them. During a span of 18 at-bats during those 11 games, he had 13 hits, including five doubles.
For the 2000 season, Wright batted .366 with 17 doubles, 12 home runs and 52 RBIs.
Wright was pretty good as a freshman, also, batting .363 with 14 doubles, six homers and 35 RBIs. He did not move into the starting lineup for keeps until the midpoint of the season. During one 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.
ABOUT THOSE EARLY LOSSES: Heads have been scratched and eyebrows raised by some of NC State's early-season losses, but knowledgeable college baseball fans should know better.
In particular, the Wolfpack's losses to Cincinnati (2-of-3 games February 9-11), Rutgers (3-game sweep February 23-25), Elon (February 28) and Winthrop (March 13) have had many casual fans wondering what the heck was going on. Again, knowledgeable fans should know better.
Cincinnati is coming off a 35-25 season in 2000 and returned virtually everyone from that team, including seven of their top nine hitters and five of their top seven pitchers.
Rutgers is a perennial power in the Northeast. The Scarlet Knights had a 40-18 record a year ago and not only played in the NCAA Tournament, but hosted a regional. Rutgers went 110-54 the last three years and return 18 letterwinners from last year's NCAA Tournament team.
The Elon team that defeated the Wolfpack on February 28 went 33-25 a year ago, and since the 1994 season, the Phoenix has posted a 195-152 record.
Over the last six seasons, Winthrop has gone 214-140 (almost 36 wins per season), has won 40 or more games three times, and has gone to the NCAA Tournament twice.
Thus far, seven of NC State's 11 losses have been at the hands of Cincinnati, Rutgers, Elon and Winthrop, four teams with a combined record of 57-24 (through games of March 18).
So how do you lose to teams like that? By playing them.
The moral of the story: It's better to lose a baseball game to a so-called "name" school like Syracuse than to a supposed no-name like Winthrop or Rutgers. Even though Syracuse does not have a baseball program.
Overall, NC State's schedule clearly qualifies as brutal. The Wolfpack's 12 opponents thus far this season have a combined won-lost record of 153-92 through games of March 19.
TWO HOT FRESHMEN: NC State has had three players earn Freshman All-America status the last two years, and the early indications are that two more Wolfpack freshmen could vie for postseason honors in 2001.
First baseman David Hicks and catcher Colt Morton have both gotten their collegiate careers off to excellent starts. Hicks enters play this week vs. Howard and Virginia hitting .313 with eight doubles, a home run and 11 RBIs in 18 games. Hicks, an excellent lefthanded pitcher as a high schooler, has made one appearance on the mound and retired the only two men he faced.
Morton, who has the unenviable task of replacing Dan Mooney behind the plate, is hitting .271 and leads the team with six home runs. He has four doubles, a triple and 19 RBIs. Defensively, Morton has allowed just one passed ball, and with him logging most of the action behind the plate, Wolfpack pitchers have thrown just 13 wild pitches in 22 games.
Of the two, Morton has provided far more raw fire-power, but has not made contact as consistently as Hicks. In particular, the 6-foot-6 Morton has given the Wolfpack a long-ball threat. With six thus far, Morton already has hit more home runs than any Wolfpack freshman since Craig Lee hit seven in 1997. The NC State record for home runs by a freshman is 11, by Pat Clougherty in 1991.
Hicks has hit just one home run, but it was a big one. Leading off the bottom of the 10th inning March 5 vs. Ball State, Hicks hit a first-pitch walk-off bomb that gave the Wolfpack a 4-3 win over the Cardinals.
Instead of home runs, Hicks has proven to be an excellent contact hitter, having struck out just twice in 76 total plate appearances. Hicks's ability to put the ball in play has enabled him to maintain a high batting average, despite not playing against lefthanded pitchers earlier in the season.
