North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Battles Blue Devils On The Diamond
4/27/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 27, 2001
NC STATE BASEBALL (24-22, 7-11)
vs. Duke (20-26, 7-10)
April 27-29, 2001/Jack Coombs Field
Durham, N.C.
NC STATE VS. DUKE: The Wolfpack leads the series with the Blue Devils, 128-113. Over the last 10 years, NC State holds a 20-12 margin over Duke, but the series has been especially competitive the last four years, during which time the Pack has won seven of 13 meetings with the Blue Devils.
Jack Coombs Field has been an especially vexing venue for the Wolfpack in recent years. The Pack is 8-6 at Jack Coombs the last 10 years, but Duke has beaten NC State four of the last six times the two teams have played on the Duke campus, including a doubleheader sweep two years ago that nearly knocked the Wolfpack out of the NCAA Tournament.
A YEAR AGO AT THE DOAK: NC State took two of three from Duke last April at Doak Field, winning the first two games 12-7 and 8-4, but losing the finale 8-5. The series began with the 8-4 game on Friday, April 14, but that contest was suspended because of rain in the top of the eighth inning. At the request of the ACC TV producers, the April 14 game was not resumed until the regularly scheduled game for April 15 was played. Hence, the April 15 game counts as the first game of the series, the April 14 game as the second game, and the Sunday, April 16 game as the third. Fortunately, there were no hitting streaks on the line.
Brian Wright went 3-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs, and Josh Schmitt came out of the bullpen and struck out seven in 3 2/3 innings of relief to lead the Wolfpack in the 12-7 win in game 1 (2). The Pack took an 8-1 lead with six runs in the bottom of the third, watched as duke cut the lead to 8-7 heading into the bottom of the sixth, and then scored twice in the sixth and twice in the seventh to salt away the win.
In game 2 (1) of the series, Ryan Combs and Daniel Caldwell combined to scatter 12 hits, and on offense Jeremy Dutton went 2-for-4 with two RBIs and Mike Prochaska went 3-for-5 to lead the Wolfpack to an 8-4 victory.
In the finale, Ryan Caradonna pitched seven solid innings for the Blue Devils, and Jeff Becker went 2-for-2 with a home run and four RBIs to lead Duke to an 8-5 win.
FRIDAY'S STARTING PITCHER: Sophomore righthander Derek McKee (3-2, 4.81) will start the series opener for NC State. McKee has made 11 appearances, seven of them starts, and has allowed 54 hits, walked 14 and struck out 41 in 48 2/3 innings. In his last start, a week ago at Wake Forest, he was charged with seven runs on 12 hits in seven innings but received no decision in NC State's 8-7 loss to the Deacons. McKee walked one and struck out six.
The Wolfpack's pitching rotation for the remainder of the season has yet to be determined.
SHEARIN HITTING STREAK REACHES 14 GAMES: Junior outfielder Jamey Shearin's fifth-inning single against East Carolina extended his hitting streak to 14 games, his career high and the longest by a Wolfpack player since Mike Prochaska had streaks of 15 and 17 games a year ago.
During the hitting streak, Shearin is batting .383 (23-for-60) with eight doubles, three home runs and 20 RBIs. Shearin has collected two or more hits in six of the 14 games during the hitting streak. He has gotten just one hit in each of the last five games, and six of the last seven. He is batting .276 (8-for-29) in his last seven games.
Shearing now has hit safely in 24 of his last 25 games, batting .385 (42-for-109) with 14 doubles, one triple, five home runs and 29 RBIs in those 25 games. He has raised his average for the season from .167 through 16 games to its current .313.
A BRUTAL SCHEDULE: If strength of schedule really is a factor in determining NCAA Tournament at-large bids, then NC State is definitely a contender.
The strength of NC State's scorechule might come as a surprise to some. At first glance, the Pack's non-conference schedule looks like a succession of cupcakes -- Elon, Rutgers, Cincinnati, Campbell, Winthrop, Ball State.
Guess again.
Through games of April 25, only seven of NC State's 24 opponents had losing records. Two (East Carolina and Winthrop) ranked among the national leaders in wins with 38 and 36, respectively, and six other NC State opponents had won 30 games already. Two more were within two victories of the 30-win plateau.
Collectively, through games of April 25, NC State's opponents had a won-lost record of 610-446. That's a .578 won-lost percentage.
| Opponent | W-L |
| Cincinnati | 26-16 |
| West Virginia | 20-20 |
| George Mason | 18-26 |
| Rutgers? | 33-12 |
| Elon? | 25-20 |
| Richmond | 23-21 |
| Ball State | 24-17 |
| Georgia Tech | 31-13 |
| Winthrop | 36-10 |
| Campbell | 28-14 |
| Florida State | 34-12 |
| Virginia | 23-23 |
| North Carolina | 26-21 |
| UNC-Wilmington | 30-17 |
| UNC-Greensboro | 22-21 |
| Charlotte | 17-24 |
| High Point | 17-24 |
| Virginia Commonealth | 31-12 |
| Old Dominion? | 17-29 |
| Maryland? | 13-28 |
| Wake Forest? | 32-14 |
| Davidson? | 17-24 |
| East Carolina? | 38-10 |
| TOTALS | 610-446 |
BUTLER OUT FOR THE YEAR: Junior infielder Matt Butler became the latest NC State player to go down for the season with an injury. Butler fractured his jaw on Sunday in the sixth inning of the Wolfpack's 12-2 loss at Wake Forest. Playing left field, Butler collided with center fielder Brian Wright while attempting to catch Nick Blue's drive into the left-center-field gap. While Butler lay motionless on the ground and Wright chased the ball to the fence, Blue raced around the bases with a three-run inside-the-park home run. Wright was not injured on the play. After a delay of several minutes, Butler had to be helped off the field. He was scheduled to have surgery on April 24, and is out for the rest of the season.
Butler joins Mike Prochaska, Daryl Minugh and Nate Cretarolo as the Wolfpack's list of players lost for the year.
MORTON TIED FOR FROSH HOMER MARK: Freshman catcher Colt Morton's sixth-inning solo home run on April 7 at High Point was his 11th this season. That tied the NC State record for home runs by a freshman, set in 1991 by Pat Clougherty, whose younger brother Conor also is a freshman on the current NC State team.
DUTTON IGNITES FROM LEADOFF SPOT: A big part of NC State's offensive resurgence the second half of the season has come from leadoff hitter Jeremy Dutton, who has been on a tear since the beginning of March.
Currently hitting .311 with 13 doubles, four triples, two home runs, 27 RBIs, 37 runs scored and 11 stolen bases, Dutton got off to a slow start this season, hitting just .237 through 10 games. In 36 games since then, Dutton has batted .331 (48-for-145) with 12 doubles, four triples, two homers and 22 RBIs.
IT'S MILLER TIME AGAIN: He's b-a-a-a-a-a-ck! The last time we saw senior righthanded reliever Josh Miller, it was March 20 and he had just torn the anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee. The NC State medical staff at the time believed that Miller, the Wolfpack's best reliever, was done for the season, a devastating blow to say the least.
At the time of his injury, Miller was 1-2 with a 1.99 ERA and four saves. In 13 appearances, he had worked 22 2/3 innings and allowed 20 hits, walked four and struck out 18.
Miller, fitted with a knee brace designed specifically for ACL tears, returned to action the night of April 18 vs. Old Dominion, and has allowed four earned runs in four outings since then, covering 7 2/3 innings.
Miller's most impressive attribute as a pitcher is pinpoint control. A year ago, he 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. He faced 155 batters and walked just one.
Miler 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.
Miller's control has not been quite as remarkable through 17 appearances this season, but he still has managed to issue just six walks all season (two intentional) while facing 134 batters.
In 44 career appearances at NC State thus far, Miller has a 6-4 record, six saves and a 2.49 ERA in 68 2/3 innings. He has faced 289 batters, struck out 51, and walked seven, two intentional. That's one walk every 41.3 batters faced, and one unintentional walk every 57.8 batters faced.
