North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Team Concludes Regular Season Against VCU
5/11/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 11, 2001
Baseball Team Concludes Regular Season Against VCU
By Tony Haynes
To say that NC State's 2001 baseball season has been a disappointment would be an understatement. Plagued by injuries, inconsistent pitching, spotty defense and a lack of power, the Pack has endured one of its most frustrating campaigns in years.
On Saturday night, Coach Elliott Avent's club will try to end a tough year on a positive note when it hosts Virginia Commonwealth at Doak Field. First pitch is set for 7:00 p.m. Back on the 10th of April, NC State downed VCU 7-4 as outfielder Jamey Shearin clubbed a three-run homer and Jason Blanton pitched 8.2 innings of four hit baseball.
After facing the Rams, the Wolfpack will set its sights on the ACC Tournament, which begins Tuesday night at Knights Castle just outside of Charlotte.
Regardless of what happens against VCU, the Pack (26-27, 9-15) is destined for a lower division finish in the final conference standings. The most likely scenario has NC State finishing seventh, which would set up a 5:00 p.m. ACC Tourney meeting with the No. 2 seed on Wednesday. Wake Forest, Clemson and Georgia Tech are still in the hunt for a second place finish behind regular season champion Florida State. This weekend's final round of conference games will ultimately decide next week's match-ups.
Ironically, NC State's archrivals from Chapel Hill have the power to send the Pack spiraling into Tuesday's dreaded eight vs. nine play-in game against last place Maryland. North Carolina, which is 7-14 in the conference, is currently in 8th place. However, the Tar Heels do own the tiebreaker advantage over the Wolfpack, meaning they could move up to 7th place by taking two of three home games from Tech this weekend. Should that happen, the Pack would be forced to face the Terps in a do-or-die game Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
The play-in game is a landmine NC State would like to avoid since the loser goes home. The rest of the tournament uses a double-elimination format.
Saturday's season finale against VCU and all of the Wolfpack's games in the ACC Tournament can be heard in the Triangle on WKNC 88.1 fm and via the Internet on GOPACK.com.
