North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Off To Wilmington For Hughes Brothers Challenge
2/27/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 27, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - The NC State baseball team, looking to snap out of a rough two-game losing streak, heads to Wilmington, N.C., this weekend, February 28-March 1, for the Hughes Brothers Challenge at Brooks Field on the UNC Wilmington campus.
The Wolfpack, 5-4 on the season, will take on Hofstra (0-3) on Friday, February 28, at 3 p.m. The Pack will take on Villanova (0-3) on Saturday, March 1, at 4 p.m. and then wrap up the weekend with a 1 p.m. date against Appalachian State (0-6) on Sunday, March 2.
NC State has lost its last two games, both to Southern Conference teams, and both losses were lopsided defeats. The Citadel handed the Wolfpack a 15-2 loss on Sunday, February 23 in the final game of the Charleston Crab House Challenge at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C., and then Furman whipped NC State 14-1 on Tuesday, February 25 at Five County Stadium in Zebulon.
The Wolfpack has struggled offensively and on the mound during the two-game skid. Hitting just .236 as a team, NC State managed just three hits against Furman and is hitting .143 (9-for-63) in the two-game losing streak. Freshman infielder/outfielder Matt Camp is leading the team in hitting at .357, while junir catcher Colt Morton has been the leader in run production. Morton is hitting .294 with a team-high four home runs and 10 RBIs.
Junior righthander Vern Sterry (1-0, 3.38) will start on Friday against Hofstra. Sterry has made three appearances, all of them starts, and has allowed nine hits in 10-2/3 innings. He has walked four and struck out 18. Sterry's last scheduled start was Saturday, February 22 vs. 15th-ranked Richmond in the Charleston Crab House Challenge, but that game was rained out after two innings. Sterry's last official appearance was a start on February 16 at UCLA. In that game, Sterry was masterful. While he ended up being charged with three runs on seven hits in 6-2/3 innings, he had a three-hit shutout through five innings and a five-hit shutout through six before tiring in the seventh. He walked three and struck out eight in a 9-6 win that salvaged the finale of a three-game series.
Redshirt-freshman Mike Rogers (2-1, 2.25) will make the start for the Pack on Saturday against Villanova. Rogers has made three appearances, all starts, and has allowed 17 hits, walked five and struck out 15 in 20 innings. In his last outing, February 21 vs. Boston College, he worked eight strong innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. He walked one and struck out seven.
NC State's starting pitcher for Sunday's game against Appalachian State is yet top be determined.
NC State holds a 6-1 advantage in the series vs. Appalachian State, and a 4-1 advantage in the series with Villanova.
The Wolfpack last played the Mountaineers on February 27 of last year at Doak Field and prevailed with a 15-6 win. Righthander Phillip Davidson got the win with seven strong innings. He allowed three runs, one of them earned, on six hits in seven innings. He walked two and struck out six. Offensively, Tim Coffield concluded a remarkable week of hitting by going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run and four RBIs. The previous weekend, Coffield hit three home runs and drove in 16 runs in three games against Coppin State. His homer vs. Appalachian State gave him a home run in four consecutive games. He is the only current Wolfpack player who has ever hit home runs in four consecutive games.
The Pack last played Villanova a three-game series from February 19-21, 1999, and swept the series by scores of 21-8, 5-3 and 20-0. Those were the second, third and fourth wins in what became a 14-game winning streak for NC State, the third-longest in school history.
In the series opener, Matt Postell and Andy Baxter homered and drove in four runs apiece, and the Wolfpack scored 12 runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to turn a 9-8 nail-biter into a laugher. Righthander Dustin Baker held the Wildcats to three runs on seven hits in six innings in the middle game of the series, and five different players drove in one run each to pace the Wolfpack. In the finale, NC State blew open a 2-0 game by scoring 18 runs in the final four innings, including nine runs in the eighth. Todd DeMakes went 4-for-6 with a triple, a home run and six RBIs, and Josh Ballard had a home run and four RBIs. Righthander Ryan Steadham went seven innings, allowed four hits, and struck out nine.
NC State has never played Hofstra in baseball.
