North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball To Play At Doak Field This Week
3/31/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 31, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - The renovations at Doak Field are still very much ongoing, but progress on the ballpark has reached the point that NC State can now begin playing on its home field once again. The Wolfpack will host UNC Greensboro on Wednesday night at 7 o'clock at the Doak.
Admission will be free of charge, but seating will be limited to approximately the first 800 fans who show up. Seating will be available only in the grandstand section along the third-base line. The remainder of the seating area will be roped off and will not be available to the general public.
Access to the ballpark will be available only at the third-base grandstand area, and fans should park on that side of the field. There will be no access to the seating area from the Sullivan Drive parking lot. There should be ample parking in the fringe lot behind the ballpark and in the parking deck behind University Towers.
Because there will be no access to telephone lines for the rest of the 2003 season, the internet gametracker will not be available on gopack.com for any of NC State's remaining home games this season. A decision had yete to be made about radio broadcasts on the Capitol Sports Network.
UNCG will be a formiddable midweek opponent for 12th-ranked NC State, which is 23-7 after taking two of three games from Clemson this past weekend. The Spartans were 21-6 through games of March 29 and were ranked in the Collegiate Baseball poll as recently as two weeks ago. Freshman righthander Ryan Falcon (1-1, 5.73) will start for the Spartans. He will be opposed by Wolfpack freshman lefty Jason Duncan (0-0, 7.45).
Duncan will be faced with the task of stopping a UNCG team that has averaged 7.9 runs per game. The Spartans lineup is led by the trio of Ryan Gordon, who is hitting .424 with two home runs and 24 RBIs, Justin Saltamacchia (.355-2-24) and Jason Sarvis (.351-3-22).
NC State has averaged 6.8 runs per game, and while the Wolfpack's team batting average of .279 is considerably lower than UNCG's .304, NC State has hit 33 home runs in 30 games, compared to 13 in 27 games for the Spartans. Junior right fielder Joe Gaetti, while hitting just .241, has hit nine home runs and driven in 33 runs. Junior catcher Colt Morton is hitting .296 with 10 homers and 26 RBIs, while senior third baseman Jeremy Dutton is hitting .312 with five bombs and 23 RBIs.
