North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State To Open NCAA Regional Friday Against LeMoyne
5/28/2003 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 28, 2003
RALEIGH, N.C. - The stage is set and the NC State baseball team is ready to take the field for competition in its 17th NCAA tournament appearance, and first since 1999. While dreams of Omaha may loom in the back of some players' minds, their sights are focused on this Friday's first-round matchup with Le Moyne (N.Y.) College (33-15). All of NC State's games this weekend can be heard in the Triangle on WKNC 88.1 FM and worldwide on the Internet at Gopack.com. Fans inside Fleming Stadium can receive the broadcast on 87.7 FM.
The Wolfpack will take on the Dolphins at 7 p.m. at Historic Fleming Stadium in Wilson, N.C. Virginia Commonwealth and Western Carolina will open the regional at 3 p.m. The Wilson Regional is the first NCAA baseball event ever hosted by NC State, and the Wolfpack will enter the weekend as the No. 1 seed. The team is currently ranked No. 12 by USA Today Sports Weekly and Collegiate Baseball, and No. 14 by Baseball America.
Wolfpack ace Mike Rogers (11-3, 2.83) will get the start in Friday's tournament opener versus Le Moyne. He has made 15 appearances, all of them starts, and has allowed 110 hits, walked 31 and struck out 101 in 111-1/3 innings. Rogers was the winning pitcher in the Wolfpack's ACC Tournament opener vs. Virginia. He allowed six runs, three of them unearned, on a career-high 13 hits allowed. He walked four and struck out five.
Le Moyne will send its top hurler to the mound against the Wolfpack. Lefthander Brian Mattoon (10-3, 2.69) has gotten the decision in all 13 of his starts this season and has three complete games and two shutouts to his credit. Opposing batters are hitting .222 off of Mattoon and have struck out 70 times. In his last outing, he threw a complete-game one-hitter vs. Manhattan College in the opening round of the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Tournament.
The Wolfpack's offensive attack will be led by power-hitters Colt Morton (.260-16-48) and Justin Riley (.280-16-44), and shortstop Chad Orvella (.319-5-30). Morton, who served as the designated hitter while nursing a sprained knee in the ACC Tournament, will see limited action at catcher this weekend. Morton's bat is impressive, but what the Johnny Bench Award semifinalist has done behind the plate has also been important. Morton has gunned down 33.6 percent of baserunners attempting to swipe a bag, while committing only three errors. Morton and Riley are tied with a team-high 16 home runs on the season. Orvella is hitting .418 (23-for-55) with four homers and 10 RBIs in the last 15 games.
The Wolfpack will leave Raleigh for Wilson on Wednesday evening, and will practice at Historic Fleming Stadium on Thursday at 10 a.m. This practice is open to the public and fans are invited to attend and show their support. No. 2-seeded Virginia Commonwealth will be on the field at 11:30, and No. 3- seeded Western Carolina will practice at 1 p.m. Le Moyne will practice some time after 2:30 p.m.
NC STATE AT FLEMING STADIUM: NC State is 4-0 at Fleming Stadium this season, 5-0 alltime.
The Wolfpack defeated Villanova 4-2 on March 4, Marshall 9-1 on March 9, The Citadel
4-3 on March 11, and VMI 9-4 on March 12. On May 8, 1999, the Wolfpack defeated East
Carolina 3-2 at Fleming Stadium in a game that had major postseason implications.
THE OTHERS: Junior lefthander Nate Cretarolo (5-3, 5.00) and junior righthander Vern Sterry (11-0, 3.02) will almost certainly be the Wolfpack's second and third starters, but the order of their appearance is still to be determined. Cretarolo has made 16 appearances, nine starts, and
has allowed 84 hits, walked 35 and struck out 62 in 72 innings. His last start was an absolute
gem, a complete-game, six-hit shutout of Georgia Tech in the ACC Tournament. He walked
one and struck out six while allowing just one baserunner to reach scoring position.
Sterry has made 15 appearances, all of them starts, and has allowed 90 hits, walked 31
and fanned 107 in 104-1/3 innings. Sterry allowed five runs on nine hits in 4-2/3 innings in his
last start, vs. North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. He walked one and struck out three.
NC STATE VS. THE FIELD: NC State is a combined 44-15 against the field in the Wilson
Regional - 20-8 vs. Virginia Commonwealth and 24-7 vs. Western Carolina. NC State has
never met Le Moyne in baseball before.
Under head coach Elliott Avent, who became NC State's head coach in 1997, the
Wolfpack is 5-1 against the Rams and 2-0 against the Catamounts.
VCU's one victory against an Avent-coached team came at Doak Field in 1999 by a 5-4
score. Earlier that year, the Wolfpack had downed the Rams 2-1 in an early-season tournament
at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C. The Pack defeated VCU 7-4 and 5-4 in 2001. Avent's
1999 squad defeated WCU 7-2 and 11-1 at Doak Field.
