North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball Heads For The West Coast
3/4/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 4, 2004
RALEIGH, N.C. - For the second time in as many years, the NC State baseball team will make an early-season West Coast trip. A year ago it was to UCLA. This year, the Pack is headed west to take on Tony Gwynn's San Diego State Aztecs. Game times are 9 p.m. eastern time Friday and Saturday, and 4 p.m. Sunday.
The Pack, 9-0 after this week's sweep of Le Moyne, is off to its best start in eight years, and the best start of the Elliott Avent era. NC State is getting tremendous pitching, with a staff ERA of 1.89, backed by a sterling defense that has committed just three errors all season. The Pack will face a San Diego State team that is 7-13, but has faced a more demanding schedule that included five games at Hawaii hilo, three games at Santa Clara, a game with Notre Dame, a game with Cal State Northridge, and three games with Texas.
This will be the first time that NC State and San Diego State have met in baseball.
THE STARTING PITCHERS: Redshirt-sophomore righthander Michael Rogers (2-0, 1.29) will get the ball on Friday in the first game of the series. A second-team preseason All-American by the NCBWA, Collegiate Baseball and CollegeBaseballInsider.com, Rogers has made three starts and worked 21 innings thus far in 2004. He has allowed six runs, three of them earned, on 13 hits. He has walked two and struck out 17. In two of his three starts this season, Rogers has taken a no-hitter into the sixth inning. In his last start, February 28 at The Citadel, he took a perfect game into the sixth, and allowed just one baserunner through 8 2/3 innings. For the game, he allowed one run on three hits, walked none, struck out 11 and used just 95 pitches to toss his first complete game of the season.
Senior righthander Vern Sterry (2-0, 2.77) will pitch the middle game of the series on Saturday. Sterry officially has made two starts, although he started and went six innings on February 14 vs. Campbell in a game that was suspended in the middle of the seventh inning with NC State leading 5-1. That game will be resumed at that point when Campbell returns to Doak Field on April 14. Sterry has officially worked 13 innings and allowed four runs on 16 hits. He has walked one and struck out 13. In his last start, February 29 in the second game of a doubleheader vs. College of Charleston at Riley Park in Charleston, S.C., Sterry got his second win of the season after working seven innings and allowing two runs on 10 hits. He walked none and struck out eight. The win over the Cougars extended Sterry's winning streak to 13 games, which ties the school record, set from 1984-86 by Robert Toth. The suspended game against Campbell could add one more win to Sterry's streak, assuming the Wolfpack holds on for the victory. Baseball rules dictate that suspended games count as being played on the day they started, not the day they are concluded, so if the Pack does not cough up the lead to the Camels, Sterry's win over CofC will be his 14th in a row, which will officially be the school record.
Freshman righthander Gib Hobson (0-0, 5.40) will start the series finale on Sunday. Hobson made his first official appearance on February 29 when he started the first game of the February 29 doubleheader vs. College of Charleston (he pitched an inning of relief in the suspended game February 14 vs. Campbell). In his one start, Hobson worked five innings, allowing three runs on seven hits. He walked two and struck out two, and left the game with a 4-3 lead. The Cougars tied the game in the seventh on an unearned run before NC State rallied to win with two runs in the eighth inning.
AVENT NEARING 500: Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent comes into play this weekend with a career record of 495-380, which includes a 270-169 mark in seven-plus seasons at NC State. He needs just five more wins to reach the 500-win plateau. Entering the 2004 campaign, three other current ACC coaches had won at least 500 games at the Division I level. Florida State's Mike Martin led the way with 1,293, followed by Clemson's Jack Leggett (850) and Wake Forest's George Greer (697). Avent's 2003 team finished with a 45-18 record, and he was named ACC Coach of the Year by the conference's coaches, and National Coach of the Year by College-BaseballInsider.com.
TIGHT PITCHING: NC State came into the 2004 season expecting to have a strong pitching staff, and the first nine games of the year seemed to bear that out:
* The staff ERA is a miniscule 1.89
* Opponents are hitting just .216 against NC State pitching
* Through 81 innings, Wolfpack pitchers have allowed just 21 runs, four of them unearned, on 64 hits
* The bullpen has yet to allow an earned run in 27 2/3 innings of work, and has allowed just one run total
* Wolfpack pitchers have walked 15 and struck out 72
* NC State pitchers went 15 innings and faced 50 batters before issuing their first walk of the season, and are averaging just 1.8 walks per nine innings. The Pack currently has faced 37 consecutive hitters without issuing a walk.
RELIEF WORK STELLAR: Hitting coaches often talk about working the count and wearing down starting pitchers so that opponents are forced to go to their bullpens.
That might not be the right strategy against NC State. Counting this week's sweep of Le Moyne, the Wolfpack bullpen has not allowed an earned run in 27 2/3 innings of work in 2004. NC State relievers have allowed one unearned run on 10 hits. They have walked five and struck out 29. Adam McLaurin is 2-0 and Collin Brown 1-0 in relief, and All-America closer Joey Devine has saved four games in as many appearances.
DO NOT WALK: NC State pitching coach Chris Roberts doesn't get too worked up about gaudy strikeout numbers, but he makes no attempt to hide his disdain for walks. Consequently, Roberts has to be pleased by the recent performance of his pitching staff. In last weekend's Homewood Suites Tournament in Charleston, S.C., NC State pitchers worked 27 innings, allowed eight earned runs on 23 hits, and walked just two while striking out 25. In this week's sweep of Le Moyne, Wolfpack pitchers walked three and struck out 19 in 18 innings.
For the season, NC State pitchers have walked just 15 and struck out 72 in 81 innings of work. That comes to 1.67 walks per nine innings pitched. Wolfpack pitchers have allowed 61 hits and plunked 10 hitters for a total of 86 baserunners allowed in 81 innings.
THE DEFENSE NEVER RESTS: While much has been made of NC State's tremendous pitching this season, not nearly enough has been said about the defense, which has committed just three errors all season, for an incredible defensive percentage of .991. To put that in context, a year ago the Wolfpack fielded .966, which was the best by an NC State team in 10 years, since the 1993 Wolfpack fielded .968. This year's team has committed just one error in its last seven games, and has now handled 119 consecutive defensive chances without an error.
