North Carolina State University Athletics
Avent, Devine Capture Gold with USA Baseball
8/1/2004 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 1, 2004
It's a summer NC State head baseball coach Elliott Avent and reliever Joey Devine won't soon forget. Not only did they get a chance to represent their country and travel to the other side of world, they'll also return home with gold medals. Both Avent and Devine contributed to U.S National Team's run to the championship at the World University Games, a stretch that was completed with Sunday's 4-2 victory over Japan in the title game in Tainan, Taiwan.
Chosen as an assistant on head coach Frank Cruz's staff, Avent was wearing the Red, White&Blue for the first time in his career. The same can be said for Devine, who was arguably the club's best pitcher this summer after becoming a late invitee to the team trials.
The righthander finished with a 1-0 record out of the bullpen to go along with a team-best 0.55 ERA. In 16.1 innings pitched, Devine allowed just one earned run, walking eight and striking out 26. Opposing batters hit just .164 against him. In Saturday's key semifinal victory over Chinese Taipei, he struck out three in 2.1 innings of scoreless relief.
Sunday's victory in the title game gave Team USA a perfect 8-0 record at the games.
