North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball Takes Winning Streak On The Road
2/24/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2005
The NC State baseball team, ranked 30th in the latest Baseball America poll, takes its five-game win streak on the road this weekend as the Wolfpack (8-1) travels to Charleston, S.C., to compete in the Homewood Suites Shootout at Riley Park, February 25-27. NC State will play The Citadel, the host team, on Friday at 4:00 p.m., East Carolina Saturday at 11:00 a.m., before concluding with West Virginia on Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC, 88.1 FM, and will be available through the internet on GoPack.com via Yahoo's subscription service. Live in-game stats also can be accessed through GoPack on the Gametracker.
LAST WEEK: NC State, which is hitting .334 as a team, followed up a three-game sweep of San Diego State last weekend with a single-game victory over William & Mary on Tuesday. The Wolfpack defeated the Aztecs by scores of 8-6, 8-5 and 9-4. Sam Walls won the first game of the series with three solid innings in relief of starter Phil Davidson. Aaron Bates homered and drove in two runs, and Joey Devine got his third save in as many opportunities with 1 2/3 innings of shutout relief. Gib Hobson got the victory in the second game of the series with 5 2/3 strong innings. Bates homered again and drove in three runs, and Jake Muyco singled and doubled and drove in a career-high three runs. In the finale of the series, Adam McLaurin pitched three shuout innings of one-hit relief to get his first win of the season, and Muyco again drove in three runs as the Wolfpack overcame a 4-0 deficit to win the game in a walk.
On Tuesday, Matt Devine, off to a sensational start, drove in four runs with a double and a homer, and also made two terrific plays at third base to pace NC State to a 10-4 win over William & Mary in the Wolfpack's 1000th game at Doak Field. Walls started and went five shutout innings to get his second win in as many appearances.
THE STARTING PITCHERS: Senior righthander Phil Davidson (1-1, 2.45) will start for the Wolfpack against The Citadel on Friday in the first game of the Homewood Suites Shootout. Davidson has made three starts this season, working 14 2/3 innings and allowing 10 runs, four earned, on 17 hits. He has walked four and struck out a staff-high 11. In his last start, February 18 vs. San Diego State, Davidson was lifted with two outs and runners on second and third in the top of the fourth inning. The bullpen allowed both runners to score, and Davidson wound up being charged with three runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out three.
Sophomore righthander Jeff Stallings (2-0, 3.21) will start vs. East Carolina on Saturday. Stallings, a Greenville, N.C., native who will be facing his hometown team for the first time, has made three appearances, two of them starts, and has worked 14 innings. He has allowed five runs on 13 hits, walked four and struck out 10. In his last start, February 20 vs. San Diego State, he allowed four runs on six hits in five innings.
Sophomore righthander Gib Hobson (2-0, 4.61) will start for the Wolfpack on Sunday against West Virginia. Hobson has made three appearances, all starts, and has allowed seven runs on 17 hits in 13 2/3 innings. He has walked one and struck out 10. In his last start, February 19 vs. San Diego State, Hobson turned in his sharpest performance of the season, allowing two runs on six hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked none and struck out four.
THROWING STRIKES: A year ago, the NC State pitching staff set a school record with a strikeout-to-walk ratio of 2.8:1. In 80 innings thus far this season, the Wolfpack has walked 21 and fanned 55, an average of 2.4 walks and 6.2 strikeouts per game. The K:BB ratio comes to a sparkling 2.6:1.
DO NOT WALK: Wolfpack pitching coach Chris Roberts hates walks, and his pitchers do their best to avoid bases on balls. Wolfpack pitchers have walked three or fewer eight times in nine games thus far this season, and two or fewer five times.
10 HITS: During its current five-game winning streak, NC State has rapped out 10 hits or more in all five games, and has had at least 10 hits in seven of its nine games this season. The Wolfpack's longest stretch of 10-hit games a year ago was seven, from March 30 vs. Old Dominion through April 9 vs. Maryland.
STREAKS: NC State has been on an offensive roll the last two weeks, so it's no surprise that four players have hitting streaks of five games or more, and four more have three-game streaks.
Senior third baseman Matt Devine is on a six-game streak, during which he has batted .400 (8-for-20) with three doubles, a homer and nine RBIs.
Junior catcher Jake Muyco also has hit in six consecutive games, batting .333 (8-for-24) with three doubles and eight RBIs.
Sophomore first baseman Aaron Bates is currently riding the hottest hitting streak on the team, batting .450 (9-for-20) during a five-game streak. He has doubled, homered twice and driven in eight runs during his streak.
Junior second baseman Matt Camp also has a five-game streak, and he is batting .333 (7-for-21) during his streak with a double, a triple and five runs scored.
Junior infielder Aaron Cone, senior outfielder Bryan Kinneberg, senior outfielder Jason St. Julien and junior DH Mike Jensen all carry three-game hitting streaks into play this weekend in Charleston.
STRONG STARTERS: Starting pitching is always a huge key to the success of a team, and NC State's starters have been outstanding thus far in 2005. Through nine games, NC State's starting pitchers were 5-1 with a 3.25 ERA. In 44 1/3 innings, they had allowed 22 runs, 16 earned runs, on 49 hits, while walking 11 and striking out 28. Wolfpack starters had failed to pitch at least five innings just three times, and two of those were by design.
