North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Baseball On The Road Again
4/14/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
April 14, 2005
RALEIGH, N.C. - After digging itself a 1-5 hole at the start of Atlantic Coast Conference play this season, NC State has slowly but surely battled its way back towards the .500 mark. This weekend at Wake Forest, the Wolfpack (25-10 overall, 7-8 in ACC play) can reach the break-even mark by taking two of three from the Demon Deacons (15-19, 8-10). NC State is currently in sixth place in the ACC standings, one game ahead of the seventh-place Demon Deacons.
Game times are 3 p.m. on Friday, 1:30 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on the internet on gopack.com through Yahoo's subscription service.
THE STARTING PITCHERS: Sophomore righthander Jeff Stallings (4-3, 3.72) will start the first game of the series on Friday for NC State. This will be Stallings' 10th appearance and his ninth start. He has worked a staff-high 48 1/3 innings, allowing 21 runs, 20 earned runs, on 46 hits. He has walked 20 and struck out 30. In his last outing, April 8 at Virginia , Stallings took a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a leadoff base hit to Matt Street, who came around to score the game-winner in a 2-0 win for the Cavaliers. That was the only hit Stallings allowed in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out one. Sophomore righthander Josh Ellis (4-3, 6.79) is scheduled to start the opener for Wake Forest.
Redshirt-junior lefthander Branden Knapp (2-1, 3.25) will start on Saturday for the Wolfpack. Knapp has made eight appearances, five of them starts, and has allowed 17 runs, 13 of them earned, on 36 hits in 36 innings. He has shown excellent control, walking five and striking out 24. In his last appearance, April 9 at Virginia, Knapp tossed a complete-game five-hit shutout, beating the Wahoos 6-0. It was the first complete-game shutout by an ACC pitcher in a conference game in 2005. He was voted ACC Pitcher of the Week for his performance. Knapp has allowed just four earned runs on 17 hits in 16 2/3 innings over his last three starts. Sophomore righthander Charlie Mellies (2-3, 3.86) is the scheduled starter for Wake Forest on Saturday.
Sophomore righthander Gib Hobson (5-1, 4.35) will start the series finale on Sunday for NC State. Hobson has made 10 appearances, all starts, including one compete game, a no-hitter March 12 vs. Maryland. He has allowed 31 runs, 24 earned runs, on 51 hits in 49 2/3 innings. He has walked 17 and struck out 35. In his last start, April 10 at Virginia, he pitched six shutout innings as NC State edged the Cavaliers 1-0. He allowed three hits, walked two and fanned five. Senior righthander Brian Bach (1-1, 3.45) will start for the Deacons on Sunday.
NC STATE VS. WAKE FOREST: The Wolfpack holds a 125-98-4 advantage in the series with Wake Forest, but the Deacons have had the upper hand in recent years, winning nine of the last 14 meetings, 11 of the last 18, and 14 of the last 22. NC State did win two of three from Wake Forest a year ago. The Deacons won the series opener 4-1 at Doak Field last season, on a complete-game five-hitter from Justin Kerole, who outduelled Michael Rogers. Wake Forest won the game with three runs in the top of the eighth, on a homer from Casey Sterk, a triple by Ben Ingold and a single by Steve LaFaivre. NC State bounced back to take the middle game of the series 7-2 thanks to six shutout innings from Vern Sterry, who allowed three hits, walked one and struck out seven. Sterry retired 12 of the first 13 men he faced and allowed just two runners to reach scoring position. The Wolfpack got RBIs from Lee Mezistrano, Mike Jensen, Joey Devine, Jonathan Diaz and Ryan Johnson. The Wolfpack jumped to a 10-4 lead through four innings and coasted to the win. David Hicks drove in four runs, and Jensen homered. Nate Cretarolo got the win with 2 1/3 innings of relief, allowing a run on four hits.
SCOUTING WAKE FOREST: The Deacons have won four of their last seven games and five of their last eight in their first year under head coach Rick Rembielak. Sophomore first baseman Brendan Enick leads the team in batting with a .360 average. He has hit four doubles, three home runs and has driven in 29 runs. Wake's top run producer has been senior catcher B.J. Tucker, who leads the team with 12 doubles, seven home runs and 35 RBIs, while batting .285. Senior outfielder Matt Miller is hitting .295 with five doubles, four homers, 19 RBIs and 12 steals in 13 attempts. And senior shortstop Ben Ingold is having a typically productive season, batting .301 with seven doubles, four home runs, 26 RBIs and 11 steals in 13 attempts.
SCOUTING THE PACK: NC State comes into action against Wake Forest having won 10 of its last 12 games. The Wolfpack has played well almost the entire season, aside from a rocky patch the first two weeks of March. Take away a 1-5 record against No. 9 Miami (1-2) and No. 4 Georgia Tech (0-3) and NC State is 24-5. The combined record of the teams that have beaten the Wolfpack is 132-90.
Junior catcher Jake Muyco, who had a 12-game hitting streak snapped on Sunday at Virginia, has led the Wolfpack all season, and comes into play against Wake Forest batting .385 with 10 doubles and 25 RBIs. Sophomore first baseman Aaron Bates is hitting .371 with nine doubles, five home runs and a team-leading 32 RBIs. Senior third baseman Matt Devine is hitting .360 with nine doubles, three triples, one home run and 25 RBIs. Junior outfielder Brian Aragon is batting .350 with 10 doubles, one triple, three home runs and 19 RBIs.
On the mound, NC State pitchers have allowed just 13 earned runs in the last eight games, lowering the staff ERA from 5.06 to its current 4.24.
EARLIER THIS WEEK: Junior lefthander Jason Duncan pitched four shutout innings of relief, and Matt Camp had two hits and an RBI as the Wolfpack snapped UNC Wilmington's winning streak at 11 games with an 8-4 win Wednesday night at Doak Field.
ON DECK: Following this weekend's series at Wake Forest, NC State will play on Wednesday, April 20 at East Carolina, then will return to Doak Field for home series vs. Clemson from April 22-24 and North Carolina from April 29 through May 1.
SAVES LEADER: With saves in his first six opportunities of 2005, Wolfpack closer Joey Devine now has 30 saves for his career. Devine, who became NC State's career saves leader last March 13 vs. Northeastern, currently ranks fifth in Atlantic Coast Conference history in career saves. Former UNC sidewinder Thad Chrismon is the ACC's career saves leader with 41. Devine has made 14 appearances this season, 10 of them scoreless, and six of his seven one-inning appearances have been scoreless. He has walked three and has struck out 39, and is a perfect 6-for-6 in save situations. For his career, Devine has allowed 100 hits and struck out 173 in 130 innings.
DUNCAN'S DOUGHNUTS: Junior lefthander Jason Duncan has emerged as a legitimate stopper in the middle innings for the Wolfpack. Duncan currently is working on a string of 11 consecutive scoreless innings. At 3-0 with a 3.57 ERA, Duncan's stats don't tell how effective he has been. On March 20 at Georgia Tech, he faced four batters, and gave up two singles, a walk and hit a batter. All four came around to score. Aside from that game, Duncan's ERA is 1.99 over 22 2/3 innings.
APRIL PITCHING: On March 30, NC State's ERA stood at a not-so-impressive 5.06. In eight games since then, Wolfpack pitchers have allowed 22 runs, 13 earned runs, on 56 hits in 74 innings, a 1.58 ERA that has lowered the staff's season ERA to its current 4.24, its lowest since March 9. NC State has thrown three shutouts in those eight games, including back-to-back whitewashings of Virginia on April 9-10. The key to the turnaround? How about walks. Prior to the last eight games, NC State averaged 3.25 walks per nine innings. Over the last eight games, the Pack has averaged 2.31 walks per nine innings.
CONTROL: Aside from a five-walk outing vs. East Carolina on April 5, the Wolfpack pitching staff has not walked more than three men in a game sine March 25 vs. Lehigh, a span of 12 games.
GAMES STARTED: Starting pitching is such a vital factor in the success of any team, and NC State's starters have been very good in 2005. Through the first 35 games of the year, Wolfpack starting pitchers are 15-7 with a 3.64 ERA. In 183 innings, they have allowed 95 runs, 74 of them earned, on 183 hits while walking 58 and striking out 119.
IN A PINCH: Junior infielder Aaron Cone has quickly carved out a niche for himself as NC State's not-so-secret weapon off the bench. Cone is 7-for-12 (.583) with three doubles and seven RBIs as a pinch-hitter. Cone's most dramatic pinch-hit was his game-winning, two-out single March 13 to beat Maryland 6-5 in 10 innings. Despite starting just six games this season, Cone has four game-winning RBIs.
