North Carolina State University Athletics
NC State Kicks Off Baseball Season Friday At Doak
2/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 2, 2006
RALEIGH, N.C. - The weatherman is calling for sunny skies and 70 degrees, perfect baseball weather. So why not start the college baseball season Friday? Delaware State is coming to town to provide the opposition as the NC State baseball team begins its 2006 season with a three-game series this weekend. Game times are set for 3 p.m. on Friday, 2 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. A special season-opening pregame ceremony will take place prior to Friday's game. Fans are urged to arrive early.
THE STARTING PITCHERS: Junior righthander Gib Hobson (6-4, 5.12 in 2005) will make his first opening day start for NC State. Hobson made 17 appearances a year ago, all of them starts, and led the staff in starts, innings pitched (84 1/3) and no-hitters (1). Hobson allowed 58 runs, 48 of them earned, on 92 hits while walking 29 and striking out 60. Hobson will be opposed by Delaware State righthander Dan Perkins, who had no decisions and a 7.18 ERA in 12 appearances, four of them starts, in 2005.
Redshirt-sophomore righthander Eryk McConnell will start for the Wolfpack on Saturday. McConnell is a transfer from Western Carolina. He was with the Catamounts in 2004, but redshirted and then transfered to NC State a year ago. He sat out the 2005 season. McConnell went 8-1 with a 1.61 ERA as a senior at Tuscola High School in 2003. He made 10 appearances, nine of them starts, and threw seven complete games and three shutouts. He allowed 34 hits, walked 12 and struck out 81 in 62 innings. Sophomore righthander Justin Bitter will start on Saturday for the Hornets. Bitter went 5-7 with a 4.55 ERA in 2005.
Senior lefty Jason Duncan (5-0, 2.74 in 24 relief appearances in 2005) will make his fourth career start when he takes the ball for NC State on Sunday. Duncan was a mainstay out of the bullpen for the Wolfpack a year ago, allowing 18 runs, 14 earned, on 31 hits in 46 innings. He walked just 12 and fanned 50. He made two starts as a freshman in 2003 and one as a sophomore in 2004. He was used strictly in relief a year ago and was invaluable as a set-up man for relief ace Joey Devine. Duncan will most likely be used exclusively as a starter in 2006. Delaware State will counter on Sunday with either senior righthander Billy Keyes or junior righy Chase Korneman. Keyes went 5-2 with a 4.24 ERA a year ago, while Korneman was 4-6 with a 6.97 ERA.
NC STATE VS. DELAWARE STATE: NC State and Delaware State have met four times on the baseball diamond, all four at Doak Field, and all four resulting in Wolfpack victories. This weekend's games with the Hornets continue the tradition of playing Delaware State as either a season-opening game or part of a season-opening series. NC State laid a 17-8 whipping on the Hornets to open the 2002 season, then played Delaware State in a three-game series to open the 2005 campaign. sweeping the series by scores of 18-3, 15-1 and 3-1. Matt Camp, Bryan Kinneberg and Jake Muyco had three hits apiece to pace a season-high 21-hit attack in the opener to back five solid innings from starter Phil Davidson, who allowed one run on six hits. Kinneberg and Jonathan Diaz drove in three runs apiece. In the middle game of the series, Camp and Matt Devine had two hits and three RBIs each, and Diaz had two hits and two RBIs. Gib Hobson went four shutout innings in a prearranged four-way pitching split to earn the victory. In the finale, Korneman worked six solid innings for the Hornets, only to be outpitched by the Wolfpack's Jeff Stallings, who allowed one run on six hits in six innigns. Kinneberg had two hits and two RBIs.
NC STATE IN THE RANKINGS: The Wolfpack begins the 2006 season ranked No. 24 in Baseball America's preseason rankings. The Pack checks in at No. 26 in the Rosenblatt Report's preseason poll, and 27th in preseason polls by the National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) and USA Today.
ALL-AMERICANS: NC State first baseman Aaron Bates finished the 2005 season by earning third-team All-America honors from Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball, and he has picked up where he left off as 2006 begins, listed as a third-team preseason All-American by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball. In addition, teammate Andrew Brackman, a righthanded pitcher who also dabbles in dribbles on the basketball court, was listed as a second-team preseason All-American by Baseball America, which chooses its preseason All-Ameirca team in conjunction with the 30 Major League Baseball scouting directors.
BEST TOOLS: For its college preview, Baseball America polled coaches in each conference for the players with the best tools and ran the results on the BA website. Atlantic Coast Conference coaches voted the Wolfpack's Aaron Bates as the player in the conference with the best raw power, and voted Jonathan Diaz as the best defensive shortstop in the league.
DRAFTABLES: Wolfpack first baseman Aaron Bates already has been through Major League Baseball's annual First-Year Player Draft once, turning down the Marlins, who selected Bates in the eighth round in 2005. Bates will face the draft again in June, and according to Baseball America, he will probably be taken in a much higher round this time around. BA, in consultation with the 30 major league scouting directors, lists Bates as the No. 35 college prospect nationally and No. 8 in the ACC in the draft class of 2006. Assuming all stays the same, that would probably have Bates drafted no lower than the late second or early third round, and probably higher than that.
Scouts looking at Bates this season will also get an advance look at sophomore righthander Andrew Brackman, at least after basketball season is over. Major league scouts and Baseball America saw enough of Brackman a year ago to have him ranked as the No. 2 college prospect nationally and No. 1 in the ACC in the draft class of 2007.
