North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Takes On Gardner-Webb Saturday & Sunday
2/16/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — The cold weather took care of the scheduled series opener between NC State and Gardner-Webb, but the Wolfpack and Bulldogs definitely will play this weekend, kicking off an abbreviated two-game series on Saturday at 2 p.m. The series will conclude with a Sunday afternoon game beginning at 1 o’clock.
THE SERIES: NC State and Gardner-Webb have met once in baseball, on February 12, 2002, and the Wolfpack defeated the Bulldogs by a whopping 23-5 score. Matt Butler went 4-for-6 with a double and five RBIs. Joe Gaetti and Mike Prochaska drove in three runs apiece. Seven Wolfpack pitchers took their turn on the mound, with Darryl Minugh picking up the win with two innings of relief work.
THE ROTATION: NC State will send Andrew Brackman to the mound on Saturday vs. Gardner-Webb. Sunday’s starter is TBA. Sophomore lefthander Eric Surkamp and junior righthander Jeff Stallings both started and won games a week ago vs. William & Mary and will be the leading candidates to start Sunday.
Brackman, pitching in bitter cold in front of a small platoon of scouts and media types, allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits. After walking the first hitter of the game, he settled down and retired 10 in a row, seven of them on groundouts, and 11 of 12.
Surkamp combined with freshman lefty Jimmy Gillheeney on a six-hit shutout last Saturday. Surkamp allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two. Gillheeney walked his first batter on five pitches, then allowed a single to put runners on first and second with none out. From that point on, he was untouchable, retiring the last 12 men in order and going to a three-ball count just once.
Stallings allowed three runs on six hits, but was victimized by a pair of well-placed bloop hits into no-man’s land in shallow left field. The first led off an inning and came around to score. The second drove in a run with two outs. Stallings walked one and struck out four.
SCOUTING GARDNER-WEBB: The Bulldogs come to Doak Field at Dail Park with a 1-3 record, having defeated Appalachian State 9-7 this past Tuesday at Boiling Springs. Last weekend at the Winthrop Challenge in Rock Hill, S.C., Gardner-Webb lost 4-3 to Creighton, 1-0 to Maryland in 12 innings, and 6-1 to host Winthrop. GW comes to Raleigh with a 3.75 staff ERA, led by sophomore righthander Josh Drewery, who tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings vs. Maryland last weekend at Winthrop. He allowed three hits, struck out four and walked none. Offensively, junior outfielder Jamaal Kinard is batting .417 with a double. Sophomore outfielder Daniel Cooke leads the team with three RBIs and is batting .385. Sophomore outfielder Brock Miller is hitting .333 with a double. No one else in the lineup is hitting higher than .235. The Bulldogs lead the Atlantic 10 with 15 stolen bases in four games.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: The 23-run margin of victory in the Wolfpack’s 23-0 shutout of William & Mary on February 10 was the largest by NC State since a 24-0 victory over Marist on March 17, 1992.
12-RUN FIRST: NC State’s 12-run first inning last Saturday vs. William & Mary was the Wolfpack’s biggest inning since a 14-run inning against Coppin State on February 24, 2002, and was the Pack’s biggest first inning since a 12-run inning on April 10, 1993, vs. Clemson. NC State has not had a bigger first inning since at least 1977.
FOR STARTERS: NC State’s starting rotation of Andrew Brackman, Eric Surkamp and Jeff Stallings combined for a 3-0 record and a 2.40 ERA vs. William & Mary. The starters allowed four earned runs on 14 hits in 15 innings. They walked three and struck out nine. Opposing hitters batted .250 (14-for-56) against the Wolfpack’s starters, including a .211 mark (4-for-19) with runners in scoring position. William & Mary went 0-for-9 against Brackman, Surkamp and Stallings with runners on base and two out, 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and two out.
RELIEF: NC State’s bullpen allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits in 12 innings last weekend vs. William & Mary. The pen posted an ERA of 0.75 and held Tribe hitters to a .167 batting average. The quartet of Jimmy Gillheeney, Eryk McConnell, Kyle Rutter and Clayton Shunick combined to throw 10 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, recording two saves, and holding the Tribe to a .076 average (2-for-26). That quartet of relievers alowed no hits with runners on base and two outs, and no hits with runners in scoring position.
PITCHING RESULTS: In 27 innings against William & Mary last weekend, NC State pitchers put zeroes on the scoreboard 22 times, and allowed the leadoff hitter in an inning to reach base just seven times. Of the 20 runners William & Mary advanced to scoring position in the three games, 13 were stranded.
PITCHING DEPTH: NC State’s pitching staff posted a 1.67 ERA in the three-game series vs. William & Mary. Eight pitchers saw action in the series, and all pitched well. Head coach Elliott Avent still has several pitchers who have not seen the mound in a game yet, including junior righthanders Matt Payne (4-1, 4.26 in 31 career appearances), Joel Brookens (1-1, 3.41 in 23 appearances a year ago) and Ryan Pond (2-1 in eight career appearances, four of them starts), sophomore lefthander Andrew Taylor (11 appearances a year ago), sophomore righthander Joey Cutler (1-2, 1.93 in 12 appearances a year ago), and freshman righthanders Sam Brown (7th-round draft pick in 2006 by Washington) and Nate Karns (10th-round draft pick in 2006 byHouston).
EXTRA-BASE HITS: NC State hitters rapped out 18 hits in the Wolfpack’s 23-0 rout of William & Mary on February 10, and 11 of those hits were extra-base hits, including triples by Ryan Pond, Pat Ferguson and Vince Gutierrez. The three triples marked the first time NC State had recorded that many in a game since March 14, 2001, against Campbell. The last time the Wolfpack had 11 extra-base hits in a game was March 15, 2006, vs. UNC Greensboro.
THE SERIES: NC State and Gardner-Webb have met once in baseball, on February 12, 2002, and the Wolfpack defeated the Bulldogs by a whopping 23-5 score. Matt Butler went 4-for-6 with a double and five RBIs. Joe Gaetti and Mike Prochaska drove in three runs apiece. Seven Wolfpack pitchers took their turn on the mound, with Darryl Minugh picking up the win with two innings of relief work.
THE ROTATION: NC State will send Andrew Brackman to the mound on Saturday vs. Gardner-Webb. Sunday’s starter is TBA. Sophomore lefthander Eric Surkamp and junior righthander Jeff Stallings both started and won games a week ago vs. William & Mary and will be the leading candidates to start Sunday.
Brackman, pitching in bitter cold in front of a small platoon of scouts and media types, allowed two runs, one earned, on three hits. After walking the first hitter of the game, he settled down and retired 10 in a row, seven of them on groundouts, and 11 of 12.
Surkamp combined with freshman lefty Jimmy Gillheeney on a six-hit shutout last Saturday. Surkamp allowed five hits, walked one and struck out two. Gillheeney walked his first batter on five pitches, then allowed a single to put runners on first and second with none out. From that point on, he was untouchable, retiring the last 12 men in order and going to a three-ball count just once.
Stallings allowed three runs on six hits, but was victimized by a pair of well-placed bloop hits into no-man’s land in shallow left field. The first led off an inning and came around to score. The second drove in a run with two outs. Stallings walked one and struck out four.
SCOUTING GARDNER-WEBB: The Bulldogs come to Doak Field at Dail Park with a 1-3 record, having defeated Appalachian State 9-7 this past Tuesday at Boiling Springs. Last weekend at the Winthrop Challenge in Rock Hill, S.C., Gardner-Webb lost 4-3 to Creighton, 1-0 to Maryland in 12 innings, and 6-1 to host Winthrop. GW comes to Raleigh with a 3.75 staff ERA, led by sophomore righthander Josh Drewery, who tossed 6 2/3 shutout innings vs. Maryland last weekend at Winthrop. He allowed three hits, struck out four and walked none. Offensively, junior outfielder Jamaal Kinard is batting .417 with a double. Sophomore outfielder Daniel Cooke leads the team with three RBIs and is batting .385. Sophomore outfielder Brock Miller is hitting .333 with a double. No one else in the lineup is hitting higher than .235. The Bulldogs lead the Atlantic 10 with 15 stolen bases in four games.
MARGIN OF VICTORY: The 23-run margin of victory in the Wolfpack’s 23-0 shutout of William & Mary on February 10 was the largest by NC State since a 24-0 victory over Marist on March 17, 1992.
12-RUN FIRST: NC State’s 12-run first inning last Saturday vs. William & Mary was the Wolfpack’s biggest inning since a 14-run inning against Coppin State on February 24, 2002, and was the Pack’s biggest first inning since a 12-run inning on April 10, 1993, vs. Clemson. NC State has not had a bigger first inning since at least 1977.
FOR STARTERS: NC State’s starting rotation of Andrew Brackman, Eric Surkamp and Jeff Stallings combined for a 3-0 record and a 2.40 ERA vs. William & Mary. The starters allowed four earned runs on 14 hits in 15 innings. They walked three and struck out nine. Opposing hitters batted .250 (14-for-56) against the Wolfpack’s starters, including a .211 mark (4-for-19) with runners in scoring position. William & Mary went 0-for-9 against Brackman, Surkamp and Stallings with runners on base and two out, 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position and two out.
RELIEF: NC State’s bullpen allowed two runs, one earned, on seven hits in 12 innings last weekend vs. William & Mary. The pen posted an ERA of 0.75 and held Tribe hitters to a .167 batting average. The quartet of Jimmy Gillheeney, Eryk McConnell, Kyle Rutter and Clayton Shunick combined to throw 10 scoreless innings, allowing four hits, recording two saves, and holding the Tribe to a .076 average (2-for-26). That quartet of relievers alowed no hits with runners on base and two outs, and no hits with runners in scoring position.
PITCHING RESULTS: In 27 innings against William & Mary last weekend, NC State pitchers put zeroes on the scoreboard 22 times, and allowed the leadoff hitter in an inning to reach base just seven times. Of the 20 runners William & Mary advanced to scoring position in the three games, 13 were stranded.
PITCHING DEPTH: NC State’s pitching staff posted a 1.67 ERA in the three-game series vs. William & Mary. Eight pitchers saw action in the series, and all pitched well. Head coach Elliott Avent still has several pitchers who have not seen the mound in a game yet, including junior righthanders Matt Payne (4-1, 4.26 in 31 career appearances), Joel Brookens (1-1, 3.41 in 23 appearances a year ago) and Ryan Pond (2-1 in eight career appearances, four of them starts), sophomore lefthander Andrew Taylor (11 appearances a year ago), sophomore righthander Joey Cutler (1-2, 1.93 in 12 appearances a year ago), and freshman righthanders Sam Brown (7th-round draft pick in 2006 by Washington) and Nate Karns (10th-round draft pick in 2006 byHouston).
EXTRA-BASE HITS: NC State hitters rapped out 18 hits in the Wolfpack’s 23-0 rout of William & Mary on February 10, and 11 of those hits were extra-base hits, including triples by Ryan Pond, Pat Ferguson and Vince Gutierrez. The three triples marked the first time NC State had recorded that many in a game since March 14, 2001, against Campbell. The last time the Wolfpack had 11 extra-base hits in a game was March 15, 2006, vs. UNC Greensboro.
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