North Carolina State University Athletics
Homestretch Begins At Virginia For Baseball
5/10/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. Two Atlantic Coast Conference series remain for the NC State baseball team, both against ranked opponents, beginning this weekend at third-ranked Virginia.
The Cavaliers (38-10 overall, 16-7 in the ACC) lead the ACC’s Coastal Division and have won eight of their last 10 games overall and six of their last seven ACC games.
The Wolfpack (31-17, 12-12) absorbed a disappointing 8-4 loss at UNC Wilmington on Wednesday night. The Pack has lost three of its last five games and six of its last 10 overall. In the ACC, NC State has lost five of its last six games.
Game times for the series are 7 p.m. on Friday, 6 p.m. on Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line at gopack.com through Pack Pass.
NC STATE VS. VIRGINIA: NC State holds a 102-55 lead in the series with Virginia, and the Wolfpack has done especially well against the Cavaliers in recent years. Since Elliott Avent became NC State head coach in 1997, the Pack has a 28-12 record against UVa, including an 8-7 mark in Charlottesville, 12-3 at Doak Field at Dail Park, and 8-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. NC State has won the last four meetings with Virginia, six of the last seven, nine of the last 11, 18 of the last 22.
NC State swept the regular-season series in Raleigh a year ago. The Pack won the opener 10-2 behind six strong innings from starter Andrew Brackman, three hits from Matt Camp, and two hits and three RBIs from Jon Still. The Wolfpack broke the game open with a seven-run fifth inning, highlighted by a two-run single from Ramon Corona, who went 7-for-14 in the series. The Pack came from behind to take the second game 10-9, scoring four runs in the bottom of the eighth and two more in the bottom of the ninth, the game-winner coming on Camp’s walk-off RBI double. Camp went 3-for-5, and Aaron Bates homered and drove in three runs. Sam Walls, the last of seven NC State pitchers, worked the top of the ninth inning to get the win. In the finale, Eryk McConnell allowed one run on six hits over eight innings to lead NC State to an 8-1 victory. Brian Aragon drove in a pair of runs, and Corona had two hits to lead the Wolfpack offense.
The two teams met a fourth time last season at the ACC Tournament, the 11th year in a row that NC State and Virginia met in the conference tournament. In that game, Still keyed a three-run fifth inning with a two-run single that lifted the Pack to a 4-3 win. McConnell allowed two runs on nine hits in seven innings to get the win.
THE ROTATION: For the seventh ACC weekend in a row, sophomore lefthander Eric Surkamp (4-2, 2.72) will take the ball for NC State in a series opener. In his previous six Friday starts, he is 2-1 with a 2.88 ERA. Surkamp has been the Pack’s tough-luck pitcher this season, with no-decisions in six of his last nine starts. In those nine starts, he is 2-1 with a 2.69 ERA, allowing 55 hits, walking 16 and striking out 50 in 60 1/3 innings. He had a 3.00 ERA in the six no-decisions. He left three of those games with the lead, two of them with the score tied, and one with a one-run deficit. In his last four starts against Florida State, Miami, Georgia Tech and North Carolina he is 1-1 with a 2.28 ERA, and carried a shutout into the ninth inning of the one loss in that time. For the season Surkamp has made 12 appearances, all starts, and allowed 66 hits and 22 walks while striking out 63 in 72 2/3 innings. Sophomore righthander Jacob Thompson (10-0, 1.38) will start Friday for Virginia.
Junior righthander Andrew Brackman (6-4, 3.65) will start for the Wolfpack on Saturday. Brackman has made 12 starts and allowed 73 hits in 74 innings (he pitched 71 1/3 innings as a freshman and sophomore combined). He has walked 32 and struck out 69. In his last start, April 28 vs. North Carolina, he allowed two runs, one earned run, on three hits in seven innings, with four walks and seven strikeouts. Freshman lefthander Matt Packer (3-2, 3.39) is slated to start on Saturday for the Cavaliers.
NC State's Sunday starter is to be determined. Junior lefthander Sean Doolittle (7-3, 2.11) is the scheduled Sunday starter for Virginia.
WHO’S HOT: A quartet of hitters has carried the load recently for the NC State offense. Over the Wolfpack’s last 10 games, junior right fielder Ryan Pond is hitting .429 (12-for-28 in eight games) with four double, a home run, seven runs scoerd and three RBIs. Freshman second baseman Dallas Poulk is at .389 (14-for-36) with three doubles, a triple, seven runs scored and seven RBIs. Junior shortstop Ramon Corona is hitting .378 (14-for-37) with four doubles, a home run and seven RBIs in the last 10 games. Sophomore center fielder Marcus Jones is hitting .323 (10-for-31) with two doubles, two homers and eight RBIs the last 10 games.
UP AND DOWN AND UP AND DOWN: NC State has been hot and cold offensively in recent weeks. Wednesday night at UNC Wilmington, the Wolfpack got all of four runs and six hits in an 8-4 loss to the Seahawks. That came days after a strong weekend against a weak Campbell team that has 10 wins all season. In two games vs. the Camels, the Pack batted .378 (28-for-74), scored 19 runs and belted five doubles, a triple and four home runs.
Against more rigorous competition, however, NC State has had considerably less success. In its last nine Atlantic Coast Conference games, the Wolfpack is hitting .248 and has scored 51 runs (5.7 per game). Those numbers include a 19-9 blowout of Miami on April 15 and an 11-1 win over North Carolina on April 27. Take those games out of the equation and NC State, in the other seven games in that nine-game stretch, is hitting .174 and has scored 21 runs (3.0 per game). NC State batted .200 with runners on base in those seven games, .176 with runners in scoring position. In the last nine conference games, Wolfpack hitters have struck out 100 times.
In the Georgia Tech series April 20-22, NC State batted .167 and scored seven runs. The Pack batted .167 (5-for-30) with runners on base, but only .118 (2-for-17) with runners in scoring position. NC State batters struck out 33 times in the three games, including 17 times in the second game of the series. That’s the most strikeouts in a game by NC State in at least 10 years, and the most in a three-game span since 2004 (39 strikeouts from April 3-April 7).
The numbers were better April 27-29 against North Carolina, thanks in large part to the aforementioned 11-1 victory over longtime nemesis Robert Woodard in the first game of the series. The Wolfpack batted .283 for the series, scored 19 runs, struck out 31 times and batted .250 with runners in scoring position. Without the 11-1 win in the series opener, the numbers for the remaining two games in the series fall to .206 batting, eight runs, 23 strikeouts, .194 with runners on base and .158 with runners in scoring position.
RPI RANKINGS: The latest ratings performance index (RPI) rankings released May 8 (through games of May 6) by the NCAA show NC State at No. 28, down two spots from No. 26 the week before. Despite losing five of its last six ACC games, NC State has a strong record against teams in the upper portions of the RPI. The Pack is 5-5 against teams in the top 20 of the RPI and 9-7against teams in the top 30. NC State has three-game ACC series remaining against Virginia (No. 11) and Clemson (No. 24), plus at least three games in the ACC Tournament, meaning the Wolfpack has a chance to continue to move up before the pairings for the NCAA Tournament are announced on May 28.
GRAND SLAMS: When Marcus Jones hit a grand-slam home run April 27 vs. North Carolina, it was the fourth grand slam by the Wolfpack this season. Ramon Corona hit one April 10 vs. William & Mary, Caleb Mangum hit a grand slam March 11 vs. Maryland, and Mike Roskopf hit a grand slam March 30 at Boston College. The school record for grand slams in a season is six, set in 1997, head coach Elliott Avent’s first year on the job. The Wolfpack hit no grand slams a year ago, hit two in 2005, four in 2004 and one in 2003.
POULK HITS HIS WAY TO LEADOFF: When senior infielder Vince Gutierrez separated his right shoulder March 14 vs. Valparaiso and was lost to the team for an extended period, freshman Dallas Poulk was ready to step in and fill the void left by Gutierrez’s absence. With three hits in nine at-bats in part-time action leading up to the Valpo series, Poulk was beginning to earn more playing time anyway, but in 28 games since Gutierrez went down, Poulk has started all 28 at second base and batted .373 (38-for-102), scored 18 runs and driven in 17. Defensively, he has committed just three errors in 133 chances (.977 fielding percentage) in 28 games since replacing Gutierrez in the starting lineup.
Poulk has done so well since moving into the lineup that he has moved to the top of the lineup card as the Wolfpack’s leadoff hitter May 4 vs. Campbell, and is 8-for-14 with two runs scored and four RBIs in three games.
CORONA PICKING UP THE PACE: Despite the overall recent struggles of the Wolfpack offense, junior shortstop Ramon Corona is hitting his stride at the plate. After starting the year .156 through 17 games, Corona has batted .331 (39-for-118) since then, .351 (20-for-57) in the last 15 games, .378 (14-for-37) in the last 10 games, and .429 (9-for-21) in the last five. Corona batted .326 (14-for-43) in the last four ACC series.
