North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Collects Fifth-Straight NCAA Bid
5/28/2007 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. Head coach Elliott Avent and the NC State baseball program picked up its fifth-straight NCAA Tournament bid on Monday, May 28, as the bracket field was announced live on ESPN. The Pack, which will be taking part in the Big Dance for the 17th time in the last 22 years, will stand as the No. 2 seed at the Columbia, S.C. regional, hosted by South Carolina.
State enters the tournament with a 37-21 record after topping Georgia Tech (8-7) in its final game at the ACC Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., this past Saturday, May 26.
The Pack will take on Charlotte in first round action on Friday, June 1. The 49ers (47-10) will serve as the No. 3 seed in Columbia after grabbing its first-ever Atlantic 10 title with an 18-6 victory over Fordham this past Saturday.
Topped seeded host South Carolina (42-18) will take on No. 4 seed Wofford (30-31). The Gamecocks finished second in the SEC’s Eastern Division behind regular season and conference tournament champion Vanderbilt, which picked up the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. A 3-2 loss to Arkansas last Saturday eliminated South Carolina from the SEC Tournament.
Wofford punched its ticket to the postseason by winning the Southern Conference championship for the first time.
Click here to view the entire tournament field.
NC STATE IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: NC State’s appearance in this year’s Columbia, S.C., Regional marks the Wolfpack’s 21st trip to the NCAA Tournament, its fifth in a row, and its 17th in the last 22 years. NC State’s all-time record in the NCAA Tournament is 30-41.
NC State has made one trip to the College World Series, in 1968, and finished third. The Wolfpack has made one appearance to the NCAA Super Regionals, in 2003 after winning the Wilson Regional and advancing to Coral Gables to face Miami. The Hurricanes won the Super Regional in two games, winning the first game in the bottom of the ninth inning and the second in extra innings.
This marks NC State’s first postseason trip to Columbia since the Atlantic Regional in 1975. The Wolfpack split four games in that regional, falling 4-3 to Temple, defeating The citadel 16-3 and Temple 4-2 before being eliminated by the Gamecocks 4-3.
NC STATE VS. THE COLUMBIA REGIONAL FIELD: NC State has a lengthy baseball history with both South Carolina and Charlotte. Of course, the Gamecocks were members of the Atlantic Coast Conference until leaving after the 1971season. NC State leads the series with USC by a 33-21 mark, but the two teams have not met in the regular season since a two-game series in Columbia at the start of the 1972 season. NC State lost 6-0 to USC in the 1974 NCAA District 6 Championships played in Starkville, Miss., then lost 4-3 in the finals of the 1975 NCAA Atlantic Regional in Columbia. The last time NC State and South Carolina played in baseball was in 1992 at the NCAA Atlantic Regional in Coral Gables, Fla., with the Gamecocks defeating the Wolfpack 9-6. South Carolina has won the last four meetings with NC State.
NC State has played Charlotte, formerly UNC Charlotte, 26 times over the years and holds a 21-5 record against the 49ers. The two teams last played May 14, 2002, in Charlotte, a 16-6 romp for the Wolfpack. NC State has won the last six meetings with Charlotte, and 12 of the last 13. The 49ers’ last victory in the series was a 3-1 decision on May 8, 1991.
NC State and Wofford have never met in baseball, but Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent and Terriers coach Steve Traylor met 10 times from 1997-99 when Traylor was at Duke. The two teams went 5-5 in those 10 games.
AVENT IN THE NCAA TOURNAMENT: NC State coach Elliott Avent is 11-14 for his career in NCAA Tournament play. This year’s Columbia, S.C., Regional marks Avent’s eighth NCAA Tournament appearance in 11 years in Raleigh. He won the 2003 Wilson Regional, and his Wolfpack team was the last unbeaten team in the 1998 West Regional in Palo Alto, Calif. NC State went 4-6 the last three years in the NCAA Tournament.
PROBABLE PITCHERS: NC State’s pitching rotation for the postseason is TBA. Following are capsules of the four probable starters, taken alphabetically:
Junior righthander Andrew Brackman (6-4, 3.81) has made 13 starts and allowed 78 hits in 78 innings (he pitched 71 1/3 innings as a freshman and sophomore combined). He has walked 37 and struck out 74. Because of inflammation in his right elbow and the tragic death of former girlfriend Emily May in an automobile accident on May 17, Brackman has not pitched since May 12 at Virginia. He struggled with his command against the Cavaliers and was gone after four innings. He allowed three runs on five hits, walked five and struck out five. In his last start prior to the game at Virginia, April 28 vs. North Carolina, Brackman was dominant, allowing two runs, one earned, on three hits in seven innings. He walked four and struck out seven. Brackman started April 21 at Georgia Tech and took a 4-3 loss. He worked 5 2/3 innings and was charged with four runs on eight hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out nine.
Freshman lefthander Jimmy Gillheeney (4-2, 5.78) was 3-1 with a 2.45 ERA and a save after his first 10 appearances, but he is 1-1 with an 11.86 ERA in eight appearances since then. Much of Gillheeney’s slide has to do with his workload. A native of Providence, R.I., Gillheeney already had worked 35 innings this spring by the time his former high school, Bishop Hendricken, began its season the first week of April. He also has faced tougher competition as the season went on, facing Florida State, Miami, North Carolina, Virginia, Clemson twice and Georgia Tech twice in his last nine appearances. For the season, Gillheeney has now worked 62 1/3 innings and allowed 42 runs, 40 earned, on 71 hits. He has walked 22 and struck out 44. Gillheeney’s last appearance was a start May 26 vs. Georgia Tech in the the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. He went five innings and was charged with five runs on six hits. He walked one and struck out four. He did not figure in the decision.
Sophomore righthander Clayton Shunick (5-3, 5.98) is coming off two impressive starts, even if the numbers from those starts don’t reflect how well he pitched. On May 23 vs. Virginia in the ACC Tournament, Shunick allowed six runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings, but a blown bunt coverage (the error was his) in the sixth inning of that game turned what should have been a two-run inning into a six-run inning. Shunick had a four-hit shutout going through the first five innings against the Cavaliers before the game unravelled on him in the sixth. Six days earlier, Shunick started and pitched five innings of two-hit baseball against Clemson at Doak Field at Dail Park. He allowed just one unearned run, walked three and struck out four. For the two games, Shunick was 1-1 with a 5.23 ERA. For the season, he has made 20 appearances, three of them starts, and has allowed 37 runs, 31 of them earned, on 52 hits in 46 2/3 innings. He has walked 20 and struck out 49.
Sophomore lefthander Eric Surkamp (4-4, 3.18), who earned second-team All-ACC honors despite winning just four games, has been the Wolfpack’s ace and its hard-luck pitcher. In 15 starts, he has worked a staff-high 90 2/3 innings, allowing 39 runs, 32 earned, on 84 hits. He has walked 25 and struck out 77. Surkamp has seven no-decisions in 15 starts. He is one shy of the school record of eight no-decisions, held by Bubba Scarce (1997) and Matt Roupe (1994). Despite the no-decisions, Surkamp has been the picture of consistency and effectiveness, pitching at least six innings in all but two of his last 12 starts (he worked at least five innings in all 12), and not allowing more than three runs in nine of the 12. Surkamp’s last start was not a happy one. He allowed seven runs, four earned, on nine hits in five innings of work May 24 vs. North Carolina in the ACC Tournament. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
POULK HERO: Thanks to an injury to senior infielder Vince Gutierrez, Freshman second baseman Dallas Poulk moved into the starting lineup March 14 vs. Valparaiso and NC State has been a different team ever since. In those first 19 games of the season, against by far the softest part of the Wolfpack’s schedule (three games against ranked teams, none in the top 10), the team batted .297 and scored 138 runs (7.3 per game). In 39 games since Poulk moved into the starting lineup, NC State is batting .303 and has scored 263 runs (6.7 per game) against a far more difficult schedule (15 games against ranked teams, 10 against teams ranked Nos. 1, 3 or 4, and 11 games against teams ranked in the top 10).
In those 39 games, Poulk leads the Wolfpack with a .392 batting average (.050 points ahead of runner-up Ryan Pond) and a .507 slugging percentage, despite hitting just one home run all season. He also is the team leader the last 39 games in stolen bases (6) and base hits (58, 20 more than anyone else). His on-base percentage in that time is .436, which ranks second on the club, and he is second in RBIs with 23.
Poulk has gotten better as the year has gone along. He is hitting .413 (33-80) in the last 20 games, .431 (28-65) in the last 15, and .432 (19-44) in the last 10. In the Wolfpack’s final regular-season series of the year, two weeks ago vs. Clemson, Poulk batted a mere .429 (6-14), and hit his first home run of the season and made it dramatic a walk-off shot leading off the bottom of the ninth inning of the middle game of the series. At the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament last week, Poulk batted .455 (5-for-11).
Poulk became NC State’s leadoff hitter on May 4 vs. Campbell, and in the 13 games since then he is hitting .466 with a .638 slugging percentage and a .523 on-base percentage. He has one double, three triples, one home run, three steals, 10 runs scored and seven RBIs as the leadoff hitter. With Poulk at the top of the order, the Wolfpack is hitting .334 (145-434) and has scored 84 runs (6.5 per game).
For the season, Poulk is NC State’s leading hitter or one of the top two or three leading hitters in almost every possible situation. He leads the team with a .375 average in ACC games, and a .415 average in non-conference games. He leads the team in hitting in home games (.392), and in games away from home (.385). He leads the team in hitting in day games (.402) and night games (.373). He is the team’s leading hitter in the month of May (.466), and was second in April (.310).
JONES TAKES AFTER JACKIE: Freshman second baseman Dallas Poulk (see previous note) has some competition for the title of Wolfpack’s best player. At .327 with seven doubles, two triples, four home runs and 32 RBIs, sophomore center fielder Marcus Jones has had a solid season for the Wolfpacik, but has been every bit as hot as Poulk the second half of the year. After hitting just .200 during the month of March and riding the pines for several weeks, Jones worked his way back into the starting lineup full-time for the Miami series the weekend of April 13-15. He turned his season around on April 15, which was Jackie Robinson Day in Major League Baseball. Wearing David Lindsay’s uniform number 42 in honor of Robinson, Jones went 4-for-6 with a homer and three RBIs against the Hurricanes that day. He has batted .397 (31-for-78) with four doubles, two triples, three home runs, 13 runs scored and 18 RBIs in the 22 games since Jackie Robinson Day in Coral Gables. Jones has been remarkably consistent during that stretch, piecing together no hitting streaks longer than four games and going consecutive games without a hit just twice. He batted .545 to make the all-tournament team at the ACC Tournament. He is hitting .447 (17-for-38) over the last 10 games. He batted .438 (21-for-48) in the month of May, and he is hitting .450 (27-for-60) since slogging through an 0-for-9 series at Georgia Tech (he had lots of company that weekend).
CORONA IS BACK: A preseason All-America second baseman, junior infielder Ramon Corona has experienced a mystifying season, but finally seems to be his old self. A .341 hitter his first two seasons at NC State, Corona began the year in a horrific slump. After 17 games, he was batting .156 (10-for-64). As late as April 14, 36 games into the season, he was hitting .230 (31-for-135). In 22 games since then, Corona is batting .370 (27-for-73) with eight doubles, one home run and 14 RBIs. He batted .462 to make the all-tournament team for the ACC Tournament. He batted .400 (16-for-40) with six doubles and 11 RBIs in 11 games in the month of May.
