Baseball To Play Midweek Series vs. Marshall

RALEIGH, N.C. The Wolfpack welcomes home an old friend this week when Marshall comes to Doak Field at Dail Park for a two-game midweek series on Tuesday and Wednesday. Former NC State assistant coach Jeff Waggoner took over the Marshall program in 2007, and brings his 2008 team to the Doak to face the Wolfpack. Game times are 6:30 p.m. on Tuesday and 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Jeff Stallings (1-0, 5.68) will face Marshall’s Justin Moore (0-0, 8.00) on Tuesday. Sam Brown (0-0, 4.22) will start on Wednesday for the Wolfpack. Marshall has not named a Wednesday starter.

NC State is coming off a three-game series loss at Clemson this past weekend, defeating the Tigers 5-4 in the opener on Friday, but losing 3-2 and 2-0 in the second and third games of the series. The losses drop the Pack to 13-7 overall. Marshall is 8-11 after being swept a three-game series by Rice. That series took place at Charleston. W.Va.

Matt Payne leads NC State in hitting with a .400 average. He has hit one home run and drive in 14. Marcus Jones is hitting .343 with two homers and a team-best 15 RBIs. Ryan Pond, recovering from a slow start, is hitting .263 with a team-high four homers and 11 RBIs. Drew Martin is hitting .273 with one homer and 10 driven in.

Nate Lape leads Marshall with astonishing numbers. Lape is batting .486 with seven doubles, eight home runs and 22 RBIs. Tommy Johnson is batting .292 with four homers and 19 RBIs. Three other Marshall batters are hitting .300 or better, and a total of six members of the Herd have driven in 10 runs or more.

NC State vs. Marshall: NC State and Marshall have met three times in baseball, all in 2003, with the Wolfpack winning all three. The first two games were played as a doubleheader at Clayton High School, with NC State taking the first game 9-4 and the second 18-10. The series finale was played at Fleming Stadium in Wilson, and the Wolfpack finished the sweep with a 9-1 victory.

Welcome Back Waggs: The Marshall series brings former NC State assistant coach and current Marshall head coach Jeff Waggoner back to the Doak. Waggoner was an assistant coach on head coach Elliott Avent’s staff from 2005-06. Waggoner’s first team at Marshall, finished with a 21-32 record. His current squad, his second, is 8-11. Waggoner took over a program that has had little but hard times over the last few years. Marshall has had just three winning records in the last 20 years, and none since the 1994 team went 23-20.

How Do You Spell Relief? NC State’s pitching staff has been the strength of the 2008 Wolfpack, and the bullpen has been the backbone of the pitching staff. Heading into the Marshall series, the NC State bullpen is 9-2 with a 1.64 ERA and seven saves. Three different relievers have recorded saves, and seven have been credited with victories. The bullpen was perfect in seven appearances this past weekend at Clemson, working six shutout innings and allowing just four hits and walking three while striking out three. In the last 11 games, 30 NC State relievers have gone to the mound, have logged a 5-0 record, saves four games, and posted a 0.97 ERA. In 46 1/3 innings, the pen allowed 11 runs, five earned, on 33 hits and 14 walks while striking out 34.

For the season, Wolfpack relievers have inherited 42 baserunners and stranded 28 of them. Kyle Rutter has stranded eight of 10 inherited runners, Jimmy Gillheeney has stranded six of seven, and Alex Sogard has stranded seven of 10. Joey Cutler has inherited four runners and stranded all four, and Jake Buchanan has inherited two runners and stranded both.

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