Baseball Back In ACC Play, At Virginia Tech

RALEIGH, N.C. NC State takes its hot streak on the road this weekend in a return to Atlantic Coast Conference action. Winners of four in a row and 11 of its last 13, the Wolfpack carries a 25-11 overall record and a 10-7 ACC slate into action Friday, Saturday and Sunday at Virginia Tech.

Game times are 5:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1), with the broadcasts available on-line on gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.

The Wolfpack will send its usual weekend rotation to the mound. Junior righthander Clayton Shunick (3-4, 2.50) will start on Friday. Junior lefthander Eric Surkamp (3-2, 4.72) will start on Saturday. Senior righthander Eryk McConnell (4-1, 5.22) will start the series finale for the Wolfpack on Sunday. Virginia Tech will start junior righthander Rhett Ballard (2-3, 4.20) on Friday. Virginia Tech’s pitching plans for the remainder of the weekend had not been anounced as of Thursday at noon.

NC State enters the series on a roll. In its last 14 games, the Wolfpack has hit the ball with authority, batting .354 (176-for-497), scoring 8.6 runs per game with a .431 on-base percentage and a .555 slugging percentage. The Wolfpack has outscored the opposition 120-56, managing double-figure hit totals in 11 of the 14 games (including 10 of 11 entering the Virginia Tech series) and double-figure run totals in six. NC State has bashed out 32 doubles and 20 home runs in the 14 games, and has raised its team batting average from .270 to .305.

The leaders of the Pack’s offensive surge are Ryan Pond (.421 average, 2 homers, 21 RBIs), Jeremy Synan (.415-3-14), Dallas Poulk (.373-2-11), Tommy Foschi (.356-0-11) and Matt Payne (.333-2-10).

Combined the renewed offense with a pitching staff that has been rock solid all season and currently ranks fourth nationally in ERA and the Wolfpack is legitimately hot. Winners of four in a row, the Pack has won 11 of its last 13 games, including a 4-1 record in that time against ranked opponents.

Virginia Tech comes into the series at 16-21 overall and 3-15 in the ACC. The Hokies have won five of their last six games, including a series win last weekend at Wake Forest. Taking the series from the Deacons took some of the sting off of a brutal start to conference play. Virginia Tech lost its first 12 ACC games this season before beating Maryland 8-7 on April 4. The Terps recovered to win the final two games of that series, but Tech has lost just once since then.

Sophomore catcher Anthony Sonoski leads the VPI offense with a .329 average, 12 doubles, six home runs and 34 RBIs. Senior first baseman Sean O’Brien is hitting .311 with 12 doubles, four homers and 27 RBIs.

Overall, the Hokies are hitting .305 as a team and averaging 7.0 runs per game. The pitching staff has an ERA of 5.90. In ACC play, Virginia Tech is batting .268 and averaging 4.6 runs per game. The pitching staff’s ERA in ACC games is 6.50.

NC State vs. Virginia Tech: The Wolfpack holds a 27-12-1 lead in the series against the Hokies. NC State is 5-3 against Virginia Tech since the Hokies joined the ACC for the 2005 season. The Pack took the three-game series from the Hokies a year ago at Doak Field at Dail Park, two games to one, winning the first two games 12-8 and 5-2, but dropping the finale 6-4. Two years ago in Blacksburg, the Pack routed Virginia Tech 21-3 in the first game of the series, then dropped a 7-6 decision in what turned out to be the series finale when the Sunday game was rained out. NC State is 6-3 against Virginia Tech since Elliott Avent became head coach in 1997. The other game against VPI in that time was a 12-6 win in the 1997 NCAA South II Regional.

The Wolfpack’s Winning Ways: After going most of the month of March without winning a weekend series and struggling offensively, NC State has won 11 of 13 games heading into the Virginia Tech series. The Wolfpack has won its last four games, and won a season-high seven straight games from March 29 vs. North Carolina through April 8 vs. UNC Wilmington.

The Wolfpack’s hot streak has come largely against impressive competition, beginning with an 8-6 road win over North Carolina, currently ranked No. 4 in all the major national polls. The streak continued with a 4-3 win at then-No. 24 East Carolina, a 12-0 win over a strong Elon team (28-11 heading to this weekend), a three-game sweep of Wake Forest in an Atlantic Coast Conference and a 12-5 win over then-No. 24 UNC Wilmington, off to its best start in school history. Coastal Carolina, ranked No. 22 at the time and currently ranked No. 19 by the NCBWA, ended the winning streak at seven games with an exciting 5-4 win at the Doak, but the Wolfpack rebounded to take two of three games from Duke a week ago, then defeated No. 23 ECU 7-6 and Radford 11-2.

NC State is 2-0-1 in its last three weekend series, including a split with North Carolina three weeks ago. For the season, the Pack is 7-6 vs. ranked opponents. Since March 29, NC State is 4-1 against ranked opponents. According to the NCAA statistical rankings of April 14, the Wolfpack ranked fourth nationally in ERA at 3.17, and according to the approximated RPI report from Nolan Warren, the Pack had played the sixth-toughest schedule in the country.

Maybe He Should Wear 42 All The Time: Marcus Jones has worn uniform number 20 since he arrived at NC State in the fall of 2005. Twice, however, he switched numbers. The results were dramatic. Specifically, Jones has worn uniform number 42 on April 15 the past two years to honor the late Hall of Famer Jackie Robinson on Major League Baseball’s Jackie Robinson Day.

Not only has Jones honored Robinson on April 15 the last two years, he’s hit like him as well. On April 15, 2007, at Miami, Jones wore number 42 and went 4-for-6 with a home run and three RBIs. It was the biggest game of his career to that point, and it launched him on an offensive tear that last the rest of the season. Over the final 25 games of 2007, Jones batted .374 (34-for-91) with five doubles, two triples, three home runs and 19 RBIs. He batted .421 (24-for-57) over the final 15 games.

This year, the April 15 opponent was East Carolina, and while the results weren’t quite as dramatic, Jones had a big night, going 2-for-4 with a homer. In two games on April 15 the last two years, Jones went 6-for-10 with two home runs and four RBIs.

Pond Gets Hot, Racks Up The RBIs: Through 36 games, senior first baseman/outfielder Ryan Pond is NC State’s most productive hitter. He ranks third on the team in batting at .325, but is tied for the team lead with six home runs, and leads the team with 32 RBIs and a .550 slugging percentage.

Pond has done most of his damage in April. In 12 games this month, Pond is hitting .490 (24-for-49) with five doubles, two home runs and 21 RBIs. For the month, he leads the team in batting by 107 points, in RBIs by eight, in slugging percentage by 74 points, and on-base percentage by 62 points. Pond ended the month of March with a .211 average for the season and has raised that by 114 points in 12 games.

Alex Sogard Emerging As A Staff Ace: A pitching staff that ranked fourth nationally in ERA through games of April 13 has to have numerous aces, and that is the case with NC State. The latest to earn that status may be redshirt-sophomore lefthander Alex Sogard. Highly regarded out of high school in Phoenix, Ariz., Sogard signed Oregon State, where he got to be part of two national championship teams, but where he also got buried on the depth chart.

Sogard wound up his second year with the Beavers with about as many championship rings as innings pitched, and decided it was time to move on. He wound up with the Wolfpack, and after three outings to knock off the rust, he has been outstanding. In his last 12 appearances, Sogard is 2-0 with a 1.37 ERA. In 19 2/3 innings in that time, he has allowed 13 hits, walked eight and struck out 13. He has allowed just two runs in his last eight appearances (16.1 IP) and 10 of his last 12 appearances have been scoreless.

Sogard’s last two appearances were starts against ranked opponents, April 8 vs. No. 22 Coastal Carolina and April 15 vs. No. 23 East Carolina. He shut out Coastal on two hits over four innings, and allowed two runs in 5 2/3 innings against ECU. In the two games, he allowed two runs on five hits in 9 2/3 innings, walking four and striking out eight.

Tough-Luck Losses For Clayton Shunick: Speaking of aces, no one has pitched better for the Wolfpack in 2008 than junior righthander Clayton Shunick, whose 3-4 record belies the remarkable season he’s had to date.

In his first three appearances of the season, Shunick went 2-0 and did not allow an earned run in 17 innings. Since then, he has had more than his share of misfortune. On March 15 vs. Miami at Doak Field at Dail Park, Shunick held the juggernaut Hurricanes to two runs on five hits in six innings, but lost 2-1. That was one of just five times this season that Miami scored fewer than five runs in a game.

A week later at Clemson, Shunick carried a 2-0 lead and a four-hit shutout into the seventh inning, but a leadoff walk and three consecutive bloop singles, all to the same spot in shallow right-center field, led to a pair of runs and an eventual 3-2 loss.

On March 28 at North Carolina, Shunick pitched gem, with the exception of one pitch in the fifth inning. Shunick led 2-0 heading into the inning, but a one-out error led to three straight singles to tie the game at 2-2. Chad Flack made it a really big inning by driving a fastball deep to left for a three-run home run.

Shunick’s run of tough luck took a one-week break on April 4 against Wake Forest when he held the Deacons to a run on four hits in 7 2/3 innings. Shunick struck out a career-high 12 and walked just two and came away with the 7-2 victory.

Misfortune returned for Shunick a week later vs. Duke in Raleigh. The first four Duke hitters of the game reached base on a walk, a hit batter, a single and a double. The first out of the game was a sacrifice fly that gave the Blue Devils a 3-0 lead. Beginning with that sacrifice fly, Shunick retired 26 of 28 batters, including 15 in a row, before Nate Freiman’s two-out solo homer in the eighth inning. Shunick wound up charged with four runs on four hits in eight innings, a very credible outing. He lost 4-1.

For the season, Shunick has pitched a staff-high 50 1/3 innings and allowed just 16 runs, 14 earned, on 40 hits with 12 walks and 59 strikeouts. He is 3-4 with a 2.50 ERA.

Bullpen Notes: For the season, Wolfpack relievers are 12-3 with a 1.96 ERA and 13 saves. The bullpen has allowed 115 hits and 63 walks while striking out 138 in 146 2/3 innings. Four different NC State relievers have recorded saves, with closer Jimmy Gillheeney leading the way with eight. Eight have been credited with victories.

The Wolfpack’s April 9 5-4 loss to Coastal Carolina was the first defeat taken by the bullpen since March 7 vs. Virginia, a span of 21 games without a loss. The loss to the Chanticleers also marked the first and only blown save of the season by the Wolfpack bullpen.

For the season, Wolfpack relievers have inherited 63 baserunners and stranded 42 of them. Kyle Rutter has stranded 14 of 18 inherited runners, Jimmy Gillheeney has stranded seven of eight, and Alex Sogard has stranded eight of 11. Joey Cutler has inherited six runners and stranded them all.

Brutal Early Schedule Now Behind The Wolfpack: NC State opened the 2008 Atlantic Coast Conference season by diving head-first into the deep end of the pool. The Wolfpack’s first four series all were against traditional ACC heavyweights Virginia, Miami, at Clemson, at North Carolina. Miami (31-3 overall, 15-1 ACC) and North Carolina (31-7, 13-4) are ranked Nos. 1 and 4, respectively, in the latest national polls, and Virginia (29-10, 11-7) is in the top 20 in three of this week’s polls. Clemson (18-19, 6-12) has lost 11 in a row and has a losing record, but Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson has always been one of NC State’s most difficult road venues.

Through games of April 13, those four teams had a combined overall record of 109-39 (.736) and a combined ACC record of 45-24 (.652). The Wolfpack came through that season-opening gauntlet with a 5-6 record, including a 2-3 combined record against the Hurricanes and Tar Heels.

As it strives to finish in the top three or four spots in the ACC’s overall standings, the Wolfpack’s remaining four conference opponents are a combined 30-42 in conference play (with FSU accounting for 17 wins and just one defeat) and 90-58 overall (FSU is 33-3).

The teams the Wolfpack is chasing or competing with for those top spots in the standings have a much more difficult road:

Florida State will have to stumble badly not to win the Atlantic Division, but the Seminoles still have to play Miami, at North Carolina, at Clemson, and NC State.

Likewise, Miami will be hard for anyone to catch, but the Hurricanes are at Florida State this weekend, then have Virginia, at Virginia Tech and home against North Carolina.

Virginia has Wake Forest this weekend, followed by a series at Miami, then home series with North Carolina and Georgia Tech.

Georgia Tech is at Maryland this weekend, then has Wake Forest and Clemson at home before finishing up at Virginia.

North Carolina hosts Boston College this weekend, then plays Florida State, at Virginia and at Miami.

Schaeffer’s Hitting Streak Ends With Injury: Freshman catcher Chris Schaeffer entered the Duke series riding an 11-game hitting streak, longest by an NC State hitter this season. During the streak, Schaeffer batted .500 (17-for-34) with a home run and six RBIs. Schaeffer collected base hits in six consecutive at-bats covering three games of his hitting streak March 29 at North Carolina, April 1 at East Carolina, and April 2 vs. Elon. (For the record, the school record for consecutive hits is 12, set in 2002 by Brian Wright.) Schaeffer more than doubled his batting average during the streak. After going 0-for-4 on March 21 at Clemson, Schaeffer was hitting .156. In his first at-bat of the Duke series, Schaeffer grounded out and injured a leg muscle trying to beat the play. The pulled quad ended the hitting streak and put Schaeffer on the shelf.

Home Field Advantage: Since Doak Field reopened in 2005 as Doak Field at Dail Park following a $5 million renovation, NC State has been tough to beat at home. The Wolfpack went 27-5 at home in 2005, the fifth best home record since Doak Field first opened in 1966. The Pack went 24-7 at home in 2006, and finished 24-8 at the Doak a year ago. Off to a 20-7 start at home in 2008, NC State is now 95-27 at home since Doak Field at Dail Park re-opened in 2005, a .779 winning percentage.

Attendance News: Through 27 home games, NC State has drawn 32,057 fans to Doak Field at Dail Park, an average of 1,187 fans per game. Should that figure hold for the remainder of the season, NC State will finish with its second-best season ever for average attendance. The Wolfpack averaged 1,308 per game in 1995. A year ago, an average of 1,176 fans per game came through the turnstiles at the Doak, two more per game than attended in 2006.

North Carolina State University Athletics

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