North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Closes Home Schedule, Hits Road For 12 Days
5/12/2008 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. Still hoping to host an NCAA regional, the NC State baseball team will play its final home game of the 2008 regular season Tuesday when North Carolina A&T rolls into town for a 2 p.m. encounter.
Following the game against the Aggies, NC State will hit the road for a 12-day road trip that begins with a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series at third-ranked Florida State to conclude the regular season. After the series in Tallahassee, the Wolfpack will bus over to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, May 21-25.
The Wolfpack, 35-16 and ranked No. 18 in the latest poll by Rivals.com, is coming off a series win at Maryland over the past weekend. The Pack dropped the opening game of the series Saturday 6-2 in the first game of a doubleheader, then bounced back to split the twin-bill with a 12-1 victory and took the series with a 17-8 rout on Sunday in the finale.
NC State has won seven of its last 10 games, and 21 of its last 28. NC State has won five consecutive ACC weekend series, sweeping two of them, and has not lost a conference series since falling two games to one to Clemson the weekend of March 21-23.
Junior lefthander Eric Surkamp (4-2, 4.81) will start for NC State against North Carolina A&T, but pitching coach Tom Holliday plans to limit Surkamp’s workload and give work to several pitchers before the game is over. The rotation for the weekend series at Florida State and beyond is undecided, but from here on out the Wolfpack’s starters should be Surkamp, junior righthander Clayton Shunick (6-5, 2.48), freshman righthander Jake Buchanan (2-1, 2.18) and sophomore lefty Alex Sogard (4-1, 3.46), but not necessarily in that order.
First baseman Pat Ferguson leads the Wolfpack with a .343 batting average and is tied for team honors with eight home runs. He has driven in 28 runs. Outfielder/third baseman Matt Payne is hitting .339 with eight homers and 41 RBIs. Jack-of-all-trades Ryan Pond checks in at .333-7-40. Outfielder Jeremy Synan is hitting .315-6-37, and center fielder Marcus Jones is hitting .330-6-42 after a torrid weekend at Maryland.
Catcher Nick Stanley led the team at Maryland, hitting .667 with two home runs and six RBIs, but Jones, a Washington, D.C., native, celebrated his return home by hitting .563 (9-for-16) with four doubles and four RBIs. Payne (.462-2-5) and outfielder Jeremy Synan (.385-1-6) also lit up Maryland pitching.
North Carolina A&T comes into Tuesday’s game at 27-27, but the record does not indicate just how well the Aggies have played. They have won two games in a row, six of their last seven, 14 of their last 18, and 16 of their last 21. Although A&T hits just .285 as a team, the Aggies have sluggers who drive in runs, led by designated hitter Jeremy Jones (.395-13-62), left fielder CJ Beatty (.343-13-54), center fielder Joe McIntyre (.332-7-56) and first baseman Nick Rogers (.312-10-51).
North Carolina A&T had not named a starting pitcher as of late Monday afternoon.
In The Polls: In addition to the Rivals.com poll, NC State also is ranked in the latest polls by Baseball America (No. 20, down one spot from 19th) and Collegiate Baseball (No. 21, down four spots from 17th).
Pack Attack: NC State’s 29-run, 33-hit attack in the last two games of the Maryland series was the Wolfpack’s biggest two-game outburst since scoring 32 runs on 39 hits in the final two games of the Wake Forest series on April 6.
Following the game against the Aggies, NC State will hit the road for a 12-day road trip that begins with a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series at third-ranked Florida State to conclude the regular season. After the series in Tallahassee, the Wolfpack will bus over to Jacksonville, Fla., for the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, May 21-25.
The Wolfpack, 35-16 and ranked No. 18 in the latest poll by Rivals.com, is coming off a series win at Maryland over the past weekend. The Pack dropped the opening game of the series Saturday 6-2 in the first game of a doubleheader, then bounced back to split the twin-bill with a 12-1 victory and took the series with a 17-8 rout on Sunday in the finale.
NC State has won seven of its last 10 games, and 21 of its last 28. NC State has won five consecutive ACC weekend series, sweeping two of them, and has not lost a conference series since falling two games to one to Clemson the weekend of March 21-23.
Junior lefthander Eric Surkamp (4-2, 4.81) will start for NC State against North Carolina A&T, but pitching coach Tom Holliday plans to limit Surkamp’s workload and give work to several pitchers before the game is over. The rotation for the weekend series at Florida State and beyond is undecided, but from here on out the Wolfpack’s starters should be Surkamp, junior righthander Clayton Shunick (6-5, 2.48), freshman righthander Jake Buchanan (2-1, 2.18) and sophomore lefty Alex Sogard (4-1, 3.46), but not necessarily in that order.
First baseman Pat Ferguson leads the Wolfpack with a .343 batting average and is tied for team honors with eight home runs. He has driven in 28 runs. Outfielder/third baseman Matt Payne is hitting .339 with eight homers and 41 RBIs. Jack-of-all-trades Ryan Pond checks in at .333-7-40. Outfielder Jeremy Synan is hitting .315-6-37, and center fielder Marcus Jones is hitting .330-6-42 after a torrid weekend at Maryland.
Catcher Nick Stanley led the team at Maryland, hitting .667 with two home runs and six RBIs, but Jones, a Washington, D.C., native, celebrated his return home by hitting .563 (9-for-16) with four doubles and four RBIs. Payne (.462-2-5) and outfielder Jeremy Synan (.385-1-6) also lit up Maryland pitching.
North Carolina A&T comes into Tuesday’s game at 27-27, but the record does not indicate just how well the Aggies have played. They have won two games in a row, six of their last seven, 14 of their last 18, and 16 of their last 21. Although A&T hits just .285 as a team, the Aggies have sluggers who drive in runs, led by designated hitter Jeremy Jones (.395-13-62), left fielder CJ Beatty (.343-13-54), center fielder Joe McIntyre (.332-7-56) and first baseman Nick Rogers (.312-10-51).
North Carolina A&T had not named a starting pitcher as of late Monday afternoon.
In The Polls: In addition to the Rivals.com poll, NC State also is ranked in the latest polls by Baseball America (No. 20, down one spot from 19th) and Collegiate Baseball (No. 21, down four spots from 17th).
Pack Attack: NC State’s 29-run, 33-hit attack in the last two games of the Maryland series was the Wolfpack’s biggest two-game outburst since scoring 32 runs on 39 hits in the final two games of the Wake Forest series on April 6.
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