North Carolina State University Athletics
PEELER: Baseball Hopes Sparks Will Turn to Flames
4/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Even during a rain-soaked spring, it only takes a few sparks to start a fire.
And that’s what NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent is hoping for, now that March has turned to April: a few flames to get the Wolfpack going again.
His team got a spark on Sunday from first baseman Pat Ferguson, who belted a two-run, pinch-hit homer in the bottom of the eighth inning to give the Pack an 8-7 victory over Virginia Tech and a sweep of an ACC doubleheader.
It got another from junior left-hander John Lambert, who not only secured the save in the 19-18 win of Sunday's first game, but came back in the second game to pitch 2 2/3 effective innings after the Hokies took an early 6-0 lead. Vance Williams and Jake Kensmoe added three more innings of shutout pitching and Alex Sogard pitched the final three innings, allowing only one hit and no runs to notch his third win of the season.
The Wolfpack even got a few defensive sparks from catcher Chris Schaeffer and third baseman Andrew Ciencin to preserve the victory.
Tonight, Avent and his team (15-12 overall, 5-7 ACC) have the opportunity to create a few more sparks when they host No. 16 East Carolina (21-5) in a 6:30 p.m. game at Doak Field at Dail Park. The Pack has won five in a row over their rival from the eastern part of the state and nine of the last 10 games in the series.
The Pirates, however, enter the contest having won 11 of its last 12 games, including a 15-4 victory over Elon Tuesday night. As a team, ECU is hitting at a .370 clip.
For Avent, this is a chance for his team to capitalize on a little momentum, something that has been lacking over the first two months of the season.
“We haven’t played exceptional all year,” said Avent, who led his team to the NCAA Raleigh Regional Championship last year and one win shy of the College World Series. “We haven’t seemed to put it all together at the same time. When we play good defense and hit, we don’t pitch well. When we pitch well, we don’t hit and play defense. Sometimes the defense has been spotty and the pitching has been somewhat shaky.
“We haven’t put it all together, which hasn’t led to as much success as we are used to around here.”
Avent, who has guided the Pack to six consecutive NCAA Regional and two Super Regional appearances since 2003, believes the handful of sparks from last weekend will help wipe away some bad memories from this soggy spring, in which few things have gone right for his team.
“Sometimes, when you are not playing at the level you are used to, people start pressing a little bit or searching for answers,” the coach said. “I think that is what is going on around here and that only makes things worse. Things aren’t going to get better when you panic or press or look for things that are beyond your control.”
Tuesday, Avent and his team had its first full practice since the start of the regular season, and spent the time working on all phases of the game. And he believes with important ACC series against Boston College, Duke and Florida State on the horizon that his team knows it has an opportunity to turn the season around.
“We just have to keep working to get better and play fundamental baseball and working hard,” Avent said. “There is a lot of ball left to be played. It just hasn’t come together yet. The heart, the effort and the belief is still there that it is going to happen.
“It hasn’t been as bad as it looks. We just haven’t been playing NC State baseball.”
The players still have the confidence that it can happen.
“I think after those two wins on Sunday, it gave us some momentum,” said Sogard. “In the first game, we kind of felt like they kept putting up runs and we couldn’t get them out, but we ended up winning the game. The second game we got down quickly again. We knew we had to bear down to give the offense a shot, and they came through for us.
“We just need to keep playing like we did on Sunday. Even though some of our pitchers didn’t have their stuff, we kept fighting and battling. That’s what we need the most.”
It’s all about getting all phases of the game working together, which has happened infrequently so far this season.
“Our pitchers have been pitching well and we haven’t been able to pick them up on offense,” Ferguson said. “Last weekend, we were able to score some runs and that helped them out. I think that helped their confidence in the offense, and that will help us all play better together going forward.”
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
