North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball On The Road To Virginia
4/23/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. A trip to Charlottesville before a short break for final exams is on the docket for the NC State baseball team this weekend. The Wolfpack will play Virginia in a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series beginning Friday at 7 p.m. Saturday’s game, which will be televised on Fox Sports South, will be at 1 p.m., and Sunday’s game will be a 1 p.m. start as well.
Pitching Plans: NC State (19-22 overall and 7-14 in the ACC) will start junior lefthander Jimmy Gillheeney (5-2, 3.48) in Friday’s game. The Wolfpack’s pitching plans for the remainder of the weekend are still to be determined. Virginia (32-8-1 overall, 11-7-1 in the ACC) will send freshman lefthander Danny Hultzen (5-0, 2.36) to the mound on Friday, senior righthander Andrew Carraway (4-0, 3.46) on Saturday, and sophomore righthander Robert Morey (1-0, 2.70) on Sunday.
Scouting the Cavaliers: Virginia, ranked as high as No. 11 nationally by Collegiate Baseball and no lower than 16th in any of the national polls, currently leads the ACC in hitting at .347 and in pitching with a 3.11 staff ERA. UVa is 11th nationally in batting average, 15th in runs scored and 16th in stolen bases with 83 in 100 attempts. Virginia is third nationally in staff ERA, and and is holding opponents to a puny 227 average.
The Cavaliers, who have won three in a row and four of their last five, are third in the ACC’s Coastal Division, two games behind first-place Georgia Tech and a game behind North Carolina. Virginia is two games behind UNC in the win column, but tied with seven losses apiece.
Sophomore outfielder Dan Grovatt leads Virginia in batting and ranks sixth in the ACC with a .390 average. He has five doubles, three triples, five home runs, 38 RBIs and 11 steals in 12 attempts. Sophomore outfielder Jarrett Parker is hitting .386 with 16 doubles, four triples, 12 home runs (playing his home games in a cavernous ballpark), 46 RBIs and 16 steals in 20 attempts. Parker, who leads the Cavs with 58 runs scored, has a .766 slugging percentage, which ranks 26th nationally and second in the ACC. Sophomore infielder Phil Gosselin is batting .365 with 16 doubles and five home runs. He leads Virginia with 51 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 20 attempts. In all, five Virginia batters are hitting .350 or better, and eight are hitting .315 or better.
In addition to a strong weekend rotation, UVa also features a deep bullpen with four different relievers logging saves, led by sophomore righthander Kevin Arico with four.
Scouting the Wolfpack: NC State comes into the series in an offensive slump that began after the Pack’s 12-0 thrashing of Wofford back on April 14. In five games since them, the Wolfpack is hitting .165 (26-for-157), averaging exactly 2.0 runs per game.
Senior outfielder Devon Cartwright leads NC State offensively. He is batting .299 with nine doubles, two triples, four home runs and 25 RBIs. Freshman utilityman Pratt Maynard is hitting .271 with 11 doubles, five home runs and 31 RBIs. Maynard leads the team in doubles and RBIs and is tied for the team home run lead with junior outfielder Drew Poulk, who is batting .262 with 10 doubles and 28 RBIs.
Although NC State’s power numbers are down somewhat this season, the Wolfpack has compensated by running more. NC State baserunners have stolen 66 bases in 84 attempts and have a shot at the school record of 90 steals, set in 1990 in a 68-game season. Junior outfielder Kyle Wilson leads the ACC in steals with 24 in 27 attempts. He is five shy of the school record of 29 set in in 1992 by Jeff Meszar.
NC State vs. Virginia, The Series: NC State and Virginia have met 165 times in baseball, with the Wolfpack holding a 106-58-1 advantage in the series. NC State head coach Elliott Avent is 32-15 vs. the Cavaliers, including a 14-4 mark at Doak Field at Dail Park and a 10-8 mark in what is now Davenport Stadium in Charlottesville. NC State is 13-6 vs. Virginia since Brian O’Connor became UVa head coach in 2004.
NC State and Virginia opened the 2008 ACC season against one another at Doak Field at Dail Park. Wolfpack starting pitching was the key, with starters Eric Surkap, Clayton Shunick and Eryk McConnell combining to allow just three earned runs on 15 hits while striking 19 in 20 innings on the bump.
UVA took the opener 5-3 behind 6 1/3 innings from starter Jacob Thompson and a two-run homer by Gosselin in the ninth inning. Drew Martin drove in both NC State runs in the second game of the series, and Shunick and then-closer Jimmy Gillheeney made that stand in a 2-0 victory to even the series at a game apiece. In the finale, Dallas Poulk hit a solo homer in the sixth inning and drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to lift NC State to a 4-2 win.
NC State took two of three games from Virginia at Charlottesville two years ago. UVa won the series opener 4-2, but the Wolfpack rallied to take the final two games of the series by scores of 10-7 and 8-6. The two teams met again that May in the 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, with the Cavaliers prevailing 6-1.
Wolfpack Baseball On The Air: As usual, WKNC-FM will broadcast all three games of this weekend’s series at Virginia. All three broadcasts will be available on-line at gopack.com via Pack Pass. Saturday’s game will be the ACC Game of the Week on Fox Sports Net. Game time is 1 p.m. Check your local listings.
Pitching Plans: NC State (19-22 overall and 7-14 in the ACC) will start junior lefthander Jimmy Gillheeney (5-2, 3.48) in Friday’s game. The Wolfpack’s pitching plans for the remainder of the weekend are still to be determined. Virginia (32-8-1 overall, 11-7-1 in the ACC) will send freshman lefthander Danny Hultzen (5-0, 2.36) to the mound on Friday, senior righthander Andrew Carraway (4-0, 3.46) on Saturday, and sophomore righthander Robert Morey (1-0, 2.70) on Sunday.
Scouting the Cavaliers: Virginia, ranked as high as No. 11 nationally by Collegiate Baseball and no lower than 16th in any of the national polls, currently leads the ACC in hitting at .347 and in pitching with a 3.11 staff ERA. UVa is 11th nationally in batting average, 15th in runs scored and 16th in stolen bases with 83 in 100 attempts. Virginia is third nationally in staff ERA, and and is holding opponents to a puny 227 average.
The Cavaliers, who have won three in a row and four of their last five, are third in the ACC’s Coastal Division, two games behind first-place Georgia Tech and a game behind North Carolina. Virginia is two games behind UNC in the win column, but tied with seven losses apiece.
Sophomore outfielder Dan Grovatt leads Virginia in batting and ranks sixth in the ACC with a .390 average. He has five doubles, three triples, five home runs, 38 RBIs and 11 steals in 12 attempts. Sophomore outfielder Jarrett Parker is hitting .386 with 16 doubles, four triples, 12 home runs (playing his home games in a cavernous ballpark), 46 RBIs and 16 steals in 20 attempts. Parker, who leads the Cavs with 58 runs scored, has a .766 slugging percentage, which ranks 26th nationally and second in the ACC. Sophomore infielder Phil Gosselin is batting .365 with 16 doubles and five home runs. He leads Virginia with 51 RBIs and 17 stolen bases in 20 attempts. In all, five Virginia batters are hitting .350 or better, and eight are hitting .315 or better.
In addition to a strong weekend rotation, UVa also features a deep bullpen with four different relievers logging saves, led by sophomore righthander Kevin Arico with four.
Scouting the Wolfpack: NC State comes into the series in an offensive slump that began after the Pack’s 12-0 thrashing of Wofford back on April 14. In five games since them, the Wolfpack is hitting .165 (26-for-157), averaging exactly 2.0 runs per game.
Senior outfielder Devon Cartwright leads NC State offensively. He is batting .299 with nine doubles, two triples, four home runs and 25 RBIs. Freshman utilityman Pratt Maynard is hitting .271 with 11 doubles, five home runs and 31 RBIs. Maynard leads the team in doubles and RBIs and is tied for the team home run lead with junior outfielder Drew Poulk, who is batting .262 with 10 doubles and 28 RBIs.
Although NC State’s power numbers are down somewhat this season, the Wolfpack has compensated by running more. NC State baserunners have stolen 66 bases in 84 attempts and have a shot at the school record of 90 steals, set in 1990 in a 68-game season. Junior outfielder Kyle Wilson leads the ACC in steals with 24 in 27 attempts. He is five shy of the school record of 29 set in in 1992 by Jeff Meszar.
NC State vs. Virginia, The Series: NC State and Virginia have met 165 times in baseball, with the Wolfpack holding a 106-58-1 advantage in the series. NC State head coach Elliott Avent is 32-15 vs. the Cavaliers, including a 14-4 mark at Doak Field at Dail Park and a 10-8 mark in what is now Davenport Stadium in Charlottesville. NC State is 13-6 vs. Virginia since Brian O’Connor became UVa head coach in 2004.
NC State and Virginia opened the 2008 ACC season against one another at Doak Field at Dail Park. Wolfpack starting pitching was the key, with starters Eric Surkap, Clayton Shunick and Eryk McConnell combining to allow just three earned runs on 15 hits while striking 19 in 20 innings on the bump.
UVA took the opener 5-3 behind 6 1/3 innings from starter Jacob Thompson and a two-run homer by Gosselin in the ninth inning. Drew Martin drove in both NC State runs in the second game of the series, and Shunick and then-closer Jimmy Gillheeney made that stand in a 2-0 victory to even the series at a game apiece. In the finale, Dallas Poulk hit a solo homer in the sixth inning and drew a bases-loaded walk in the seventh to lift NC State to a 4-2 win.
NC State took two of three games from Virginia at Charlottesville two years ago. UVa won the series opener 4-2, but the Wolfpack rallied to take the final two games of the series by scores of 10-7 and 8-6. The two teams met again that May in the 2007 Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament, with the Cavaliers prevailing 6-1.
Wolfpack Baseball On The Air: As usual, WKNC-FM will broadcast all three games of this weekend’s series at Virginia. All three broadcasts will be available on-line at gopack.com via Pack Pass. Saturday’s game will be the ACC Game of the Week on Fox Sports Net. Game time is 1 p.m. Check your local listings.
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