North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Hands Avent Career Win No. 700
4/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. NC State returned home from a disappointing series at Boston College and took its frustrations out on UNC Wilmington on Tuesday night at Doak Field at Dail Park. The 10-2 victory gives the Wolfpack a 17-15 record while the Seahawks fall to 17-11.
The victory produced a career milestone for head coach Elliott Avent, who notched career victory No. 700. Avent’s career record now stands at 700-506 in 19-plus seasons as a head coach. He is 475-295 in 12-plus seasons as head coach of the Wolfpack.
“The 700th win really doesn’t mean that much to me,” Avent said. “What mattered was watching us play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I felt that tonight was the first time we played a complete game all year. We got excellent pitching from Cory Mazzoni and our bullpen, we played well defensively and only made one mistake all night, and we hit the ball well.”
The Wolfpack offense and defense may have been near-flawless, but the real story was the coming-out party for Mazzoni (1-3), a highly touted freshman who struggled much of the season. The righthander threw six innings, allowing only four baserunners while striking out five and picking up his first win with the Red and White. It was an impressive outing for the Pittsburgh native in just his second collegiate start and ninth overall appearance.
Mazzoni mowed down the first six batters he faced and did not let up from there. He also retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth, and faced just one batter over the minimum through the first five innings. While Mazzoni had no trouble finding the strike zone or silencing the slumping Seahawks, his UNCW counterparts experienced much different results. The Pack hit three home runs and collected nine walks.
“This was really big for my confidence,” Mazzoni said. “I’ve struggled in some previous outings and my confidence suffered, but I had my pitches working tonight and the defense played great behind me. This was really big for me.”
Batting third in the order, Drew Poulk didn’t waste time getting the scoring started in the bottom of the first, launching a two-out, full-count pitch over the left-field wall. It was the right fielder’s third homer of the season. He also drew a season-high three walks and reached base four times.
The Pack struck again on Devon Cartwright’s round-tripper in the bottom of the third. With one out, Cartwright blasted his fourth homer of the season on the first pitch he saw from UNCW starter Justin Bradley (2-3), who allowed five earned runs in only three innings to take the loss.
After Mazzoni put UNCW down in order again in the fourth, the Wolfpack took out a weekend’s worth of frustrations in a five-run bottom half of the inning. Catcher Chris Schaeffer and third baseman Drew Martin started the Pack off with back-to-back singles before designated hitter John Gianis walked to load the bases and end Bradley’s night.
Tyler Smith came on in relief for UNCW, facing only three batters and walking two to force in a pair of runs before first baseman Pat Ferguson collected the first of his four hits, a single through the right side of the infield. Bryan Booth took the mound in relief for UNCW, and NC State continued to push men across the plate. Kyle Wilson was hit by Booth’s first pitch to force in another run, before Booth induced Dallas Poulk into a double play for the final run of the inning.
The Seahawks finally got a run on Mazzoni in the top of the sixth inning on a Grayson Evans sacrifice fly. The Wolfpack got that run back quickly when Ferguson led off the sixth inning with a towering shot that went off of the scoreboard in center field, his fourth homer of the year.
Travis High came on to pitch for the Wolfpack in the seventh inning, but the results were similar for the Seahawks: another 1-2-3 inning. Ferguson picked up another of his three RBIs in the seventh on a single that scored Martin, who walked and went to second on a wild pitch.
Cody Stanley’s two-out double in the top of the eighth gave the Seahawks their second run, but Jake Kensmoe got Thomas Pope to fly out for the final out of the inning.
“Tonight we looked like the team we thought we were going to be this season,” Avent said. “Cory Mazzoni pitched the way he did all fall and in the preseason. We haven’t played better defense statistically, but I believe this is a better defensive team than last year, and everyone felt that was an excellent defensive team. And we hit the ball well. We played well. Tonight wasn’t a matter of UNC Wilmington playing poorly. We won this one.”
Notes: In addition to being hit by a pitch, Wilson added two hits and stole three bases. The junior center fielder now leads the ACC with 20 stolen bases and is the eighth player in school history to reach the 20-steal plateau.
The Pack returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at Duke. Friday kicks off the series with a scheduled 7 p.m. start time. Game times for the weekend are 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
The victory produced a career milestone for head coach Elliott Avent, who notched career victory No. 700. Avent’s career record now stands at 700-506 in 19-plus seasons as a head coach. He is 475-295 in 12-plus seasons as head coach of the Wolfpack.
“The 700th win really doesn’t mean that much to me,” Avent said. “What mattered was watching us play the game the way it’s supposed to be played. I felt that tonight was the first time we played a complete game all year. We got excellent pitching from Cory Mazzoni and our bullpen, we played well defensively and only made one mistake all night, and we hit the ball well.”
The Wolfpack offense and defense may have been near-flawless, but the real story was the coming-out party for Mazzoni (1-3), a highly touted freshman who struggled much of the season. The righthander threw six innings, allowing only four baserunners while striking out five and picking up his first win with the Red and White. It was an impressive outing for the Pittsburgh native in just his second collegiate start and ninth overall appearance.
Mazzoni mowed down the first six batters he faced and did not let up from there. He also retired the side in order in the fourth and fifth, and faced just one batter over the minimum through the first five innings. While Mazzoni had no trouble finding the strike zone or silencing the slumping Seahawks, his UNCW counterparts experienced much different results. The Pack hit three home runs and collected nine walks.
“This was really big for my confidence,” Mazzoni said. “I’ve struggled in some previous outings and my confidence suffered, but I had my pitches working tonight and the defense played great behind me. This was really big for me.”
Batting third in the order, Drew Poulk didn’t waste time getting the scoring started in the bottom of the first, launching a two-out, full-count pitch over the left-field wall. It was the right fielder’s third homer of the season. He also drew a season-high three walks and reached base four times.
The Pack struck again on Devon Cartwright’s round-tripper in the bottom of the third. With one out, Cartwright blasted his fourth homer of the season on the first pitch he saw from UNCW starter Justin Bradley (2-3), who allowed five earned runs in only three innings to take the loss.
After Mazzoni put UNCW down in order again in the fourth, the Wolfpack took out a weekend’s worth of frustrations in a five-run bottom half of the inning. Catcher Chris Schaeffer and third baseman Drew Martin started the Pack off with back-to-back singles before designated hitter John Gianis walked to load the bases and end Bradley’s night.
Tyler Smith came on in relief for UNCW, facing only three batters and walking two to force in a pair of runs before first baseman Pat Ferguson collected the first of his four hits, a single through the right side of the infield. Bryan Booth took the mound in relief for UNCW, and NC State continued to push men across the plate. Kyle Wilson was hit by Booth’s first pitch to force in another run, before Booth induced Dallas Poulk into a double play for the final run of the inning.
The Seahawks finally got a run on Mazzoni in the top of the sixth inning on a Grayson Evans sacrifice fly. The Wolfpack got that run back quickly when Ferguson led off the sixth inning with a towering shot that went off of the scoreboard in center field, his fourth homer of the year.
Travis High came on to pitch for the Wolfpack in the seventh inning, but the results were similar for the Seahawks: another 1-2-3 inning. Ferguson picked up another of his three RBIs in the seventh on a single that scored Martin, who walked and went to second on a wild pitch.
Cody Stanley’s two-out double in the top of the eighth gave the Seahawks their second run, but Jake Kensmoe got Thomas Pope to fly out for the final out of the inning.
“Tonight we looked like the team we thought we were going to be this season,” Avent said. “Cory Mazzoni pitched the way he did all fall and in the preseason. We haven’t played better defense statistically, but I believe this is a better defensive team than last year, and everyone felt that was an excellent defensive team. And we hit the ball well. We played well. Tonight wasn’t a matter of UNC Wilmington playing poorly. We won this one.”
Notes: In addition to being hit by a pitch, Wilson added two hits and stole three bases. The junior center fielder now leads the ACC with 20 stolen bases and is the eighth player in school history to reach the 20-steal plateau.
The Pack returns to action this weekend with a three-game series at Duke. Friday kicks off the series with a scheduled 7 p.m. start time. Game times for the weekend are 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.
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