North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Begins Long Road Trek With Series At Clemson
3/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — Those wanting to see the NC State baseball team the next few weeks will have to travel. After beginning the season with nine of its first 12 games at home, the Wolfpack (11-1) will play its next nine games on the road, beginning Friday with the first of a three-game series at Clemson.
The series with the Tigers, 9-1 pending a makeup game Thursday afternoon vs. Gardner-Webb, will be the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams. As is the case every year, the ACC is loaded, and Clemson, along with Florida State, is one of the favorites in the league’s Atlantic Division. The Tigers come into the weekend ranked No. 7 in the USA Today/ESPN coaches poll, No. 9 by the National College Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA), No. 12 by Baseball America, No. 13 by Collegiate Baseball, and No. 14 by rivals,com.
For the first time this season, NC State has appeared in some of the national baseball rankings. The Wolfpack is having an extraordinary start offensively, and that has parlayed into spots in two of the five national polls. Collegiate Baseball magazine has NC State ranked at No. 28 this week, while the NCBWA has NC State at No. 30 in its poll. The USA Today/ESPN coaches poll only ranks 25 teams, but the totals for all teams receiving votes are listed with the poll, and NC State checks in with 73 points, which would be good for 26th, if the poll went that deep.
Sophomore righthander Cory Mazzoni (2-0, 2.16) will start on Friday for the Wolfpack against Clemson junior lefthander Casey Harmon (2-0, 2.30). Junior righthander Jake Buchanan (2-1, 1.77) will start for NC State on Saturday in the second game of the series. Clemson’s game two starter is still to be announced, and the same goes for NC State’s starter for the Sunday finale. Clemson will send sophomore righthander Scott Weismann (2-0, 2.93) to the mound on Sunday.
All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line at gopack.com through the Pack Pass program.
Who’s Hot For The Wolfpack: NC State is batting .392 as a team in five games since returning from Baseball at the Beach at Myrtle Beach, S.C., and several Wolfpack hitters are on a tear heading into the Clemson series. Twelve are batting .316 or better since the Baseball at the Beach tournament.
• Andrew Ciencin is 8-for-16 with nine RBIs in five games since Baseball at the Beach.
• Dallas Poulk is 8-for-20 with two doubles, a homer and 10 RBIs since the Myrtle Beach tournament.
• Drew Poulk is 9-for-23 with three doubles, a homer and 10 RBIs, and has hit safely in every game this season.
• Russell Wilson is 7-for-14 with two doubles and a homer since Myrtle Beach.
• Chris Schaeffer is 8-for-16 with a double and a homer.
NC State has scored in double figures in all five games since Baseball at the Beach, averaging 14.4 runs per game, and has double figures in hits its last six games.
NC State vs. Clemson: Clemson has been one of NC State’s most difficult opponents over the years. The Tigers lead the overall series 104-68-1, and have beaten NC State more times than any other opponents aside from North Carolina and Duke.
Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent is 16-29 against Clemson in his 13 seasons in Raleigh. Avent is 10-8 vs. the Tigers at Doak Field at Dail Park, 2-1 at Grainger Stadium in Kinston, N.C., and 3-14 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson. Clemson has won nine of the last 10 meetings at Kingsmore Stadium.
Double-Doubles: So far this season, NC State has scored 10 runs or more eight times and rapped out 10 hits or more 10 times. Seven times, the Wolfpack has reached double figures in both runs scored and base hits.
NC State has had 20 hits or more three times, and 15 hits or more seven times. The Wolfpack has scored 15 runs or more five times, including 32 runs in the season opener vs. La Salle. The Pack has reached double figures for RBIs seven times, and twice for walks.
Hitting Streaks: Four Wolfpack hitters have current hitting streaks of at least nine games, including a pair of players who have hit safely in all 12 games to date.
• Drew Poulk and Kyle Wilson all have hit safely in all 12 games.
• Wilson is hitting .426 (20-for-47) with four doubles, a home run and 12 walks.
• Poulk is hitting .392 (20-for-51) with six doubles, one homer and 16 RBIs.
• Pratt Maynard has hit safely in 10 straight games, batting .455 (20-for-44) with three doubles, a triple, two home runs and 13 RBIs.
• Chris Schaeffer has produced a nine-game hitting streak and is batting .483 (14-for-29) during his streak.
Another Blowout Weekend Series: NC State’s first two home weekend series if 2010 produced an avalanche of impressive offensive numbers. NC State opened the season blasting La Salle by scores of 32-3, 18-3 and 15-9, went to Myrtle Beach for Baseball at the Beach, then came back home and beat Quinnipiac to the tune of 17-6, 14-3 and 17-7.
• For the two series (6 games) combined, NC State batted .417 (98-for-235), scored 113 runs (18.8 runs per game), and hit 27 doubles, four triples and 11 home runs.
• Two Wolfpack hitters — Dallas Poulk and Chris Schaeffer — batted better than .550 for the two series. Eight Wolfpack hitters batted .400 or better for the six games. NC State slugged .706 and had a .545 on-base percentage for the two series.
The Quinnipiac series did not produce nearly as much offense as the La Salle series, which resulted in historic numbers for the Wolfpack. Still, the final numbers from the series vs. the Bobcats were impressive.
The Wolfpack hit .364 as a team in the series, with a .620 slugging percentage and a .487 on-base percentage. Five NC State hitters batted .400 or better in the series. Dallas Poulk, who has been on fire all season, went 7-for-12 vs. the Bobcats, and added two doubles, a home run, scored nine times and drove in seven runs.
As Easy As 1-2-3: They may not be Matt Camp, Ramon Corona and Aaron Bates, at least not yet, but the top third of the NC State batting order ­— Kyle Wilson, Dallas Poulk and Andrew Ciencin — has produced some pretty fancy offensive numbers so far this season.
• Since Poulk moved into the two spot in the batting order, he, Wilson and Ciencin have combined to bat .400 (22-for-55) with four doubles, two home runs, 22 RBIs, 11 walks and no strikeouts, and three steals in as many attempts.
• Poulk in particular has thrived hitting second, scoring 11 runs and driving in 10 in five games.
• Ciencin has batted .500 (8-for-16) since dropping from second to third in the order, scoring six times and driving in nine.
For the entire 12 games this season, the top third of the order has been a strong point for NC State. The 1-2-3 spots in the lineup all are hitting well, with slugging percentages over .500 and on-base percentages above .450.
• NC State leadoff hitters are batting .382 with a .564 slugging percentage and a .514 on-base percentage.
• The Pack’s No. 2 hitters are batting .356 with a .576 slugging percentage and a .451 on-base percentage.
• The three spot in the order has been the most productive of the three, with a .500 average (26-for-52), a .712 slugging percentage and a .591 on-base percentaage.
• Thanks largely to Dallas Poulk batting eighth the first seven games of the year, the eight spot has been the team’s most offensive, with a .595 batting average, a 1.000 slugging percentage and a .695 on-base percentage.
Producing Off The Bench: Starters are starters for a reason, so it makes sense that a team’s bench will not have offensive numbers as strong as its starters. That is true for NC State, but the Wolfpack’s bench, which is deep, experienced and versatile, has been a weapon for head coach Elliott Avent.
• Freshman infielder Chris Diaz is 5-for-10 with two doubles and six RBIs off the bench, and leads all reserves in hits, doubles and RBIs.
• Catchers Chris Schaeffer and Pratt Maynard both are 2-for-3 off the bench.
• Athlete deluxe Russell Wilson is just 3-for-11 off the bench, but among those hits are a double and a game-winning three-run home run.
• Outfielder Ryan Mathews has just one hit off the bench, but that was a three-run home run.
Buchanan Aces First Four Starts: Junior Jake Buchanan has made four starts in 2010 and has pitched like an ace in each. Buchanan allowed a run on two hits Feb. 19 vs. La Salle, striking out one. He carried a no-hitter into the fifth inning Feb. 23 vs. Campbell and wound up allowing just one hit in 5 2/3 innings.
Buchanan allowed two runs, one earned, on just two hits through the first five innings Feb. 28 vs. Coastal Carolina before tiring in the sixth. He waltzed through the Quinnipiac lineup for six shutout innings, allowing four hits and striking out seven. Buchanan has faced 76 batters in four games and retired 61 of them (80.3 percent).
Mazzoni Also Pitching Like An Ace: Jake Buchanan has had company as an early ace in NC State’s rotation. Sophomore righty Cory Mazzoni has been remarkably consistent through three starts in 2010.
Mazzoni allowed just one run on four hits Feb. 20 vs. La Salle. He set down nine of the first 10 La Salle batters he faced, allowed a run on two hits and a walk in the fourth inning, then retired five of the last seven men he faced.
Mazzoni was even better Feb. 26 vs. then-No. 3 UC Irvine, allowing just one hit, an infield single, in six innings of work. On March 4 vs. Xavier, Mazzoni set down 13 of the first 15 men he faced, and 14 of the first 18, before running into trouble and allowing three runs on a home run in the fifth.
Model of Consistency: Head coach Elliott Avent, currently in his 14th season with NC State baseball (21st overall), has done a remarkable job following a long line of great Wolfpack head coaches. Avent has averaged more than 38 victories per season over the course of 21-plus years.
After defeating North Carolina A&T 14-10 on Tuersday, Avent has a 719-521 overall record as a head coach, and 494-312 in 13-plus years at NC State. Avent now needs just six victories to become the second coach in school history to win 500 games at NC State, and needs 19 wins to pass Sam Esposito and become the winningest baseball coach in school history.
