North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Set For ACC Showdown Vs. BC
4/22/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — Locked in a three-way tie for sixth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference’s overall standings, NC State and Boston College square off this weekend in a three-game conference series at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Meanwhile, the Hokies will be in Atlanta to play fifth-ranked Georgia Tech in the three-game conference series. So if the Yellow Jackets can take care of Virginia Tech, the NC State-Boston College winner will move into sixth place all alone in the overall conference standings.
First things first, however. Jake Buchanan (4-3, 4.01) will take the mound for NC State on Friday against BC’s Pat Dean (5-0, 3.06). Saturday’s pitching matchup will feature Cory Mazzoni (5-2, 4.80) for NC State and Mike Dennhardt (3-5, 6.75) and for Boston College. Wolfpack lefthander Alex Sogard (0-0, 4.88) will face John Leonard (2-0, 1.46) in the finale on Sunday.
All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line on gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
Both NC State (26-13 overall, 9-9 in the ACC) and Boston College (20-17, 9-9) come into the weekend playing well. The Wolfpack certainly has turned up the volume in recent weeks. With its victory at East Carolina on Wednesday night and last weekend’s sweep at Maryland, NC State has won four in a row, five of its last six, and 11 of its last 15.
The Eagles, meanwhile, have won five straight, including a three-game sweep of Wake Forest last weekend in Chestnut Hill. BC has won 13 of its last 18 games, dating back to March 25.
NC State vs.Boston College — The Series: NC State and Boston College have met just 13 times in baseball, with the Wolfpack winning 11 of the 13 meetings. All 13 prior meetings between the two schools occured since 2003. The Wolfpack is 6-0 vs. the Eagles at Doak Field at Dail Park, 4-2 at Eddie Peligrini Diamond in Chestnut Hill, Mass., and 1-0 on a neutral field.
Boston College defeated the Wolfpack twice in last year’s rain-delayed three-game series in Chestnut Hill. After the Friday opener was rained out, the two teams played a Saturday doubleheader, with NC State winning the opener 8-4 and losing the nightcap 8-6. Boston College won the rubber game of the series on Sunday 11-10.
Pat Ferguson homered and drove in four games in the first game, and New England native Jimmy Gillheeney allowed one earned run in seven innings. Mickey Wiswall doubled, singled twice and drove in three runs in the second game of the series, and four BC relievers combined to allow one run over the final 3 2/3 innings in the second game of the twin-bill.
The Eagles scored three runs in the sixth inning, three more in the seventh and two in the eighth to overcome a 10-2 Wolfpack lead and take the series.
Avent Surpasses The 500-Win Plateau: NC State’s 6-5 win over top-ranked Virginia on April 2 was the 500th win for head coach Elliott Avent in his 13-plus seasons in Raleigh. Avent became just the second coach in program history to win 500 games at NC State.
Heading into this weekend’s series vs. Boston College, Avent has a 734-533 overall record as a head coach, and 509-324 in 13-plus years at NC State. Avent needs five wins to pass Sam Esposito and become the winningest baseball coach in NC State history. Esposito went 513-253 from 1967-87.
Who’s Hot For The Wolfpack: Several NC State hitters enter play this weekend swinging hot bats, including Harold Riggins, Danny Canela, John Gianis, Drew and Dallas Poulk and Andrew Ciencin.
Riggins is 20-for-42 (.476) with four doubles, five home runs and 17 RBIs in his last 11 games. In 15 games since the start of the Miami series he is hitting .412 (21-for-51) with five doubles, five bombs and 19 RBIs.
Canela has hit safely in eight of his last nine games and is batting .469 (15-for-32) in those nine games. Gianis has hit safely in nine of his last 11 games, hitting .424 (14-for-33) with six doubles.
Dallas Poulk has a team-longest 10-game hitting streak going and is hitting .455 (20-for-44) during the streak. Drew Poulk has hit safely in his last five games and 13 of his last 15. During the five-game hitting streak he is batting .417 (10-for-24) with three doubles, a home run and 10 RBIs.
Ciencin is hitting .318 (14-for-44) with five doubles, three homers and 15 RBIs in his last 11 games.
Back-To-Back CGs: Jake Buchanan and Cory Mazzoni became the first NC State pitchers in six years to throw back-to-back complete games when they both went the distance in the first two games of the Maryland series April 16-17.
Buchanan threw a six-hitter on Friday, April 16, defeating the Terrapins 4-2. He retired the first 10 batters he faced, and 14 of the last 16. Buchanan went to a two-ball count on just seven batters. He did not go to a three-ball count the entire game.
Mazzoni followed that up the next day with a five-hitter, beating the Terps 7-2. He retired 11 of the first 12 men he faced, and also retired 11 of the last 12 men he faced. Mazzoni allowed an unearned run in the fifth and an earned run on one hit in the eighth.
The last NC State pitchers to record back-to-back complete games were Michael Rogers and Vern Sterry, who tossed shutouts at Texas on May 15, 2004.
Hitting Streaks: Dallas Poulk enters the Boston College series on a 10-game hitting streak, the longest current streak for the Wolfpack. Danny Canela has hit in six straight games, and Drew Poulk and Harold Riggins are currently in the midst of five-game streaks.
Dallas Poulk is hitting .455 (20-for-44) with two doubles, a triple and a home run during his 10-game streak. Danny Canela is batting .500 (13-for-26) with a double, a home run and six RBIs during his six-game streak. Drew Poulk is batting .417 (10-for-24) with three doubles, a home run and 10 RBIs during his five-game streak. Riggins is is batting .389 (7-for-18) with three homers and seven RBIs during his streak. Riggins has walked twice and been hit by pitches four times during that time.
NC State has had five hitting streaks of 10 games or longer this season — a 16-game streak by Drew Poulk, two 14-game streaks by Kyle Wilson, an 11-game streak by Chris Schaeffer, and a 10-game streak by Pratt Maynard. All but Wilson’s second 14-game streak were season-opening streaks.
Drew Poulk hit .366 with six doubles, three home runs and 20 RBIs in his season-opening 16-game streak. Toss in his five-game streak to end the 2009 season and Drew Poulk’s hitting streak became a 21-game streak, which is tied for the fifth longest in school history.
Kyle Wilson’s first 14-game hitting streak also was a season-opener, and he batted .455 (25-for-55) with four doubles, one homer, 24 runs scored and 10 RBIs. Wilson’s second 14-game streak came to an end April 10 in the middle game of the North Carolina series. He batted .367 (22-for-60) with two doubles, four home runs, 14 runs scored and 13 RBIs during that streak.
Schaeffer opened the season with an 11-game hitting streak and batted .486 (18-for-37) with four doubles, three homers and 13 RBIs. Maynard batted .455 (20-for-44) with three doubles, two homers, 13 runs scored and 13 RBIs during his 10-game streak to open the season.
