North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Hosts No. 6 Georgia Tech This Weekend
4/29/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — NC State returns to Atlantic Coast Conference action this weekend with a three-game series vs. No. 6 Georgia Tech at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Game times are 6:30 p.m. on Friday, and 1 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday’s game will be televised by Raycom and Fox Sports South as the ACC Game of the Week. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) on on-line on gopack.com.
NC State (26-17 overall, 9-12 in the ACC) is fighting for a berth in the ACC Tournament, which will be held May 26-30 in Greensboro. The conference takes the top eight teams in the overall standings to the league tournament, and the Wolfpack enters play this weekend in eighth place, one game ahead of North Carolina and two ahead of Duke. North Carolina is idle this weekend for exams. Duke is hosting top-ranked Virginia in Durham.
Georgia Tech (35-8, 16-5) comes into play this weekend hoping to close in on the top berth in the conference tournament and make a run towards being one of the eight national seed in the NCAA Tournament.
“This is an excellent Georgia Tech team coming in here this weekend,” Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent said. “They can really hit, and they have one of the best pitchers in the country in Deck McGuire pitching on Friday. It will be quite a challenge for us, but I have no doubt that our guys will be excited and ready for the opportunity.”
The Pitching Matchups: Junior righthander Jake Buchanan (4-4, 4.22) will toe the rubber for NC State in the series opener on Friday. McGuire (5-2, 2.69), a junior righthander and likely first-round pick in Major League Baseball’s 2010 June draft, will start for Georgia Tech.
Sophomore righthander Cory Mazzoni (5-2, 5.09) will start for the Pack on Saturday. Junior righthander Brandon Cumpton (6-1, 5.54) will be on the hill for the Yellow Jackets. Senior lefty Alex Sogard (0-1, 6.11) will take the ball for NC State in the series finale and will be opposed by sophomore lefthander Jed Bradley (6-2, 3.90) for Tech.
Weekend Promotions: Friday night will be Trading Card Night at the Doak. The first 500 fans will receive Wolfpack trading card set No. 3 as they enter the gates.
Friday also will be Preiss Co. Free Tee Friday. The first 50 NC State students through the gates will receive a free NC State Baseball T-Shirt.
Saturday is Military Appreciation Day at Doak Field at Dail Park. Players will wear official Majestic camo uniforms that will be auctioned off during the game. The 82nd Airborne Freefall team will parachute into the stadium in a pregame jump with the game ball.
Saturday also will be a Toys For Tots collection day. Free tickets will be given in exchange for a donation of a new, unwrapped toy at the gate.
NC State vs. Georgia Tech — The Series: NC State and Georgia Tech have faced one another 108 times previously in baseball, with the Yellow Jackets holding a 64-44 advantage. NC State is 12-26 vs. Georgia Tech since Elliott Avent became head coach in 1997. The Wolfpack is 4-10 vs. the Jackets at Doak Field at Dail Park, 4-14 at Russ Chandler Stadium in Atlanta, and 4-2 in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament.
Because of the way the ACC baseball schedule is set up, NC State and Georgia Tech did not face one another during the regular season in either 2008 or 2009. The last time the two teams met in the regular season was April 20-22, 2007, and the Yellow Jackets swept the Wolfpack in Atlanta.
Eric Surkamp took a five-hit shutout into the bottom of the ninth in the first game of the series, but lost 2-1 on Wally Crancer’s one-out, two-run double. Jeremy Synan’s homer in the fourth inning accounted for NC State’s lone run.
Mike Roskopf hit a two-run homer and Joe Florio doubled in a run in the middle game of the series, but Tech scored the winning run on Danny Payne’s two-out single in the sixth.
Ramon Corona and Ryan Howard hit back-to-back homers in fourth inning of the finale, but Crancer hit a bases-loaded double, and Luke Murton drove in a pair in the Jackets’ 7-3 victory.
NC State and Georgia Tech sqaured off in 2008 in the first round of the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament in Jacksonville, Fla., with the Yellow Jackets scoring seven runs in the final two innings to overcome a 7-3 deficit and win 10-9.
Drew Martin and Nick Stanley drove in a pair of runs apiece for the Pack, which got six strong innings from Surkamp. Seven of the first eight Georgia Tech batters in the eighth inning reached base as the Jackets scored five times to take an 8-7 lead.
Stanley’s two-out, two-run pinch-double in the bottom of the eighth lifted the Wolfpack back on top, 9-8. The Wolfpack committed three errors in the top of the ninth, however, leading to a pair of unearned runs for the Yellow Jackets, and Brad Rulon worked a scoreless ninth inning for his fifth save.
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. Georgia Tech, Avent has a 734-537 overall record as a head coach, and 509-328 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 evening vs. Elon swinging hot bats, including Harold Riggins, Chris Schaeffer, Dallas Poulk, Danny Canela, John Gianis and Drew Poulk.
Riggins is 27-for-58 (.466) with four doubles, six home runs and 20 RBIs in his last 15 games.
Dallas Poulk has a team-longest 14-game hitting streak going and is hitting .438 (28-for-64) with 20 runs scored during the streak. Through games of April 25, he was third in the nation in runs scored with 62, and fourth in runs per game at 1.45 per game.
Schaeffer had a six-game hitting streak snapped on Wednesday vs. Elon and hit .480 (12-for-25) with six doubles during the streak. He is batting .396 (19-for-48) with seven doubles and four home runs in his last 13 games.
Canela is hitting .417 (15-for-36) with eight RBIs in his last 10 games.
Gianis has hit safely in 11 of his last 14 games, hitting .410 (16-for-39) with seven doubles.
Drew Poulk has hit safely in 16 of his last 19 games, batting .315 (29-for-92) with eight doubles, two homers and 22 RBIs.
Dallas Poulk And The NC State Record Book: Befitting a stellar four-year career, Wolfpack second baseman Dallas Poulk approaches the final weeks of his senior season climbing the career top 10 lists in three categories in the NC State record book, and is a threat to make the top 10 in two others.
Poulk has 785 career at-bats to rank ninth in school history. Next up is Jeremy Dutton (2000-03) with 802. He has 256 career hits, which also ranks ninth in Wolfpack history. David Hicks (2001-04) is eighth with 261.
Poulk has 10 career triples, which is tied for eighth. Brian Bark (1987-90) is seventh with 11.
In addition to those categories, Poulk is rapidly approaching the NC State career top 10 for runs scored (he needs seven more), and walks (he needs two).
Hitting Streaks: Dallas Poulk enters the Georgia Tech series on a 14-game hitting streak, the longest current streak for the Wolfpack. Harold Riggins has a nine-game hitting streak, and John Gianis has a five-game streak.
Dallas Poulk is hitting .438 (28-for-64) with four doubles, a triple and a home run and 20 runs scored during his 13-game streak.
Riggins is hitting .412 (14-for-34) with four homers and 10 RBIs during his streak.
Gianis is hitting .368 (7-for-19) with three doubles during his five-game streak.
NC State has had six hitting streaks of 10 games or longer this season — a 16-game streak by Drew Poulk, two 14-game streaks by Kyle Wilson, Dallas Poulk’s current streak, an 11-game streak by Chris Schaeffer, and a 10-game streak by Pratt Maynard.
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. His 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.
Situational Hitting: NC State’s offense has been exceptional and balanced this season. Not only is the Wolfpack hitting .340 as a team, the Pack is also hitting in clutch situations.
The Wolfpack is batting .346 with runners on base, .344 with runners in scoring position and .421 with the bases loaded. NC State hitters have a .463 on-base percentage when leading off an inning.
Wolfpack batters have 124 two-out RBIs, and 110 RBIs in 168 opportunities with a runner on third base and less than two out, a 65.5 percent success rate.
NC State pinch-hitters are 17-for-54, a .315 average.
