North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Goes Out Of Conference For Series With Towson
5/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — NC State still has two critical Atlantic Coast Conference series remaining on its 2010 schedule, but this weekend the Wolfpack (28-18) will take a break from the rigors of the ACC and will play Towson (16-31) in a three-game series at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Game times are 6:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday, and 1 p.m. on Sunday. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and on-line at gopack.com through the Pack Pass package.
NC State will change its weekend starting rotation and will send freshman righthander Felix Roque (1-0, 4.07) to the mound for Friday’s series opener. Senior righthander Austin Hurd (2-3, 8.55) will start for the Tigers. Junior righthander Jake Buchanan (5-4, 4.14) will start for the Wolfpack on Saturday against freshman righthander Michael Trionfo (2-5, 7.44). Sophomore righthander Cory Mazzoni (6-2, 4.82) will start the Sunday finale for the Wolfpack. Towson is expected to start either freshman righthander Mike Bronakoski (2-4, 7.36) or sophomore righthander Tyler Austin (2-4, 9.00).
NC State is coming off the first week of final exams. Following this weekend's series vs. Towson, the Wolfpack will have its second consecutive game without a midweek game, then will travel to Florida State for a three-game series vs. the Seminoles next weekend.
NC State vs. Towson: NC State has played Towson five times previously in baseball, and the Wolfpack has won all five games, including a two-game set March 18-19, 2008. The Wolfpack won the first game 4-3 in 10 innings, then took the finale 9-5.
Ryan Pond’s solo homer leading off the bottom of the 10th inning was the game-winner for the Pack. The NC State bullpen pitched 9 2/3 innings in the first game, allowing just one unearned run on seven hits, with Andrew Taylor working the final four innings to earn the win.
Devon Cartwright went 2-for-4 with a homer and four RBIs to pace the Wolfpack in the second game of the series. Travis High got the win with three innings in relief of starter Sam Brown, and Jason Zinser pitched two scoreless innings to earn his first 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. Towson, Avent has a 736-538 overall record as a head coach, and 511-329 in 13-plus years at NC State. Avent needs three 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 vs. towson swinging hot bats, including Harold Riggins, Chris Schaeffer, Dallas Poulk, Danny Canela, John Gianis and Drew Poulk.
Dallas Poulk has a team-longest 17-game hitting streak going into the weekend and is hitting .421 (32-for-76) with 23 runs scored during the streak. Through games of May 2, he was third in the nation in runs scored with 65.
Riggins is 29-for-68 (.426) with four doubles, six home runs and 21 RBIs in his last 18 games.
Schaeffer had a six-game hitting streak snapped April 28 vs. Elon and hit .480 (12-for-25) with six doubles during the streak. He is batting .379 (22-for-58) with eight doubles, five home runs and 14 RBIs in his last 16 games.
Canela is hitting .405 (15-for-37) in his last 11 games.
Gianis has hit safely in 13 of his last 17 games, hitting .404 (19-for-47) with seven doubles.
Drew Poulk has hit safely in 19 of his last 22 games, batting .317 (33-for-104) with two homers and 25 RBIs.
National Leaders: Beginning play this week, Dallas Poulk ranked third in the nation with 65 runs scored, and Pratt Maynard was fifth with 46 walks and 1.07 walks per game. Poulk is just three runs behind national leader Ryan Aguayo of New Mexico State. Maynard is 13 walks of the pace set by Michael Choice of Texas-Arlington, who leads the nation with 59.
Dallas Poulk And The NC State Record Book: As Wolfpack second baseman Dallas Poulk approaches the final weeks of his senior season, he is climbing the career top 10 lists for various categories in the NC State record book.
Poulk has 797 career at-bats to rank ninth in school history. Next up is Jeremy Dutton (2000-03) with 802. Poulk has 260 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. He is tied with former teammate Ryan Pond for 10th in career walks with 106. Andy Barkett (1992-95) is 9th with 112.
In addition, Poulk is rapidly approaching the NC State career top 10 for runs scored. He needs four more to tie Alex Wallace (1992-95) and Barkett for 10th with 173.
Poulk also is on pace to crack the single-season top 10 for runs. He currently has 65 and needs seven more to tie five different players for eighth place with 72.
Hitting Streaks: Dallas Poulk enters the Towson series on a 17-game hitting streak, the hitting streak for the Wolfpack this season, and unofficially is tied for the eighth longest in program history.
In addition to Dallas Poulk, John Gianis and Andrew Ciencin enter play in the Towson series on seven-game hitting streaks. Gianis is hitting .370 (10-for-27) with seven runs scored and seven RBIs during his hitting streak. Ciencin is hitting an even .300 (9-for-30) with seven RBIs during his current streak.
NC State has had seven hitting streaks of 10 games or longer this season — Dallas Poulk’s current streak, the aforementioned 16-game streak by Drew Poulk, two 14-game streaks by Kyle Wilson, 11-game streaks by Harold Riggins and Chris Schaeffer, and a 10-game streak by Pratt Maynard.
