North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Ready For Friday Opener
2/17/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 17, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. - The weather forecast calls for sunshine and temperatures near 80 degrees on Friday, so why not play baseball?
Lucky coincidence, Friday is the official starting day for the 2011 college baseball season, and NC State will open the season with a three-game series vs. Elon. Friday's game will start at 3 p.m. at Doak Field at Dail Park. First pitch on Saturday is set for 2 p.m. at Elon's Latham Park. The series finale will be back at the Doak on Sunday at 1 p.m.
Both teams will send a trio of righthanded starters to the mound. For the Wolfpack, junior Cory Mazzoni (7-3, 5.20 ERA in 2010) will take the mound for the season opener on Friday. Sophomore Josh Easley (10-2, 3.99 ERA at Weatherford College in Weatherford, Texas) will pitch for the Wolfpack on Saturday. Sophomore Danny Healey (1-1, 5.40) will start on Sunday.
Senior Jared Kernodle (6-3, 5.40) will pitch the opener for the Phoenix. Sophomore Kyle Webb (0-3, 3.41) will start on Saturday. Senior Ken Ferrer (9-6, 5.52) will take the mound for Elon on Sunday.
"Opening day is always an exciting time," Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. "Our players have worked extremely hard to get ready for this season. I don't know if you're ever ready for opening day, but I know our players are ready to play someone besides their teammates."
NC State had one of the most prolific offensive teams in the nation a year ago and returns eight position players who started 28 games or more from that team. Four of them hit 10 home runs or more, and four drove in 40 runs or more.
The junior trio of first baseman Harold Riggins (.331 average, 12 homers and 44 RBIs), third baseman Andrew Ciencin (.316, 19 doubles, 11 homers, 4 grand-slam home runs, a team-high 77 RBIs), catcher/DH Pratt Maynard (.273, 11 homers, 49 RBIs and a school-record 64 walks) and senior catcher Chris Schaeffer (.315, 15 doubles, 11 home runs and 35 RBIs) comprise the heart of the Pack's returning nucleus, but the rest of the returning hitters also pack a wallop.
Catcher Danny Canela (.313-6-40) and left fielder Tarran Senay (.313-6-22), both sophomores, have outstanding power potential and should be run-producers, and senior right fielder John Gianis is a career .336 hitter in two seasons as a part-time starter. Sophomores Matt Bergquist (.294 with 28 RBIs) and Chris Diaz (.309, 16 games started) will start at shortstop and second base, respectively.
"We lost three outstanding players from last year's lineup in Kyle Wilson, and Drew and Dallas Poulk," Avent said. "You don't replace great players like that, but we had a really good hitting team a year ago, and we have a lot of good hitters on this team. Harold Riggins can hit. Andrew Ciencin can hit. Pratt Maynard can hit. Danny Canela, Chris Schaeffer, Tarran Senay, John Gianis, these guys all are good hitters. We expect to be a good offensive team."
NC State ranked among the national leaders and tied a school record with 571 runs scored in 2010. The Wolfpack hit 98 home runs and batted .326 as a team, with a .427 team on-base percentage and a .538 slugging percentage.
NC State was the only team in the ACC to finish in the top three in every offensive category in the league's official statistics. The Wolfpack was first in the ACC in on-base percentage (.427) and hit batters (91); second in batting average (.326), slugging percentage (.538), runs (571), RBIs (525) and total bases (1,231); and third in hits (747), home runs (98) and walks (333).
The Wolfpack's returning players batted a combined .313 in 2010 with 100 doubles, nine triples, 62 home runs and 340 RBIs. With the bulk of that offense returning, scoring runs shouldn't be a concern for the Pack heading into the season.
Preventing runs, however, meaning pitching and defense, might be. NC State won 38 games a year ago, but the staff sported a 5.27 ERA and relied heavily on departed righthander Jake Buchanan, and juniors Mazzoni and Grant Sasser (3-4, 3.56 with 5 saves).
Still, Avent is optimistic that a pair of newcomers, sophomore righthander Josh Easley and freshman lefthander D.J. Thomas will be able to contribute right away, and that some of the young returning pitchers on the staff have gained sufficient experience to turn a corner and step into prominent roles this season.
Sophomores Healey and Ethan Ogburn (2-0, 6.53), along with junior Vance Williams (1-1, 5.70) and senior Rob Chamra (3-1, 4.22), are competing for spots in the starting rotation, while seniors Rey Cotilla (0-0, 3.38) and sophomore Mike Clark (0-0, 6.23) should hold down spots in the bullpen. Clark is a lefthander. The others are righthanded.
"At this point I'm not convinced that our pitching will be the question mark everyone seems to think," Avent said. "Our front-line pitching was good last year. We struggled with our pitching depth at times, but I think our depth is better this year. I know the competition has been good in preseason workouts. Time will tell. With our offense, we're not asking our pitchers to throw no-hitters every game. Just keep us in the game. I think our pitching should be more than good enough to do that."
Elon is the first of several strong non-conference opponents NC State will face this season. After the series with the Phoenix, the Pack will travel to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for Baseball at the Beach the weekend of Feb. 25-27 and will play Pacific, Cal and Coastal Carolina. Penn State is at Doak Field at Dail Park the following weekend, and then the ACC season begins the weekend of March 11-13 at Duke.
"Everyone told me our non-conference schedule wasn't strong enough last season and hurt our RPI," Avent said. "This year, I've probably gone too far in the opposite direction. This schedule is very tough and gets off to a quick start with Elon and the trip to Myrtle Beach. I think we have a chance to be a pretty good team. We'll know a lot more about ourselves two weeks from now."
