North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Readies For Trip To Myrtle Beach
2/24/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 24, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. — The second week of the 2011 college baseball season finds NC State travelling to Myrtle Beach, S.C., for another challenging weekend of non-conference action.
After dropping two of three from a strong Elon squad last weekend, the Wolfpack will take on Pacific on Friday at noon, California on Saturday at 11:30 a.m., and Coastal Carolina on Sunday at 3 p.m. All three games will be at Myrtle Beach’s BB&T Coastal Federal Field.
WKNC-FM (88.1) will broadcast all three games live, and those broadcasts can be heard on-line through GoPack.com’s interactive All-Access package. In addition, live stats will be available on Gametracker, which can be accessed free by clicking on the Gametracker link for each game on the baseball schedule on GoPack.com.
NC State has made two previous appearances at Baseball at the Beach, in 2007 and again a year ago, and is 4-2 in the two appearances. The Wolfpack also played at BB&T Coastal Federal Field during the 2010 NCAA Myrtle Beach Regional.
“We’re very familiar with the ballpark, having played five games there last year,” Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. “I hope that’s an advantage. We’re facing three really good teams, so having some familiarity with the ballpark certainly won’t hurt us.”
NC State is 1-2 after last weekend’s three-game series against Elon. The Wolfpack won the opener 17-4 on Friday at Doak Field at Dail Park, with the bottom three spots in the lineup scoring 11 runs. The bats fell silent the final two games of the series, however, as the Phoenix won 12-2 Saturday at Latham Park and 4-2 on Sunday back in Raleigh.
Chris Diaz batted .667 (8-for-12) with two doubles and a home run for the series, and Pratt Maynard hit .538 (7-for-13) with two doubles and five RBIs. Aside from those two, however, the Wolfpack offense lacked consistency the second and third games of the series.
“Elon threw some really good pitchers at us and I don’t want to take away from what they did, but offensively we need to get much better,” Avent said. “There were times in the last two games of that series when I thought our approach at the plate was poor, especially with two strikes. You can’t just muscle up on the ball with the new bats we’re using this year. They’ve dialed the bats back this year, and guys need to adjust. We have some guys who haven’t made that adjustment yet.”
NC State will send sophomore righthander Josh Easley to the mound to face Pacific on Friday. Junior righthander Cory Mazzoni will take the hill on Saturday against California. Sophomore righthander Danny Healey will pitch for the Wolfpack on Sunday against Coastal Carolina.
A transfer from Weatherford (Texas) College, Easley took the loss in NC State’s 12-2 loss at Elon on Feb. 19, allowing seven runs on eight hits while working 4 1/3 innings. Easley was 10-2 with a 3.99 ERA as a freshman at Weatherford a year ago.
Mazzoni pitched the season opener versus Elon on Feb. 18 and allowed four runs on eight hits in six innings, but three of the runs and five of the hits all came in the second inning. Mazzoni went 7-3 with a 5.61 ERA for the Wolfpack a year ago.
Healey started the finale of the Elon series, Feb. 20, and allowed one run on two hits and fanned six in five innings, but did not figure in the decision. Healey made seven appearances, four of them starts, in 2010 and was 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA.
While the offense went silent the final two games of the Elon series, the pitching was better than expected. The Phoenix did score 17 earned runs in 26 innings, but did the bulk of its damage in four three-run innings, three of them in that 12-2 game on Saturday. The Wolfpack allowed just five earned runs the other 22 innings, and the bullpen made 10 appearances and posted a 4.22 ERA in 10 2/3 innings.
“I thought we pitched pretty well and played well defensively against Elon,” Avent said. “We need to build on that, especially this weekend. We’ll be seriously challenged by Pacific, Cal and Coastal Carolina, so it’s imperative that we play well.”
This year’s Baseball at the Beach tournament will mark the first time in its history that NC State has played either Pacific or California in baseball. NC State has played Coastal Carolina often in recent years, and has a 10-9 lead in the series. Coastal has won the last two meetings, however.
The Chanticleers defeated the Wolfpack 6-3 in last year’s Baseball at the Beach, handing NC State its first loss of 2010 after six victories. Chance Gilmore homered twice for Coastal Carolina, including a solo shot in the bottom of the seventh to give the Chants a 5-3 lead. Dallas Poulk went 3-for-3 with a homer and two RBIs for NC State. Jake Buchanan started for the Pack and allowed two runs, one earned, on two hits through five innings, but took the loss when Coastal rallied for two in the sixth. Coastal starter Jim Birmingham allowed just one run on seven hits in six innings of work.
