North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Hosts Midweek Series With Radford
3/7/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
March 7, 2011
RALEIGH, N.C. — With ACC play beginning this weekend, NC State will play a pair of midweek games vs. Radford on Tuesday and Wednesday at Doak Field at Dail Park.
Game times for each game will be 2 p.m. This is a change from the original schedule, which had the games as 3 o’clock starts. They have been changed because the university is on spring break.
Both games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1), and both broadcasts can be heard on-line with live video streaming on GoPack.com’s All-Access package.
Live stats will be available on Gametracker. Just click the Gametracker icon on the baseball schedule page on GoPack.com.
The Series vs. Radford
NC State leads the all-time series vs. the Highlanders, 6-2. The two teams last met April 16, 2008, at Doak Field at Dail Park. NC State won 8-1 behind a homer and four RBIs from Pat Ferguson and the combined five-hit pitching of Eric Surkamp, Clayton Shunick and Travis High.
The two teams split a pair of games in May 1997, with the Wolfpack taking the opener 12-7, but falling in the second game 7-6.
The Pitching Matchups
Redshirt-junior righthander Vance Williams will make the start for NC State on Tuesday. Williams has no decisions and an ERA of 0.00. He has appeared twice previously this season, working an inning Feb. 25 vs. Pacific in Conway, S.C., and two-thirds of an inning this past Saturday in the second game of a doubleheader vs. Penn State.
NC State's starter for Wednesday's game is still to be determined.
Pitching Notes
Through 10 games, NC State’s pitching staff sports a 4.09 ERA with 31 walks and 87 strikeouts in 88 innings. The Wolfpack has allowed 46 runs, 40 earned, in those 10 games, but allowed 21 runs and 18 earned runs in just two games, a 12-2 loss at Elon on Feb. 19 and a 9-4 loss to Penn State on March 5. The staff has allowed four runs or fewer in the other eight games.
In those eight games, NC State is 5-3 with 2.79 ERA in 71 innings. The starters are 2-1 with a 3.33 ERA and are holding opposing hitters to a .193 batting average. The starters have worked 49 2/3 innings and allowed 34 hits, walked 16 and struck out 53.
The relievers, meanwhile, are 3-2 with a 1.61 ERA in 22 1/3 innings in the eight games. The bullpen has struck out 19 and walked just three.
Strikeout Story
Righthanders Ethan Ogburn and Cory Mazzoni both recorded career highs for strikeouts in consecutive games last week, with Ogburn striking out 11 on March 1 vs. Davidson, and Mazzoni punching out 13 on March 4 vs. Penn State.
The staff combined for 28 strikeouts in the two games, 13 vs. the Wildcats and 15 vs. the Nittany Lions. The last time two NC State pitchers reached double figures in strikeouts in back-to-back games was May 8-9, 2009, vs. North Carolina. Jimmy Gillheeney fanned 10 Tar Heels in seven innings on May 9 in the series opener, and John Lambert struck out 10 the next night in the second game of the series.
The last time NC State as a staff fanned more than more than 28 combined in back-to-back games was March 4 and March 6, 2009, vs. Akron and Miami, although both were extra-inning games.
The game vs. Akron was a school-record 18-inning affair, and 11 NC State pitchers combined to set an NCAA record by striking out 31 in that game. Two nights later at Miami, four NC State pitchers struck out 13 Hurricanes in a 12-inning game. In neither game did a single NC State pitcher reach double figures in strikeouts.
NC State pitchers have struck out 46 batters in the last four games, and have fanned 54 in the last five contests. Again, you have to go back to that week in South Florida in 2009 to find a comparable stretch of strikeout prowess by the Wolfpack.
In four games from March 4-7, 2009, NC State hurlers fanned 61 batters, although in 46 2/3 innings. Wolfpack pitchers struck out eight vs. Villanova earlier in the same day that they struck out 31 vs. Akron, then struck out 13 vs. Miami on March 6 and nine more on March 7.
Some of the same games figure into the last five-game stretch in which NC State pitchers struck out more than 54. This time the streak begins Feb. 27, 2009, vs. Hofstra and runs through the first game of the Miami series.
Wolfpack pitchers fanned 10 and eight in the two games of a doubleheader vs. Hofstra on Feb. 27. After that came the three-game stretch of eight vs. Villanova, 31 vs. Akron and 13 vs. Miami. For those who don’t have a calculator handy, that’s 70 strikeouts in five games, although in 56 2/3 innings instead of the usual 45.
Hitting Streaks
Heading into this week’s two-game series vs. Radford, first baseman Harold Riggins has the Wolfpack’s longest active hitting streak at four games. Chris Diaz has a three-game hitting streak.
Riggins is batting .462 (6-for-13) with a double, two triples and three RBIs in his four-game streak. Riggins also has six walks during his streak, including four in the second game of the March 4 doubleheader vs. Penn State.
Diaz is hitting .308 (4-for-13) in his three-game streak.
Watch The Wolfpack From Home
Even when you can’t be at Doak Field at Dail Park, you can watch NC State home baseball games either on your computer or on television. The Wolfpack’s game April 23 at Virginia will be the ACC-TV Game of the Week on Raycom, and every game of the ACC Tournament, May 25-29 in Durham, will be broadcast by Raycom. In addition, all Wolfpack home games are being videostreamed on GoPack.com All-Access.
Up Next
NC State begins Atlantic Coast Conference play this weekend, March 11-12-13, with a three-game series at Duke. All three games will be played at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, which is located right off N.C. Highway 147 at Duke Street.
NC State holds a 144-118-1 lead in the series, and has won six of nine vs. the Blue Devils the last three years. The Wolfpack is 23-15 vs. Duke since Elliott Avent became NC State head coach in 1997. The Pack has won seven of 12 regular-season series vs. the Blue Devils under Avent, but only twice in Durham — 2003 and 2005 — at Duke’s Jack Coombs Field.
NC State and Duke have played once at Durham Bulls Athletic Park, during the 1998 ACC Tournament, and the Wolfpack won that game, 10-4. NC State and Duke did not play one another in 2006 and 2007 due to ACC scheduling.
NC State swept Duke at Doak Field at Dail Park a year ago in the final home series of the year for the Pack. The Wolfpack won by scores of 8-3, 7-6 in 12 innings, and 8-4.
In the series opener, Dallas Poulk homered and drove in three runs, and cousin Drew Poulk homered twice and drove in three to back the complete-game, nine-strikeout performance of Jake Buchanan.
In the second game of the series, Kyle Wilson homered and drove in three runs, and Harold Riggins homered twice, but it was Andrew Ciencin’s 12th-inning RBI double off the wall in left field that was the game-winner for NC State.
In the series finale, Tarran Senay had three hits and two RBIs, and Pratt Maynard drove in a pair of runs, while six NC State pitchers combined to scatter eight hits.
Additional Game Time Changes Forthcoming
In addition to this week’s games vs. Radford, the Wolfpack’s two midweek games for next week — Buffalo on Tuesday, March 15, and George Mason on Wednesday, March 16 — are currently listed as 2 p.m. starts and will be changed. The new game times will be posted on GoPack.com as soon as they become available.
As always, please visit GoPack.com regularly for full coverage of all NC State athletics news and events.
