North Carolina State University Athletics
News Flash: Overman Finally Allows A Run
7/20/2011 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 20, 2011
(Note: This is the fifth in a series of weekly reports on NC State players playing in summer collegiate leagues.)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Stop the presses. After pitching 20 scoreless innings to start the summer, Chris Overman will not go through the entire 2011 Cape Cod League season without allowing a run. Cape League hitters will still be glad to see him leave.
The Cotuit Kettleers got to Overman for an unearned run Tuesday night in a 2-1 victory over Overman’s Harwich Mariners. Holding a 1-0 lead in the top of the eighth, Overman gave up a leadoff single to Kyle Wren and then made an errant pickoff throw, allowing Wren to advance to second base. With one away, Wren stole third, then scored on a wild pitch by Overman, who got out of the inning without allowing further damage. Cotuit scored the winning run in the top of the 10th inning.
The run against Overman was news because until that point, he had been the part of the Harwich bullpen where opposing rallies went to die. The leadoff single by Wren was the first hit Overman had allowed in his last seven innings and only the second in his last 13 innings.
The run was the first, earned or unearned, that Overman has allowed all summer. In 14 appearances and 21 1/3 innings, NC State’s rising junior righthander has allowed just six hits and five walks while striking out 20. He has held opposing batters to a .092 average. His WHIP (walks + hits per inning) is 0.52. He has allowed only three extra-base hits and no home runs. The wild pitch that allowed Wren to score was Overman’s first of the summer. He is 2-0 with one save and a 0.00 ERA.
At 17-13-1, Harwich is in second place in the East Division, three points behind first-place Brewster, and squarely in the picture for the Cape League playoffs, which will begin Aug. 5.
Mathews Keeps On Bashing
Ryan Mathews certainly wasn’t going to maintain the pace he kept during the 13-game hitting streak he fashioned from June 18 through July 2. During his hitting streak, Mathews batted .408 (20-for-49) with five doubles, nine home runs, 19 runs scored, 20 RBIs and three steals.
A rising senior outfielder playing this summer for the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plain League, Mathews has batted just .231 in 14 games since the hitting streak ended, but he’s been very productive for the Tobs nonetheless, hitting three doubles and two homers, stealing six bases and driving in nine runs during those 14 games.
On Tuesday in an 11-9 loss at Edenton, Mathews had one of his best games of the summer, going 3-for-4 with a double, a home run, a stolen base, a walk and five RBIs. It was his second five-RBI game of the season and the fifth time he has had two extra-base hits in a game.
Heading into play Wednesday, Mathews was hitting .293 with 10 doubles, 12 home runs, 32 RBIs and nine steals in 10 attempts. He leads the CPL in home runs by two, and is fourth both in RBIs and total bases (87). He sports a .654 slugging percentage and a .362 on-base percentage.
Mathews played in the CPL All-Star Game this past Monday, going 0-for-2, and also participated in the CPL All-Star Home Run Derby, hitting eight homers in the first two rounds and finishing third overall. He did not advance to the finals.
