North Carolina State University Athletics
Wolfpack Seniors Prepped for Fourth Consecutive Regional
5/30/2013 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 30, 2013
2013 Raleigh Regional Tournament Central | Regional Notes
RALEIGH, N.C. -- Wednesday night, NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent and his team went out to dinner, a pre-NCAA Regional gathering in which the Wolfpack could sit back, take in its accomplishments from the regular-season and ACC Championship and get ready for the season’s stretch run.
Near the end of the evening, Avent gave his 11 seniors an opportunity to say something to the younger players. The veteran skipper, now in his 19th season with the Wolfpack, couldn’t have been prouder of his older players.
They all spoke a few words – and Avent didn’t listen to anything they said.
“I don’t really listen to what people say, I listen to what people do,” Avent said. “People can say just about anything. I am more about actions. The things our seniors have done this year, in leadership and in performance on the field, have been phenomenal.”
So he nodded and smiled, and felt good about the direction his team is heading this weekend.
Avent will hand the ball to one of those seniors, righthanded pitcher Ethan Ogburn (4-3, 2.98 ERA), on Friday when the seventh-ranked Wolfpack faces Binghamton at 7 p.m. in the second game of the NCAA Raleigh Regional at NC State’s Doak Field at Dail Park.
Mississippi and William & Mary kick off the action Friday afternoon at 2 p.m., with both games being broadcast by ESPN3.
Avent has been blessed throughout the season with a senior-heavy lineup that includes Tarran Senay, Grant Clyde and Matt Bergquist in the infield and Bryan Adametz and Brett Williams in the outfield. Fifth-year senior Grant Sasser is the patriarch of the pitching staff, while Josh Easley, reliever Chris Overman, Ryan Wilkins and Danny Healey have contributed to the Wolfpack’s outstanding bullpen that has posted 28 of the team’s 44 wins this season, including 16 of the last 24.
Ogburn, Friday’s starter, is an experienced postseason pitcher, having made two starts and a relief appearance in his first two seasons with the Wolfpack. His last start this season was on May 16 in the series opener against Duke, but he and the rest of the senior class are ready to guide their younger teammates into the high-stress atmosphere of the postseason by relying on their experiences of the four years.
To be honest, the younger crowd has it easy. The highly touted sophomore class that includes All-Americans Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner has never had to travel for an NCAA regional, the way the four-year seniors did during their first two seasons, when the Pack played in Myrtle Beach, S.C., and in Columbia, S.C.
Ogburn knows that the comfort level of being the top seed and playing at home will be another good experience for the Wolfpack, as it was last year when it scraped by with two wins over Vanderbilt to advance to the NCAA Gainesville Super Regional. And it’s the seniors’ job to make sure everyone is comfortable.
“We do have a lot of guys who have been around the block,” Ogburn said. “We know how to make sure everybody is ready, to make sure there is energy in the dugout, to make sure guys come out ready to play.”
That shouldn’t be a problem for the homestanding Wolfpack, who haven’t played outside the Triangle for more than a month, since an April 19-21 sweep of Georgia Tech.
“The great thing we have going for us right now is that it feels just like another weekend here in our park,” Ogburn said. “There might be a few more fans and a few NCAA officials hanging around, but this feels like a home series. We just have to come out and be ready to play.”
Of course, the older players on the team have more at stake until the season ends. Their last game this year, whenever and wherever that might be, will mean the end of their Wolfpack careers.
“That does weigh on your mind a little bit when you are getting ready for a game, but it goes away when you step on the field,” said third baseman Clyde. “I think the thing this team has done well, especially over the last month or so, has been to be prepared every time we step on the field.”
And that’s a credit, Avent says, to good, veteran leadership.
“Our seniors this year are as good a senior class as I have ever had,” said the coach. “I thank them for the leadership and togetherness and how hard they have played. It’s a big reason for why we are where we are right now.”
