Courtesy: NC State Pat Ferguson and the Wolfpack hope to make a big push for the postseason beginning this weekend against Maryland.
COLLEGE PARK, Md. The final push to the postseason is now in full swing for NC State’s 17th-ranked baseball team, beginning with a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series this weekend at Maryland.
The Wolfpack and Terrapins will play Friday at 7 p.m., and on Saturday and Sunday at 1 p.m. All three games will be broadcast live on WKNC-FM (88.1) and will be available on-line at gopack.com through the Pack Pass package. In addition, Saturday’s game will be televised on Fox Sports South. Check your local satellite or cable listings.
NC State will send ace righthander Clayton Shunick (6-4, 2.18) to the mound on Friday. The Terrapins will counter with Mike Sufczynski (2-1, 4.94). Jake Buchanan (1-1, 2.51) will start for NC State on Saturday against Maryland’s Kevin Biringer (3-3, 6.13). Lefthander Alex Sogard (3-1, 2.70) will take the mound for the Wolfpack on Sunday in the series finale. Brett Jones (1-0, 5.54) will start on Sunday for Maryland.
NC State enters play this weekend coming off a disappointing 3-2, extra-inning loss Wednesday at UNC Wilmington. The loss, however, was only the fifth by the Wolfpack since March 29. NC State is 19-5 in that time and ranked No. 17 by Collegiate Baseball magazine. The Wolfpack is hoping that these final seven games of the regular season will give the team an opportunity to host an NCAA Regional the weekend of May 31-June 3. This weekend’s series vs. Maryland looms large for the Wolfpack, especially with a three-game series at Florida State next Thursday, Friday and Saturday on the slate to conclude the regular season.
“By all measures, we believe we have put ourselves into a position to host a regional,” Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. “But I’m not on the selection committee, and you can’t leave anything to chance. We definitely need to continue to play well and continue to win games. With the schedule we have left, plus the ACC Tournament, we feel that if we take care of business that we should be in a position to host.”
Through games of May 6, the Wolfpack was No. 12 in the NCAA’s Ratings Performance Index (RPI), used to help seed teams for the NCAA’s postseason tournaments in several sports. NC State is 2-3 against teams ranked in the top 3 of the RPI (Miami and North Carolina), 4-3 against teams ranked in the RPI top 10, 6-5 against teams in the top 25, and 12-7 vs. teams in the top 50.
NC State is in fourth place in the overall standings of the Atlantic Coast Conference, which is the top-rated conference in the country, according to the RPI. The Wolfpack has a 2 1/2-game lead over fifth-place Virginia and beat the Cavaliers head-to-head, two games to one. The Pack is one of just two ACC schools to defeat top-ranked Miami, and went 2-3 against Miami and North Carolina, currently ranked Nos. 1 and 2 in the country.
NC State is finishing the season strong, a criteria the NCAA considers in extending bids to the tournament and in seeding teams, which would be a factor in determing host sites. The Wolfpack has won six of its last eight games, 12 of its last 16, and 19 of its last 25.
NC State has won four consecutive weekend conference series, sweeping two of them, and has not lost an ACC series since March 21-23 at Clemson.
Through games of May 4, NC State was third in the nation in staff ERA, another factor used by the selection committee in weighing the various strengths of teams for the tournament and in determining hosts sites.
The Wolfpack’s hot streak has come largely against impressive competition, including an 8-6 road win over North Carolina (currently No. 2 nationally), a 4-3 win at then-No. 24 East Carolina, a 12-0 win over a strong Elon team (35-16 and in second place in the Southern Conference heading to this weekend), a 12-5 win over UNC Wilmington (ranked No. 24 at the time and currently 35-11 and in first place in the Colonial Athletic Association). Coastal Carolina, ranked No. 22 at the time and currently 38-11 and atop the Big South, snapped a seven-game winning streak 5-4 on April 9, but the Wolfpack has won 12 of 17 games since then.
NC State is 4-0-1 in its last three weekend ACC series, including a split with North Carolina. For the season, the Pack is 7-6 vs. ranked opponents. Since March 29, NC State is 4-1 against ranked opponents.
Up And Down On Offense: Through 23 games, NC State was 14-7 overall, batting .266 as a team and scoring a mere 5.5 runs per game. Over the next 13 games, NC State went 11-2, batted .365 as a team and scored 9.1 runs per game. Senior first baseman/outfielder Ryan Pond led the Wolfpack during its offensive surge, batting .444 with five doubles, two home runs and 21 RBIs. Junior first baseman Pat Ferguson batted .400 with three homers and nine RBIs, junior outfielder Devon Cartwright batted .412 with two homers and five RBIs, and senior outfielder Jeremy Synan hit .404 with three homers and 12 RBIs. In its last 12 games, the Wolfpack has cooled off again, batting .274 (114-for-416) and scoring 6.4 runs per game.
Errorless Streak: NC State April 23 at UNC Greensboro through May 4 vs. High Point, NC State played 53 consecutive innings without committing an error, including five consecutive complete games without an error. The NC State media relations office has researched back through the 1989 season and found no instance of NC State playing five consecutive games without an error. Futher research is forthcoming.
The Race For First Place: NC State now sits all alone in fourth place in the overall ACCstandings, 2 1/2 games ahead of fifth-place Virginia and 3 1/2 games ahead of sixth-place Georgia Tech. The Pack is 3 1/2 games behind second place Florida State and three games behind third-place North Carolina, with six conference games remaining.
In the Atlantic Division, NCState has wrapped up second place, leading third-place Clemson by 6 1/2 games with six to play. Florida State leads the Atlantic by 3 1/2, and the Pack and Noles play one another in Tallahassee the last weekend of the regular season. While NC State plays at Maryland this weekend, Florida State will be out of conference. Miami will be difficult for anyone to catch, but the Hurricanes still have three games at Virginia Tech this weekend and a three-game showdown vs. North Carolina in Coral Gables the last weekend of the season. The Tar Heels are at Charlottesville to play Virginia this weekend.
Pitching Staff Stands Out Under Holliday: Tom Holliday came to Raleigh with a reputation as one of the nation’s best recruiters and pitching coaches, and the proof of his talent as a pitching coach is apparent with a look at the stats for this year’s team. Through games of May 4, NCState ranked third in the nation in earned-run average at 3.24. In two games since then, the staff ERA has fallen to 3.20. The last time a Wolfpack pitching staff finished with an ERA that low was 2.98 in 1992. The highest the staff ERA has been the entire season was 3.25 on April 23.
Under Holliday’s direction:
Junior righthander Clayton Shunick bossomed into a No. 1 starter. Shunick is 6-4 with a 2.18 ERAand ranks second in the ACC in strikeouts (76) and fourth in ERAand first in opponents’ batting average (.192).
Sophomore lefty Jimmy Gillheeney emerged as a top-flight closer (1-0, 1.50, 10 saves). Gillheeney is tied for second in the conference in saves.
Sophomore lefty Alex Sogard recovered from two years of rust and inactivity at Oregon State to post a 3-1 record with a 2.70 ERA, excelling both in relief and as a starter.
Redshirt juniors Joey Cutler and Kyle Rutter, both righthanders, emerged as front-line middle relievers. Cutler is 4-0 with a 2.20 ERA and a save. Rutter is 2-1 with a 3.12 ERA and three saves. Between them, they have inherited 28 baserunners and stranded 24.
Freshman righthander Jake Buchanan, making his first start of the season this weekend at Maryland, has a 1-1 record, a 2.59 ERA and three saves. In his most impressive appearance of the year, he worked six innings May 3 vs. High Point and allowed two runs on six hits with no walks and nine strikeouts.
Junior lefthander Eric Surkamp picked right up where he left off a year ago, posting a 4-2 record with a 4.81 ERA.
Senior righthander Eryk McConnell moved from closer to weekend starter and won four of five decisions.
NC State’s starters under Holliday are 18-8 with a 3.97 ERA. Opponents are batting .251 against the starters, who have walked 94 and struck out 208 in 231 1/3 innings. Holliday’s bullpen has nothing short of phenomenal. Wolfpack relievers are 15-7 with a 2.30 ERA and 17 saves in 19 opportunities. Opponents are batting .218 against the NC State pen. Five different Wolfpack relievers have recorded saves, and nine have picked up wins. The bullpen has inherited 74 baserunners and allowed just 26 of them to score.
Courtesy: NC State
