So This Is the Way Baseball Season Ends…

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…not with a bang, but a whimper. That said, I still tip my cap to the team for a compelling ACC run. You have to imagine that the Pack Nine were physically and emotionally drained after that. And this was always a flawed team, just one that had a well-timed hot streak late. Omaha was never seriously in the cards.

Rather than go through the whole “is he or isn’t he ‘Baseball Sendek’?” routine, I will just point you to my post after losing in the Super Regionals two years ago. But to briefly update those thoughts, I do think Avent has shown enough toughness and tenacity that I have some cautious optimism that he can take the next step and be energized by a more proactive, competently run athletic department. I have it on pretty good authority that he was certainly no Lee Fowler fan – and if he was a guy who was content to rest on his laurels (I’m looking at you, George Tarantini), wouldn’t you think he would have loved Fowler?

But hell, he may ultimately be Sendek-like in ultimate results, if not attitude and personality. I still won’t get worked up about it. Even in an ideally run athletics department, Avent isn’t really a guy you ditch. He just might not get that “champions fund” bonus if we stick around the same winning level.

 

StateFansNation Comments:

As much as I understand BJD’s general perspective on Avent…I think I fall just a little more on the side of wanting to hold Avent to a little higher set of expectations.

I also don’t want a long thread comparing Avent to Sendek 2.0 as much as I understand the legitimate comparisons in light of his 14 year record of winning 0 ACC Titles (and losing in the Title round on four different occasions); 0 ACC regular season 1st place finishes; and never advancing to a single College World Series while participating in 10 NCAA Tournaments.

Anyone who has ever read any of my (admittedly weak) baseball entries has seen the statistic I use to compare our relative peak performance over the last 14 years to the performance of our conference peers — since Avent took the reigns at NC State, seven different programs have won an ACC Baseball Championship (more schools have won titles than have not)…

…and, six other Atlantic Coast Conference programs have managed to advance to at least one CWS. Since 1996:
* Miami has attended 8 CWS
* Clemson has attended 4 CWS
* Georgia Tech has attended 2 CWS
* UNC-CH has attended 4 CWS
* Florida State has attended 4 CWS
* Virginia has attended 1 CWS
* Ray Tanner’s South Carolina has attended 3 CWS

I just find this^ relative performance to be too far from our competition to be as agnostic as many.

Two other items to memorialize for the future: (1) Avent has compiled a 182-183 record in ACC regular-season play, (2) In the 1990s, NC State advanced to two Super Regionals (losing both of them) while ECU advanced to three Super Regionals and UNC-CH advanced to five Super Regionals.

 

Parting shot:

Particularly in the summer when things can be slower in the college sports world for everyone, we really want to drive traffic to our message boards and encourage you to make them a routine part of your morning and afternoon internet surfing.

About BJD95

1995 NC State graduate, sufferer of Les and MOC during my entire student tenure. An equal-opportunity objective critic and analyst of Wolfpack sports.

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32 Responses to So This Is the Way Baseball Season Ends…

  1. choppack1 06/07/2010 at 2:19 PM #

    You know, at the end of the day – I think baseball suffers from football and basketball’s futility.

    The futility of these sports makes NC State less appealing to prospective recruits.

    The futility of football and basketball makes the tolerable results of this program a little less so in some sense because, if you are looking for something to really boast about – you can’t say, “look at NC State baseball.”

    I have a hard time believing that the results we’ve seen on the field are the best that we’re capable of.

    Still, I think you’ve got to have your priorities – and with the chance that we may have to make coaching changes in both basketball and football in the next 2 years – I’m ok holding back on this program until those issues are resolved.

    I can’t say I’m really happy about the current state of our program though. It seems that the peak of the current leadership is the ACC championship game and a Super regional. That’s not awful, but we ain’t hanging banners either.

  2. thekind 06/07/2010 at 2:52 PM #

    I for one hope that Avent is the first one on the chopping block by our new AD.

  3. Dr. BadgerPack 06/07/2010 at 6:13 PM #

    One point needs mentioning, which points out the major difference between this team and the 2008 version which made the super’s.

    In 2008, we were a senior-laden team. The bulk of this year’s record setting offense returns next season, and most of the pitching as well (we will miss Sasser). Poulk x 2 and Wilson will be gone, I expect everyone else will be back. And pieces are in place to fill in for the departing seniors, and will be backed by a strong recruiting class.

    I know folks get sick and damn tired of “wait till next year”, but what we are seeing with baseball now is the beginning of a “program” and not a team that catches lightning in a bottle every five or so years (2003 and 2008, for those keeping score at home).

    In my season preview I expected to make the ACC and NCAA tournaments.

    Next season, I expect ACC title contention and at least a super regional. Next years team will be freaking loaded.

  4. elvislives 06/07/2010 at 6:51 PM #

    I for one hope to see an increase in attendance for next year’s team. Go out and support the Pack on the cheap! And while we’re on the wishlist, let’s get some more Baseball coverage on SFN! How about a team preview?

  5. fvpackman 06/07/2010 at 8:51 PM #

    Sasser is a Jr along with Vance Williams who came in Sat and threw 5 innings of lockdown ball.They both will be back..We lose The Poulks,Kyle Wilson, Sogard,Lambert,Edwards….I think we lose Jake to the draft..

    fv

  6. spanky 06/07/2010 at 11:11 PM #

    Classof89, I thought they didn’t have any, and the question was somewhat rhetorical..(although I didn’t know if they had any ‘way back when.’

    But I’m in agreement with you, I actually like Fox (I would still like to see them lose every game because of the color of the jersey) but I do like Mike Fox and would love to have someone of his caliber here.

    He was actually pretty funny and sounded like an old coach I used to have when they had him mic’d up in the CWS the 2nd time they lost to Oregon St.

    With all that said I don’t really mind keeping Avent, but if we made a bold move trying to better the program I would support it.

  7. Dr. BadgerPack 06/08/2010 at 6:51 AM #

    FV- I was speculating that Sasser may be gone to the draft. That’s just a function of this year’s draft being very, very thin in left handed pitching, so he may find himself slotted a bit higher than normal.

    Would love to have him back though.

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