Pack 9 Sweeps Duke, Wins 30th;[Update] Tzamtzis Wins ACC POW

Baseball General13

Monday evening update….

Adding some additional links below, including Anthony Tzamtzis taking the ACC’s weekly pitching honors (ACC POW….heh, aren’t we all?)….

NC State’s Tzamtzis (5-3) struck out a career-high nine batters over a career-long 7 2/3 innings in only his fifth start of the year, holding Duke to two hits and outdueling Blue Devil ace Marcus Stroman to propel No. 19 NC State to a 4-0 win on Friday night. The redshirt sophomore from Miami, Fla., walked five batters in the shutout effort, but did not let a runner past second base on the evening.

 

Next up is yet another piece featuring LHP Carlos Rodon.  The freshman Rodon continues to thrive despite increasing expectations, not to mention (well-deserved) media coverage.  Chip Alexander has a nice interview with the normally mild mannered Rodon here….

When Rodon walks to the mound, the freshman pitcher transforms himself.

“Beast Mode.” That’s what Rodon calls it.

“Kind of like an alter ego,” Rodon said. “I’m not the same when I’m on the field as when I’m off the field.

“I try to bring a bulldog mentality. I’m aggressive. I’m an average, normal, every-day person off the field, just trying to be nice.”

 

Here’s a piece from GoPack.com from a few days ago that I don’t think was linked elsewhere.  It keys on how important the catchers have been for NC State.

While sharing time behind the plate, both Canela and Austin have contributed in various ways — working with pitchers, managing the game, and flashing sufficient arm strength to challenge daring base runners. And, both can hit.

Their ability with the bat is why one is in the lineup as a designated hitter when the other is catching.

Though a bit unsung amid the hoopla swirling around freshman pitching sensation Carlos Rodon and rookie base-stealing bandit Trea Turner, it’s doubtful State would be 27-12 overall and 13-8 in the ACC without Canela and Austin.

“They’ve been a strength of our club, a big part of our success,” Avent acknowledged.

 

The Pack jumped two spots to #17 in the new Baseball America top 25 Poll.  FSU remained atop the poll. Carolina’s ranking also remained unchanged at #16, one spot ahead of the Wolfpack.  Previously unranked UVa is the only other conference team to make the poll this week, jumping in at #23.  Previously #22 Miami dropped out this week after losing 2 of 3 at home to the Cavs.

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Original Post:

Wolfpack Baseball tallied a come from behind victory over the Duke Blue Devils today by a final score of 8-7. The win completed the weekend sweep of the Devils, and gave the Pack 30 wins on the season (30-12), including 16 conference wins (16-8). The team’s win streak now stands at six, and they are 6-1 thus far on the current home stand.

GoPack.com has a nice recap here.

RALEIGH, N.C. – Danny Canela hit a pair of homers, but Logan Ratledge’s RBI double in the eighth proved the difference for No. 19 NC State in an 8-7 win over Duke to sweep the series Sunday at Doak Field at Dail Park.

State (30-12, 16-8 ACC) fell behind 2-0 in the top of the first, but knotted the score in the bottom half before taking a 3-2 lead in the third. Duke battled back to tie the game in the fourth, took a 4-3 lead in the fifth, and opened the margin to 7-3 with a three-run sixth. The Pack rallied with a four-run sixth to tie the game once again, before scoring the game-winning run in the bottom eighth.

[snip]

NC State reliever Vance Williams (2-2) gutted out the win, going the final 4 1/3 innings, allowing three earned on four hits with three strikeouts and no walks. Starter Logan Jernigan lasted only an inning, giving up two earned on two hits and two walks. Ethan Ogburn pitched 3 2/3 in between them, surrendering two earned on five hits and one walk.

Box Score.

Nice that dominant outings by Tzamtzis and Rodon in games one and two allowed a relatively fresh bullpen to be available today.

The Pack is now a good bet to host an NCAA regional in Raleigh. The last time this happened was in 2008. State also hosted a regional in 2003, but the renovations at Doak Field forced the games to Wilson, NC. With a good showing the next 3 weeks, protected seed status is not beyond reach.

Published prior to the Pack’s past four wins, this college baseball bracketology from ESPN.com already had the pack hosting….

Raleigh Regional
NC State
East Carolina
Appalachian State
Coastal Carolina

The Wolfpack now has five days to rest up (no mid week game this week) before welcoming Cal State Bakersfield to Raleigh for a non-conference 3-game slate next weekend. A mid week single game against NC A&T the following Tuesday will bring the current homestand to a close.

ACC Tournament seedings at the top remain unchanged, despite the fact that the Pack (#3 seed) now has a better overall and conference record than Carolina (#2 seed).  The Pack did put an additional game between themselves and Clemson, however.  FSU had the weekend off from conference play yet still leads the Pack by 4.5 games (3 in the win column) for the Atlantic Division crown and a first place seed despite the Pack’s weekend sweep of Duke.  Full standings for the conference are as follows, courtesy of theACC.com:

ATLANTIC DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
Florida State 19-2 .905 36-7-0 .837
NC State 16-8 .667 30-12-0 .714
Clemson 14-10 .583 26-19-0 .578
Wake Forest 9-15 .375 26-19-0 .578
Boston College 9-15 .375 19-26-0 .422
Maryland 8-16 .333 28-19-0 .596
COASTAL DIVISION
School Conference Pct. Overall Pct.
North Carolina 13-8 .619 30-13-0 .698
Virginia 12-10 .545 29-14-1 .670
Miami 12-10 .545 27-15-0 .643
Virginia Tech 10-14 .417 30-16-0 .652
Georgia Tech 10-14 .417 26-19-0 .578
Duke 7-17 .292 16-29-0 .356

 

Anyone wishing to check out inning by inning recaps for all three of this weekend’s games (almost) can go here and check out the smashing failure that was the first weekend series live blogging attempt. I think we’ll just see how it goes in the future.

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About Wufpacker

A 2nd generation alumnus and raised since birth to be irrationally dedicated to all things NC State. Class of '88 and '92.

Baseball General

13 Responses to Pack 9 Sweeps Duke, Wins 30th;[Update] Tzamtzis Wins ACC POW

  1. Cosmo96 04/30/2012 at 3:30 AM #

    I wonder who Alex Johnson will be pulling for next weekend?

  2. TheCOWDOG 04/30/2012 at 9:43 AM #

    For those of you unaware, the clarity and conciseness of Wufpacker’s wraps are do to the fact that he works out of a 1967 red Dodge van, equipped with satellite dish and short wave radio.

    On game days and nights, he drives out to the open mesas under the Arizona sky. He’s kinda like that Woody Harrelson character in “2012.”

    That’s dedication. Pretty work, Wuf.

    Keep us posted.

    Wufpacker: You forgot police scanner and cell phone scrambler. Gotta know when the fuzz is nearby. Red vans don’t exactly blend and as I’ve recently learned, stealing residential wifi signals apparently is a crime now. To help alleviate that problem, I’ve got my eye on this bad boy…

    http://kevinwarnock.com/2010/02/17/my-secret-hobby-of-converting-a-bus-to-a-motorhome/winnebagobrave/

    Not bad, eh? More room for the jack-legged satellite transmitter I need to fit in it. Wonder what it’ll look like once I get it painted red?

  3. vtpackfan 04/30/2012 at 10:55 AM #

    Everything coming together at the right time. Upperclassman like Ciencin, Vanilla, Diaz, Matthews, and Senay are starting to zone in.
    All of the freshman continue to play just out of their minds. I’ve never remembered a frosh class barnstorming D 1 baseball like this, like the Kentucky basketball equivalent, with Rodon as our Anthony Davis.

  4. vtpackfan 04/30/2012 at 10:59 AM #

    Well, obviously Canella doesn’t hit like vanilla 🙂

  5. PackInsider 04/30/2012 at 11:22 AM #

    Shaping up to be one of Avent’s best seasons W wise in the league. Hope the young guys don’t run out of gas.

    Was at the Duke game Saturday night…awesome crowd and awesome display from Turner & Rodon, two freshmen STUDS. Diaz and Canella looked great as well. Some good baseball being played this year.

  6. patientwuf 04/30/2012 at 11:23 AM #

    Thanks Wupacker. Great stuff.

    College baseball bracketology-didn’t know it existed.

  7. Classof89 04/30/2012 at 12:48 PM #

    Note we are 1-2 against Coastal Carolina and ECU this year, although both losses were on the road. That would be a tough regional, and Appalachian is no slouch either…

  8. 44rules 04/30/2012 at 3:11 PM #

    Totally off-topic, but have y’all seen this? Lutz not hired by Va. Tech.

    http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaab-the-dagger/virginia-tech-replaces-seth-greenberg-top-assistant-175106505.html;_ylt=AnGdqg7Kiq5foDkQnS9s4q7evbYF#more-11322

  9. TheCOWDOG 04/30/2012 at 3:59 PM #

    Ya know, that’s about the third or fourth baseball thread dust off we’ve had over Lutz. It’s baseball. Why does one feel compelled to do this?

    Next time someone has a case of the compulsive obsessive, try takin’ it to the forum. There are plenty of folks discussing VaTech.

  10. gotohe11carolina 04/30/2012 at 4:54 PM #

    So semi off topic, I went to three uga uf games in gainesville weekend before last. I’ll admit I don’t watch college baseball, so I don’t know when they changed the bats, but good lord the bats sound completely dead. maybe they could let the dh use the old style bats to liven up the offense a bit. Full disclosure we left in the 15th inning and i’m glad we did, I’d gabber been really upset with the k-out e2 for the loss (wife is a uga fan)

  11. Wufpacker 04/30/2012 at 5:32 PM #

    LMAO @ theCOWDOG. You’ve awoken the beast.

    But yeah, great Lutz talk going on over there….
    http://www.statefansnationforums.com/topic.php?id=7227

  12. ancsu87 04/30/2012 at 8:48 PM #

    Great news about Lutz!!

  13. TheCOWDOG 04/30/2012 at 9:53 PM #

    You ain’t funny. Never have been.

    In fact, you’ve just dissed one of the most clever of writers in here.

    Wuf will crack me on it, but you sir, can’t run with him.

    Yep…ya never know who is next 🙂

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