Couldn’t Be Prouder of Coach Avent and Pack Nine

Baseball54

I hope you saw today’s game, because as opposed to yesterday’s sloppy snoozefest – this was sports drama at its very best. Lightning interrupted a pitcher’s duel, and Coach Avent made the classy, selfless choice and correctly pulled Carlos Rodon. You don’t play Russian Roulette with a left arm that will likely be the #1 overall pick if it stays healthy. Coach Avent showed his “players first” dedication when he firmly and flatly declared that he never even considered returning him to the mound.

Karma owed Avent a good turn, and on several occasions, it looked like he would get it. The Pack Nine came back from 4-0, 6-5, and 7-6 deficits, even ever-so-briefly taking a 5-4 lead. Sadly, the 9-7 10th inning deficit was one run too many, and a terrible third strike call ended NC State’s season.

That said, it’s hard to imagine being more pleased after a gut-wrenching postseason loss. The UConn game Hodge’s freshman year, and this March’s narrow loss to Kansas come to mind. Our Pack Nine battled their asses off, and represented NC State University in sterling fashion. With many key cogs coming back (several of said cogs were freshmen), we have every reason to expect Omaha in our near future. Hell, I might even manage to pay attention before May next season. 🙂

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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54 Responses to Couldn’t Be Prouder of Coach Avent and Pack Nine

  1. vtpackfan 06/12/2012 at 10:29 AM #

    Great observation Dr. The book gets out on the young phenom, and if they don’t stay away from tendencies then the result is what gave Overman his issues. His stuff was decent and would have worked if the book wasn’t already out. Even the most god given talents, such as Mariano Rivera, had to revamp his approach.

    The same applies to hitters in that our fantastic frosh will be pitched to entirely different then what they saw this season. That aspect of the game is a true indication of what you have as Assistant Coaches. They’re the ones breaking down film and working one on one in the batting cages and pitching work.

  2. Wufpacker 06/12/2012 at 1:59 PM #

    I’d love to see our hitters be more patient at the plate (they were better with this later in the year I thought).

    To illustrate, FSU hits .282 as a team, while State hits .297 as a team. They’re basically even in HR (State 44- FSU 43). FSU, however has drawn 101 more walks than State (367-266) and has an OBP of .406 to State’s .376.

    Interestingly, both have scored 437 runs on the year. Even with a team BA 15 points lower, they’re able to match our offensive output.

    As with other things, I think getting a year older will help with this.

  3. Dr. BadgerPack 06/12/2012 at 2:48 PM #

    ^Correct Wufpacker. Experience is a tremendous help. Patience at the plate is one of the most often quoted- and least understood- aspects of hitting. It starts with pitch recognition, and for young guys- well a lot of them are seeing breaking stuff they’ve rarely seen at this level. When you can recognize the pitch sooner, you can lay off closer breaking balls as well as realize when a pitch in your “happy zone” is coming in. 183 of FSU’s walks came from Johnson, Ramsey and McGee (Sr, Sr, R-So). Other than fastball location, one of Rodon’s problems against FSU was they weren’t chasing his nasty breaking stuff.

    Where a team gets into trouble is when they think patience at the plate simply means taking pitches. That’s a good way to find yourself down 0-2 or 1-2, and then you’re screwed. You can be patient and still swing at the first or second pitch- if you recognize that is likely to be the best pitch in the at bat.

    As a side note, Diaz has some trouble recognizing the slider- he chases at times. He should buy Turner dinner, because that guy gave him a lot of fastballs to hit when he moved up in the lineup. Diaz and Mathews both are a couple of experienced guys who don’t walk a lot. They’ll kill you if they get a fastball in the zone, though.

    As a second side note- McGee for FSU must be an a#^hole- he got hit 16 freaking times! As a team, FSU was hit 95 times (so maybe they’re all jerks- ha) while we got plunked 35 times.

  4. Wufpacker 06/12/2012 at 3:14 PM #

    I’m betting Stanford pitchers would like to line ’em up right about now and toss ’em all a little chin music.

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