Wolfpack Baseball (35-20) didn’t necessarily have a stellar ACC Tournament showing in Durham last week. But after falling in consecutive games to Florida State and Miami, the Pack rebounded with a much needed win over Georgia Tech.
In all likelihood, the win kept the Pack from losing the opportunity to be named a regional host for the first stage of the NCAA Baseball Tournament. And even if that’s not true, the victory over the Jackets was good for the Pack to get back in the win column and build some confidence/momentum as they get set to host the opening round this weekend.
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Raleigh Regional
My apologies in advance, but due to some unexpected “lack of free time” issues this week, this is going to be mostly links. And probably from more smarterer folks than me anyway. If we advance to Super Regionals, I semi-promise a better write up next week. Probably.
NC State Hosts Raleigh Regional (GoPack.com)
(links, info, tickets, etc.)
Navy Baseball Selected to Participate in Raleigh Regional (NavySports.com)
At 35-20, overall, and 15-13 in ACC play, North Carolina State will be hosting a regional for the fifth time in program history. Under the guidance of 20th-year head coach Elliott Avent, the Wolfpack were the fifth seed in this past weekend’s ACC Tournament and went 1-2 with a 7-5 victory over Georgia Tech and setbacks to Florida State, 7-3 and Miami, 8-7.
The second-seeded Chanticleers of Coastal Carolina are 44-15 and come in with an RPI of 12 after going 4-0 and winning the Big South Championship. Saint Mary’s will be participating in its first-ever NCAA Tournament after defeating Gonzaga on Saturday in the finals of the West Coast Conference championship. The Gaels from Moraga, Calif. went 3-0 at the WCC tournament over the weekend.
“Winning an automatic bid as the Patriot League champion was a goal of team since last fall,” said Kostacopoulos. “Now we have a new challenge and goal ahead of us and I know we are all looking forward to it.”
All games of the regional will be streamed live on ESPN3.com.
Coastal Carolina baseball draws No. 2 seed in Raleigh regional (MyrtleBeachOnline.com)
Coastal Carolina, which swept the Big South regular-season and tournament titles, was hoping its No. 12 RPI and No. 7-rated non-conference strength of schedule would be enough to make it one of the 16 regional host sites for the first time since 2010. The Chants won their last 10 games and 31 of their last 37, but that momentum wasn’t enough to sway the selection committee.
Five teams that finished behind the Chants in the RPI earned the right to host, including a Virginia team they beat early in the season.
By Monday, though, Gilmore said he and his team had moved on from that slight.
Buncha damned whiners. But yeah, they’re good. Arguably just as good as we are. And in all honestly, they did deserve a hosting bid. And if they’ve got a chip on their shoulder it makes them good AND motivated.
This is why Coastal scares the bejesus out of me.
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2016 NCAA Raleigh Regional Schedule
Friday, June 3
Game 1 – No. 2 Coastal Carolina vs. No. 3 Saint Mary’s, 2 p.m. – ESPN3
Game 2 – No. 1 North Carolina State vs. No. 4 Navy, 7 p.m. – ESPN3
Saturday, June 4
Game 3 – Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 2 p.m. – ESPN3
Game 4 – Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 7 p.m. – ESPN3
Sunday, June 5*
Game 5 – Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 1 p.m. – ESPN3
Game 6 – Winner Game 5 vs. Winner Game 4, 6 p.m. – ESPN3
Monday, June 6
Game 7 – Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6, 7 p.m. (if necessary) – ESPN3
*Because of Sunday’s Ironman event being held in Raleigh, if you’re planning on attending either of Sunday’s games, you’re gonna want to take a look at this road closure map and choose an alternate route to The Doak.
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No highlights to share this week, so instead I’ll give you a few clips of some guys who really hate umpires (and also bullpen phones….apparently). Also, that was a helluva cover up Dustin Pedroia. Well done.
George Brett is still a huge…ummmm…jerk (family site profanity editor…ENGAGED).
And even minor league skippers have their moments.
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OK, that’s all I got. If the Pack advances, they are most likely to face LSU in Baton Rouge for the Super Regionals. I promise I will start doing advanced research on the Bayou Bengals so I don’t drop a badly done preview like this one on you next week. Which probably assures that LSU will get upset and I’ll have to research someone else instead at the last minute.
Meh, it’s baseball, who cares?
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Go Pack!!!!!
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