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Congrats to the Chaucers for not folding. They showed lots of character in forcing us into maximum NC State Shit. We didn’t just do it all by our lonesome.
And as much as I hate losing, good for Coastal. Really am happy for them and their program.
(even if we did have to give them a little help to get there….yeah, I’m not totally not bitter)Tip a the cap to the boys. Defense was outstanding and pitching stepped up regardless of outcome. Losing Williamson really hurt our chances. Had a feeling we’d need 6 or 7 and that liberal use of the pen early and in the mid-innings of this one might bite us. Too many walks, hit batters. Some of that may have been rain induced with in the 9th last night, which sucks even more. But as Wuf alluded to in his preview, Coastal ain’t no slouch. We got out of some major jams where they could’ve put up big runs. We weren’t able to capitalize in a few of those situations either. Tough one to swallow.
Still better than staying home like the Cheaters/Losers/Asshats to the west.
/looks to west, extends middle finger, feels 3% better
Another NC State meltdown to end a season. Oh well, I guess you have to end them some way. Short of winning a title, every other team goes home disappointed.
It never really felt like we had “it” this season. I know we started highly ranked, but we didn’t come into the tournament with a lot of momentum. I had us going to the Supers, but that was before Williamson got hurt.
I didn’t really think the ACC was that strong in baseball this year. Yeah, a lot of teams got in, but it feels like we have 1-3 legit Omaha threats with Louisville being our best team. We’ll get one in (Miami) and I think Louisville will get there, but who knows about FSU against Florida?
My question is how this sits with Yow. I’ve heard rumblings that she’s been after Avent. I personally think Avent’s teams have outperformed their resources, but I don’t follow baseball closely.
I’m not a baseball guru either, far from it, but overhearing Palmeiro Sr yesterday, he has often been confounded by the coaching decisions coming from the NC State bench. Not directly critical mind you (I think being fully aware of his position, and the coaches), but genuinely confused, with ‘why?’, ‘huh?’, and ‘really?’ type stuff, even directly commenting that he long ago gave up trying to figure out the decision making process coming from the dugout and instead focuses on simply supporting the team and players.
^I witnessed some Palmeiro’s frustration the past two seasons. Occasionally, you need the skip to help you win a few in the close ones. The musical chair lineups and pitching changes, plus the game management, cost us a handful of games this year.
I’d have liked to have seen Gilbert today if he had two outs in him, but I expected Braband. Gilbert got the win both times out against Coastal this year. Give him the ball.
Yep. Our “Fightin’ Edwins” hit a hurdle too high.
Welp, time to pack it up and head off to the summer leagues, and for some, wait out the draft.
Cowdog, any sense on how many of the juniors come back to Raleigh next year?
I think Knizner is gone and if Palmiero goes before the 6th Rnd, he’s also gone. Williamson would have been on that list, but… Johnny Piedmonte would not be a very late signee surprise.
OK, nobody seems to want to talk about it so I’ll start it. Avent should have been gone years ago. He does just enough to keep the admins happy and nobody pays too much attention to baseball anyway. It is just another sport at NC State that continues our mediocrity as a whole while everyone around us prospers. Duke baseball has now caught up and will pass us because they want to. UNC may not have made the NCAA this year but their body of work over the last 20 years puts us to shame. Avent is a motor mouth. A couple of years ago when Rodon and Turner played their last season Avent ran his mouth in the pre season guaranteeing a repeat visit to the CWS. We didn’t qualify for the freakin ACC tourney. In 20 years he hasn’t won a thing, nothing. We make the NCAA from time to time, I think he won one ACC tourney, maybe not, and we can’t hold serve at home this year. He’s Sendek on steroids. People just give up on finding a new coach in any sport, “well who are we going to get?” Well why don’t we try until we get it right? Geez, does anyone get ever get tired of this NC State “crap”?
i haven’t seen the fanbase this divided over a coach since Les Robinson (urban legend is that he decided to resign after some well connected donor sent him a picture of two wolves fighting). Sure there are always the Bob Kennels of the world, the suckups who support any incumbent, but with respect to Avent,some people really seem to love him, others are convinced (bizarrelly) that we can’t do any better in baseball until we install a roof over the stands at Doak so what’s the use of firing Avent, and others (like me) look at the bright young minds in Clemson, Louisville, and Boston College and think “we can do better” Does he love NC State? No doubt. So did Les, Sidney Lowe, and Amato. I’d hate to see him unceremoniously tossed out on his ass, but can’t we give him a window office in Case for a few years and put him in charge of something less important than the baseball program?
I’ve been on the fence bout Avent for many seasons. I think the past week had a humpty dumpty effect. First was the arrogant response when Pack lost in the ACC tournament, “We have a bigger goal, its winning a national Championship”. Winning the ACC tournament is a lofty goal, don’t just write off like we have bigger goals than an ACC trophy. Second was the tirade he went on that got him ejects and suspended for 2 of the most important games in his own words “to the bigger goal of a National Championship”. Its one thing to speak your mind about the ump calling but what he did was almost beyond Bobby Knight antics. Go out there, make you point, go back to the dugout and lead your team. Instead he deserted the team in its biggest moments of the season, a regional at home with chance to move on to a Super and the CWS.
All the king’s horses and all the king’s men
Couldn’t put Humpty together again.BassPacker you are correct with Avent’s “arrogant” comments. As I mentioned he is a motor mouth. He shoots off his mouth about things he can’t back up. I don’t think he could actually coach a team to a national championship. He is in denial about how good his teams are, and boasts otherwise. So making the NCAA really puts you in the elite crowd? Nice try there Herb, er huh, Elliot.
Interesting comments. Yow seems to like her coaches a bit cocky. Maybe this plays well with his boss?
I felt like when we missed the NCAAs despite having Rodon and Turner that Avent’s time was short. Of course there’s the flip side that I think that we pay near the bottom and have facilities near the bottom. Maybe we are getting better than what we’re paying for?
I don’t follow baseball closely, so I don’t really know and have any valid opinion. I wasn’t following closely enough to realize he was ejected for some of the regional games. I find the comments re. Palmero pretty telling though. He’s forgotten more than I’d ever know about baseball.
It’s humorous to hear people talk about our facilities ranking near the bottom. I don’t know about the validity of that, but I admit I have seen much nicer facilities, and obviously, some that are worse. No, it’s humorous to me because when I think back to the Fall of 1972 and the Spring of 1973 the facility was completely different than it is today. A few, maybe three or four aluminum bleachers behind home and the first and third baselines – no real stands or seats – bleachers only – first come first serve, a chain link fence in the outfield with no covering, unprotected bullpens, no metal building by the Pack bullpen and the six to eight foot pine saplings in right field. Maybe time has warped my memory, but I think I’m fairly accurate. The point is, if you think our facilities are lacking now, you should have seen them then. It was little more than a high school field. Indeed, forty-four years later it doesn’t look so bad. Could it look better? I suppose. Would that help to improve the product? I can’t be sure, but I rather doubt it. I know, I’m old. Don’t get me talking about how when they emptied equipment bags onto the field to start practice, five or six no-break catchers mitts rolled out. Yogi would have loved it.
woflanatic: I hear you. When I was at State, Doak wasn’t really different than our High School’s field. In all honesty, our High School’s field may have been better.
Unfortunately I think the arms race that most seem to recognize in college football stadiums is pretty much everywhere in college athletics. I see some of these baseball facilities on TV and they seemingly rival the Durham Bulls Athletics park. There’s been a massive influx of $$$ into the power conference schools for athletics and they have to spend it somewhere given they are “non-profits.”
They say a picture is worth 1000 words, and here are some to think about:
and then there’s the Doak:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/60/Doak_Field.jpgAs much as the Doak has clearly improved, it’s still behind that of our peers, at least to my untrained eye. You can look at the renovations we did and tell some were done on the cheap. I think half the ACC has done some sort of facilities expansion in baseball in the past 10 years. We improved, but I think are still behind, and in the round of improvements probably fell further behind those that upgraded within the same cycle.
Again, I don’t think that facilities equate to success. I do think the facilities represent the budgets though. Success does seemingly align to budget in college sports. Are we getting more results than we’re paying for in baseball? Quite possibly so.
I’d like to see a change, but not if the $$ isn’t there to upgrade. If someone is willing to write the check for the buyout and a coach worthy of an upgraded base salary, then by all means pull the plug. If not, well, I guess I agree that we could do a lot worse. (Sendek looked a lot better to many of us by year 3 or 4 of Sidney Lowe).
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