Since 1968, N.C. State baseball has won five ACC Championships while averaging more than 30 wins per season. However, the last time State earned a golden ticket to the College World Series was its only appearance in program history, and back then, The Beatles were still releasing albums.
Now the Wolfpack is two victories away from erasing 44 years of being very good but just short of great.
Following an emotional, heart-straining Raleigh Regional, N.C. State (43-18, 19-11 ACC) is traveling to Gainesville, Fla. to face off in a three-game series against the University of Florida (45-18, 18-12 SEC). The NCAA’s selection committee tabbed the Gators, searching for a third consecutive birth in the eight-team World Series tournament, as the best team in the field of 64.
While NCSU exploded for 56 runs over five games this past weekend, Florida stifled its Regional opponents to just five runs in three ball games. Although the top-seeded Gators will host the Super Regional with an arsenal of talented, experienced pitchers and the odds in their favor, State arrives to the sweltering heart of north central Florida with immeasurable emotion.
“When you do something like [comeback], nothing scares you quite as much,” Wolfpack head coach Elliott Avent said. “I know they’re the No. 1 team in the country; I know everything about them. [Gators head coach] Kevin O’Sullivan and I have been friends for a long time and we talk a lot during the course of the year. It’s going to be a great challenge and we have to play well. And we expect [to play well].”
Throwing an intriguing storyline into the mix is redshirt senior designated hitter Ryan Mathews, voted Most Outstanding Player for the Raleigh Regional. Mathews, who hit three of his 17 home runs on the season this past weekend, signed to play his college ball at Florida before the Gators went through a coaching change at the end of the 2007 season. The Orlando native grinned when asked what it would feel like to go back home and face a perennial powerhouse with which he is very familiar.
“The junior college that I went to was in Gainesville too,” Mathews said. “So I will have a lot of haters and hopefully a lot of fans out there. There will definitely be a lot of people who know me there, but it’s a Super Regional; it’s no different than anywhere else.”
If State is to pull off the upset, the Pack will have to get past a deep core of solid Gator pitching. Five of the men throwing the rock for the Orange and Blue have an earned runs average under 3.00, and UF is ranked No. 5 in the country for overall ERA. Despite the depth, Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin, who watched his team beat Florida twice in the recent SEC Tournament, said N.C. State will provide a challenge for the Gators.
“I think North Carolina State stacks up well,” Corbin said. “They have a very good hitting team; they have a couple of guys that can leave the ballpark. Mathews is a quality power hitter. They have a very similar ballpark to what you guys play here at N.C. State, the lines are very shallow.”
With Florida leading the nation in strikeout-to-walk ratio, much of the attention will go towards State’s ability to come up with timely hits. As would be expected, Florida’s numbers in high-scoring games are very cut-and-dry; the Gators are 0-8 when the opponent scores seven or more runs and are 17-0 when scoring eight or more runs themselves.
“Their pitching is very good, they can hit, they don’t make mistakes and they’ll be playing at home,” Corbin said. “Does that factor into it? Yes. Does North Carolina State have an opportunity to win? Absolutely. They’re going to have to pitch well and they’re going to have to hold them down, but [State pitcher Carlos Rodon] is as good as what you’re going to see.”
This weekend’s games from McKethan Stadium at Perry Field begin at 2 p.m. on Saturday and continue at 1 p.m. on Sunday. Both of the first two games can be seen nationally on ESPNU; if a third game on Monday is necessary, it will be broadcasted on ESPN2 at a time later to be determined.
