The weeks leading to the ACC Tournament weren’t kind to the baseball team away from the field, as two prominent players — shortstop Tommy Foschi and pitcher Andrew Brackman — both suffered close personal losses.
Foschi had learned his father died from a heart attack after the season finale, while just days before, Brackman found out his former girlfriend passed away from injuries sustained in an automobile crash, causing him to miss a start.
For an emotional N.C. State team that wore a “PF” for Pat Foschi, Tommy’s late dad on their caps, the first two games of the tournament did not go as planned.
So after a 6-1 loss to Virginia was followed by a rain-delayed 14-5 thumping from North Carolina, the team was more than thankful to have a day off.
“It was nice to have a day off and walk around thinking about the games,” coach Elliott Avent said. “So when the team walked into breakfast at six o’clock this morning, you would have thought that it was noon. They came out ready to play and did well.”
In the new format, State played on Wednesday and Thursday, and after their day off, the team resumed play on Saturday with a 8-7 win over Georgia Tech.
Since both the Wolfpack and Yellow Jackets were already eliminated from the championship game, the match-up itself had only NCAA Tournament implications.
“We were in [the NCAA Tournament] anyway, but you don’t want to go down [to the ACC Tournament] and lose three games as well as we were playing going [in],” right fielder Ryan Pond said. “To come out and get a big win against a good Georgia Tech team that many thought was in the tournament, that was huge.”
The third ACC Tournament loss by Tech may have been what knocked them out of the NCAA field, while the win might have been enough to salvage the No. 2 seed that State earned in the Columbia, S.C. regional a few days later.
According to third baseman Ramon Corona, the day off re-energized a tired Pack team and helped get the important win.
“It was a great day off,” Corona said. “I definitely think we were a little beat up and still tired and that day off allowed us to relax and get our mind off the game a little bit and get that win down there.”
It was a huge turnaround from the match-up against the Tar Heels, in which nothing seemed to turn out right.
First, the Pack players knew they were mathematically eliminated from championship game contention when Virginia defeated Georgia Tech in the game that preceded theirs.
Then, a three-hour rain delay pushed the game back to a 10 p.m. start.
Pond said knowing the team wouldn’t be playing for the title game was disheartening, but it wasn’t to blame for the lopsided loss.
“I don’t think that was any reason for the way we played,” Pond said. “It was one of those things where we hit a wall in the fifth inning or so and lost the game that way. But it didn’t change the way we played.”
Second-team All-ACC performer Robert Woodard got the win for the Tar Heels. It was the second straight pitcher with All-ACC awards the Pack had to face after losing to Virginia’s first-teamer Jacob Thompson in the first game.
