Over the course of coach Elliott Avent’s 15-year tenure at N.C. State, his teams have gone to 11 Regional tournaments, but have only advanced to the Super Regional twice.
This year was not much different.
The Wolfpack won one game during the three-day tournament after losing a heartbreaking first game in the bottom of the ninth to Stetson University and falling in an early hole.
Momentum is a crucial component in any sport, and the Pack seemed to have complete momentum after going up 5-0 in the first game of the Regional. Unfortunately, State’s pitching couldn’t hold the Hatters offense back as they came back to win the game, 8-7, putting the Pack into the loser’s bracket.
Mark Jones of Stetson hit a 3-run home run in the fourth that cut the lead to 5-3, but seemed to ignite the fire that the Hatters needed to get back into the game. Avent spoke about Jones’ homer and how it changed the game.
“We were up 5-0 and threw a change-up that [Jones] took over the fence,” Avent said. “That seemed like it turned the whole game around. It was almost like Stetson could do no wrong after that and we couldn’t get it back together to get that win.”
The loss meant the Pack would have to play in a day game the very next day rather than a night game. Avent was saving his ace, junior starter Cory Mazzoni, for the following day because he believed he would be able to pitch a complete game if it was at night.
Mazzoni finished the game after eight innings pitched and the Pack got its only win of the Regional. Avent had a few words of praise for the junior.
“We were really trying to get Mazzoni out there in a night game where he could possibly pitch a complete game,” Avent said. “That might have been his best start of the year — heck, maybe of his entire career here. And he did it in 97-degree heat, which only makes it that much more impressive.”
While the Pack was able to get the win over Georgia Southern, it still had to face the daunting task of winning three games on Sunday to advance. Had State beaten the Hatters, they would have faced the Gamecocks, and former Pack coach Ray Tanner, twice to make it to the Super Regional round. But State never got the chance
State dropped the afternoon game against the Hatters after redshirt senior pitcher Rob Chamra yielded five early walks and the defense committed three errors to allow Stetson an early lead.
Junior center fielder Brett Williams said the team reverted back to the type of play that got them off to a slow start at the beginning of the season.
“This past weekend was kind of like a flashback to earlier in the season,” Williams said. “Our defense wasn’t playing very good and our pitchers weren’t locating as well. Over the last half of the season those things were important to our success.”
While early errors put the Pack on the ropes early on in the Sunday contest, it still had a chance to win the game in the final inning. With junior outfielder John Gianis and Williams on base in the bottom of the ninth, sophomore catcher Danny Canela stepped to the plate with two outs.
Canela hit a ball to dead center that appeared to have enough distance to clear the fence, but fell just short on the warning track, ending the game. Junior first baseman Harold Riggins originally believed Canela hit the game-winning home run, but he gave his account of what the team felt at the end of the game.
“He really had a good shot,” Riggins said. “When he hit the ball, all of us got out of our seats and were just hoping that it was going over the fence. But the center fielder made the catch, and that left us all flabbergasted and knew our season had ended.”
