Tony Haynes: Pack Rides Strong Arms to Jacksonville
Courtesy: NC State Release: 05/20/2008
By Tony Haynes
Raleigh, N.C. – The adage is as old as the game itself: “good pitching beats good hitting.” After NC State pitchers silenced Florida State’s booming bats for two days last week, Wolfpack hurlers were the talk of Tallahassee.
The Seminoles, led by college baseball’s best player, Buster Posey, were held to three runs and just nine hits in the first two games of a three-game series against NC State. These were the same Seminoles who were averaging 9.9 runs per game with a nation’s best team batting average of .353.
As starters Eric Surkamp, Clayton Shunick and a host of relievers mowed down Florida State batters on Thursday and Friday, media regulars in the press box at Dick Howser Stadium were seen shaking their heads. The FSU faithful filling most of the seats looked as baffled as the Seminoles’ batters.
In the end, NC State (37-18) still dropped two of three games in Tallahassee, including an excruciating 1-0 defeat in the middle game of the series. Still, it was a good showing, one that did nothing to hurt the Wolfpack’s hopes of hosting a regional at Doak Field next week.
Now to another old baseball adage: “teams with pitching depth have a big advantage in tournament play.”
Indeed, if that theory holds up at the 35th ACC Baseball Tournament at The Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville, Florida over the next five days, then NC State will have a good chance of sewing up its quest to host a regional.
Surkamp, a veteran who’s coming off two of his strongest outings of the year, will probably get the baseball for game one against Georgia Tech Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. Since stumbling in a brief two-inning stint against High Point on May third, Surkamp has allowed just five runs and nine hits in starts against Campbell and Florida State. In those games, he struck out 16 in 11 and 2/3 innings.
In other words, Surkamp has looked like the All-ACC pitcher that he was just one year ago.
When it meets Clemson in its second round ACC Tournament game on Thursday at 8 p.m., NC State will likely call on Shunick, whose season has, to a certain extent, mirrored what Surkamp did in 2007. Although his overall won-loss mark is a modest 6-5, Shunick was named first-team All-ACC by the league’s coaches earlier in the week. Shunick’s outstanding 2.30 ERA points to the lack of run support he’s encountered in many of his starts this season. Friday’s game at FSU was a microcosm of Shunick’s spring thus far. Despite pitching six shutout innings with 10 strikeouts, the right-hander wasn’t around when the Seminoles eventually scored the game’s only run in the eighth inning.
Once the weekend rolls around in Jacksonville, freshman Jake Buchanon and redshirt sophomore Alex Sogard will be rested and ready to go. Others, like Sam Brown, Eryk McConnell, Kyle Rutter, Joey Cutler, Drew Taylor and closer Jimmy Gilheeney, are proven commodities against big-time competition.
The numbers speak for themselves. Heading into ACC Tournament play, NC State has the third best team ERA (3.29) in the nation.
But as good as the Wolfpack’s pitching is, it won’t be enough to carry the Pack all the way to Sunday’s ACC Championship game. Offensively, NC State’s hitters will have to cash in on scoring opportunities better than they did last weekend in Tallahassee. In losses on Friday and Saturday, the Wolfpack left a total of 22 men on base and were hitless in 17 at bats with runners in scoring position.
Against right-handed pitching, the Pack relies heavily on first baseman Pat Ferguson and leftfielder Jeremy Synan to deliver quality at bats. The two lefty batters balance the NC State order, and both have generated torrid stretches this season. At Florida State, however, Synan and Ferguson were in a deep funk, going a combined 0-for-22 at the plate.
It’s quite possible that Synan and/or Ferguson could be sitting if Georgia Tech throws second team All-ACC southpaw David Duncan (7-3, 3.71 ERA) on Wednesday, with right handed hitters Russell Wilson and Devon Carthwright quite possibly fitting prominently in coach Elliott Avent’s plans.
At this stage, Avent will be looking for the guys he thinks can do the best job of working opposing pitchers, hitting the ball to the right side of the infield when necessary and delivering big two-out base hits in the clutch.
And with NC State’s pitchers armed and ready this week, it shouldn’t take an avalanche of runs to produce a successful showing for the Wolfpack in Jacksonville.
Note: WKNC 88.1 FM in Raleigh and Gopack.com’s audio/video subscription service, Pack Pass, will air all of the Pack’s games at the ACC Tournament. Gary Hahn will begin Wednesday’s broadcast at 9:55 a.m.
