Quote :

"^^ Why would you want to watch a game where we lost in shitty fashion??"

because I'm a state fan

4/5/2015 5:15:59 PM

^ glad you beat me to the punch on that response. just because we lost the game doesn't mean it's not worth watching... Wilder had a hell of a start and we only lost 3-2, it wasn't like it was a blowout.

4/5/2015 8:07:06 PM

There's some decent seats left for the Friday and Sunday games at UNC next weekend.

4/5/2015 9:46:33 PM

As much as we should have been able to win this series, at least we only dropped one spot (4th in division, 5th in ACC) after the weekend, which marks (roughly) the halfway point of the conference schedule.

4/6/2015 11:24:07 AM

lost 7-5 at Elon

4/7/2015 9:56:42 PM

well thats frustrating

4/8/2015 12:02:38 AM

Pretty rough way to start off what could be a big week. Had a 5-3 lead in this one too.

4/8/2015 1:58:29 PM

game tonight at Wilmington rained out

4/8/2015 8:05:12 PM

Rained out? More like their field couldn't handle a 15 minute downpour two hours before first pitch.

4/8/2015 8:25:00 PM

Quote :

"NC State Baseball @NCStateBaseball · 5h 5 hours ago #Pack9 turning around, heading back to Raleigh. Rained out in Wilmington."

I don't live in Wilmington, so that's all I've got.

4/8/2015 9:07:55 PM

Well, I live in Wilmington and had tickets to the game. Quick downpour around 4, sunny skies by 4:30pm. We got to the field shortly after 5, parked and then received the email the game was cancelled.

4/8/2015 9:49:49 PM

Playing unc on the U right now

4/10/2015 8:21:58 PM

Knizner just made a decent throw to 2nd and runner called safe. Ugh.

4/10/2015 8:22:27 PM

I need to start a drinking game during State baseball games where Avent tries to bunt in situations that make every State fan that's watching the game want to break something.

4/10/2015 9:56:26 PM

Wish he wouldn't have tried bunting with Knizner but I get the logic with that one and with Deathrage.

Really don't understand him having Fincher try it with 1 out and a runner on first.

4/10/2015 9:57:17 PM

Quote :

"We got to the field shortly after 5, parked and then received the email the game was cancelled"

This happened to me too. Luckily I live in Wilm and didnt have to drive far

Quote :

"More like their field couldn't handle a 15 minute downpour two hours before first pitch."

And this

4/10/2015 10:11:52 PM

first game I've watched all season. sucks we lost. how is the team doing generally speaking?

4/10/2015 10:17:11 PM

^ The offense and pitching is better overall than last year, but they're both pretty inconsistent. Don't have a ton of depth pitching-wise and that's led to a lot of close losses this year.

4/10/2015 10:30:07 PM

how are our chances at making the CWS?

4/10/2015 11:11:35 PM

^


[Edited on April 10, 2015 at 11:37 PM. Reason : go pack]

4/10/2015 11:35:50 PM

shitty? I just remember the "fat drunk and stupid is no way to go through life" part of that scene

4/11/2015 1:36:43 AM

"0.0"

4/11/2015 9:05:37 AM

We just had a baserunner taken from us because the ump. accused our player of trying to get hit even though he was trying to tuck his elbow.

4/11/2015 8:54:30 PM

LOL

4/11/2015 9:08:55 PM

Terrible call leading off our half of the 10th, then our relief pitchers continued this season long theme of not being able to throw strikes.

4/11/2015 9:17:41 PM

third consecutive one-run loss to UNC

4/11/2015 9:35:42 PM

How many one run losses to UNC does Avent have???

4/12/2015 8:13:48 AM

^Seems like a lot.

I did see where, coming into this series, State was something like 18-20 vs UNC (so now 18-22) since 2003. Which is fairly impressive considering UNC's success over that time span.

Quote :

" @jwgiglio · Apr 9 The two teams have played 38 times since 2003, UNC has the edge 20-18 by a score of 199-195"

Quote :

"@jwgiglio Since 2003, UNC's 20-18 vs. State (52.6%) and 568-214 (70.1%) against everybody else"

For people that watch more State baseball than me - what do y'all think of Avent? His bunting strategy blows my mind. Friday night we had runners at 1st and 2nd with no outs and Knizer at bat. Knizer was batting either cleanup or 5th and this was the 3rd or 4th inning. And Avent asked Knizer to bunt. IIRC, he couldn't lay down a bunt. Seems crazy to me to ask your clean up man to bunt that early in a game. I know college baseball isn't as offensive as it used to be. But you still gotta trust your big bats to drive in runs. KInda seems like Avent over thinks those types of situations to me. Although, I must admit that I only see a handful of games each season - a rather small sample.

[Edited on April 12, 2015 at 1:22 PM. Reason : d]

4/12/2015 1:18:22 PM

I like Avent. He seems to really like being at State and is a pretty passionate representative of the program and the university in general, but we've been a really inconsistent program. A few big years where contended for an ACC title, were ranked and went on some runs in the NCAA's, but those are normally followed by some pretty down years. I was really hoping that after the 2013 CWS run we'd see a consistent uptick in recruiting, but that hasn't really happened.

In-game he really does seem to try and micro-manage too much, just like the example noted above where Knizer tried to bunt with 2 on and nobody out on Friday night. One thing I'd like to see us do more is be patient at the plate. In the 10 or so games I've watched this year we hardly ever try and work the counts - we're always up there looking to put the ball in play and its allowed for games like Friday night where the opposing pitcher can cruise through the game with a super low pitch count.

4/12/2015 1:40:04 PM

^Yeah that's kinda what I've noticed as far as in-game strategy and game management as well. You're right though, he's had some good success overall here. I wish it could be more sustained than it has been.

4/12/2015 2:24:43 PM

I think you're mixing up Knizner (who successfully laid down a solid bunt with runners on 1st & 2nd and no outs) with Deathrage (who failed to lay down a bunt on two separate occasions). I still don't think you take the bat out of Knizner's hands in that situation, but at lot of it depends on the game. One run in Friday's game would have been huge, in other games not so much.

Overall, I like Avent, but I do think he's stuck in his ways. He does do a lot of micromanaging and tries to play small ball, which sometimes has been successful (several big games in our CWS year) and others not so much. I sorta feel like he uses a standard flowchart for what to do in certain instances, regardless of the game situation, personnel, etc. It's almost like he doesn't realize or care that one year's club may be vastly different and/or have different strengths and weaknesses. EDIT: As an example of what I mean, there were a fair number of times when Turner was here that he would be on first and Avent would have someone bunt to sacrifice him over. Turner could tell the pitcher he was going to steal and be successful the vast majority of the time, so what's the point in wasting an out to move him over to second if he can (more than likely) take second on his own? It's a lot easier of a call if the guy on first is Senay or Ciencin or someone like that.

That said, baseball is possibly the easiest sport in which to second guess the coach, and I think he gets a lot of unfair criticism when he makes a logical move and it doesn't work out. We've stranded a lot of runners in scoring position in close games this year, which isn't really his fault, and yet some people still blame him. I do think he (or Foxhall) seem to have an awfully quick hook with starting pitchers sometimes but then not so much with relievers, like DeJuneas last night or O'Donnell last weekend being allowed to load the bases late in the game.

As far as recruiting, I think he's done pretty well. It's probably more debatable now that basketball has so many transfers, but I think recruiting in college baseball has to be the toughest, with the uncertainty of which recruits (and juniors/RS-sophomores) will get drafted and go pro combined with playing the financial aid game in terms of how much of a scholarship you offer to a given player. There's always guys who come out of nowhere and turn out to be great college players (Turner, Knizner, etc.), but he's also managed to pull some top HS talent and convince them not to go pro (Rodon, Austin, Dunand, etc.)

[Edited on April 12, 2015 at 3:54 PM. Reason : ]

4/12/2015 3:31:03 PM

^Yeah maybe it was Deatherage I was thinking of. But I guess my point still stands even if Knizer successfully laid the sac bunt. Why take the bat out of your #4 hitters hands at the point? But you're right - it's really easy to second guess calls like that in baseball. If nothing else, Avent is pretty consistent in when he likes to bunt. There's maybe something to be said for consistently sticking to your strategy.

And I didn't pose that question about Avent because I dislike him or necessarily want him canned. I was just genuinely curious about other opinions on him.

4/12/2015 4:52:23 PM

Yay, got one at least

4/12/2015 5:25:20 PM

^^ I think he's stubbornly consistent. That bunt with Knizner was relatively early in the game, IIRC. Go for a big inning there, not just a run or two. I've seen him call for a sac bunt late in games when we are down 2-3 runs, which just doesn't make much sense to me in most situations.

And I, for one, didn't think you were being critical, it's just that Avent seems to catch a lot of flak from State fans.

4/12/2015 5:39:35 PM

I listened to the game on 99.9 the fan and it was painful to listen to. The carolina announcers bitched about every ball and how the up must have not been calling his best game. When their pitching coach got tossed they immediately mention how avent stormed out to talk to the umps yesterday. Last i checked its ok to approach an ump its what you say that determine whether or not go get tossed.

4/12/2015 8:59:19 PM

^ Avent also wasn't arguing balls & strikes when he came out. He was upset over the bullshit call that Dunand leaned into the pitch that hit him leading off the 10th.

4/13/2015 2:19:19 PM

We pulled out the second game of the Notre Dame series 4-2 in 14 innings. The rubber match will be streamed for free on http://watchND.tv in ~45 minutes.

[Edited on April 18, 2015 at 6:26 PM. Reason : .]

4/18/2015 6:24:14 PM

Williamson gives up a homerun, couple singles and 4 walks in the 2nd inning. Pack trails 4-2 going to the 3rd.

4/18/2015 7:57:01 PM

lost 7-2 yesterday

Carlos getting called up tomorrow and will begin by working out of the pen
http://m.whitesox.mlb.com/news/article/119291270/left-hander-carlos-rodon-to-join-white-sox-bullpen-on-monday

4/19/2015 7:13:31 PM

Are we in danger of missing the ACC tournament?

4/19/2015 7:19:21 PM

divisions essentially don't matter for the ACCT. top 6 teams make the pool round, teams 7-10 have to win a single game play-in to reach pool play. think these standings should be accurate as of today. no idea about tiebreaks and it's too early to care anyway.

1. Louisville 19-2
2. Miami 15-6
3. FSU 14-7
4. Clemson 11-9
5. Notre Dame 11-10
6. UNC 10-10
T7. Boston College 9-11
T7. NC State 9-11
T9. Georgia Tech 9-12
T9. Virginia 9-12
T9. Wake Forest 9-12
12. Virginia Tech 8-12
13. Pittsburgh 6-15
14. Duke 5-15

edit: our remaining series are UVA, @Wake, LOU. good thing is we go head-to-head against teams that we're neck and neck with. bad thing is Louisville.

[Edited on April 19, 2015 at 7:53 PM. Reason : ]

4/19/2015 7:51:59 PM

going to try to make it to next Friday's game against Longwood.

4/23/2015 2:08:12 PM

Lost the series opener with Virginia 8-3. Gave up 5 unearned runs.

4/25/2015 10:19:03 AM

that was a depressing game to watch.

looks like it was missed somehow but we also lost at ECU 6-5 on Tuesday

4/25/2015 12:57:22 PM

DH Sunday starting at 11:30

4/25/2015 11:07:22 PM

Cory Mazzoni called up to Padres today

4/26/2015 1:50:23 PM

Bubby Riley with a walk-off home run in the 9th to take game 2 of the series 4-3. Hopefully this will give us some much needed momentum going into the rubber match.

[Edited on April 26, 2015 at 3:01 PM. Reason : .]

4/26/2015 2:59:16 PM

Dunand hits a walk off hr in the bottom of the 10th, state wins game 3, 5-3.

4/26/2015 7:19:22 PM

can't find updated standings yet but think this is right...
1. Louisville 19-2
T2. FSU 16-8
T2. Miami 16-8
4. UNC 13-10
5. Clemson 12-11
6. Notre Dame 12-12
7. NC State 11-12
T8. Georgia Tech 11-13
T8. Wake Forest 11-13
10. Virginia 10-14
T11. Virginia Tech 9-14
T11. Boston College 9-14
13. Duke 7-16
14. Pittsburgh 6-15

4/26/2015 7:31:55 PM

What a day at Doak! Go Pack! Wonder if that has ever happened before.

4/26/2015 7:33:49 PM