NC State got off the schneid in a big way against FSU this past weekend, how did they do it and is it sustainable?

Gino Groover

Let’s start with the reason State won this series… their best player refused to let them lose. On Saturday he got the Pack going with a solo homer and hit the game winning home run in the bottom of the eighth.

Sunday? He was in the middle of State’s rally in the 10th with a double that was hammered, if he elevated it at all, it would have won the game, and later scored the winning run.

Just a massive series from Groover who is one of the best pure hitters in college baseball. How many guys in the country would you take over him with the game on the line? He got off to a slow start due to bad luck but suddenly he leads State in batting average and is hitting .345/.458/.549 with a 26/14 BB/K ratio. Stud.

On the Mound

Look, nobody is going to confuse the Pack’s stable of arms with Wake Forest. But it’s a good group that is battle-tested, experienced in the big spots and is better than their numbers.

The formula for postseason success is there. Three defined starters: Logan Whitaker, Matt Willadsen and Dominic Fritton. Two good relievers in Justin Lawson and Sam Highfill. They’ve got a situational guy in John Miralia. A couple of high upside guys whose numbers aren’t great in Rio Britton and Carson Kelly. And the guy I believe is the X-factor in Baker Nelson who is currently the midweek starter.

The starters give you a chance by going 6-7 innings and keep you in the game. Lawson and Highfill have both gone multiple innings and closed games. This week, Lawson was the bridge to Highfill who closed, and it worked well Saturday and Sunday.

In the postseason, you only need to go past the first 5 guys in the ACC Tournament and if you end up in the losers bracket of a regional. It’s not exactly the same group as 2021, but it’s a similar formula.

The Depth at the Plate

The depth in college baseball is astounding with the shortened draft and covid year. Certainly State is a huge beneficiary of it this year. The lineup goes 12-13 deep. Carter Trice is an All-American coming off the bench, Dom Pilolli has less than 20 at bats after hitting in the middle of the order last year. Noah Soles and Cannon Peebles have been out.

Doesn’t matter. State’s lineup goes 9 deep regardless. Of course, that’s the case with other college baseball elites, so it’s not like it’s some huge advantage for the Pack.

The Concern

It’s not that the defense is bad, it’s that even the slightest of miscues seem to end up costing the Pack multiple runs. Carter Trice drops a pop up against ECU that ends up costing 4 runs. Will Marcy misplays a routing fly ball against FSU, three runs scored in the inning. Parker Nolan gets a bad jump on a fly ball and Davidson’s 9 hole hitter hits a bomb.

Yes, the Pack needs to play better defense, but it’s going to be a breath of fresh air when each and every mistake winds up in runs for the other team.

State flipped Payton Green and Kalae Harrison in the middle infield which is a significant move at this point in the season. So far, results have been mixed.

Ultimately, the roster is full of good individual defensive players; however, the defensive results have not been the sum of the parts. That needs to change moving forward.

Moving Forward

State dug themselves a hole, but they limited the damage by avoiding sweeps. Now? They finish a sweep and they quickly get back to 8-9.

Clemson is up next before a non-conference series during exam week. State is better than the Tigers and this is another series where they’d really like to be pushing for a sweep Sunday afternoon.

You know Clemson has talent, and if the season ended right now, they’d be in the conversation for a regional spot, but the road is too treacherous for them moving forward to think they can hang around the bubble.

If State wins this series, they’re right back to .500 in the league with three ACC weekends left to go.