WATCH: NC State, Georgia Prepped for Athens Super Regional

Members from No. 11 NC State and No. 10 Georgia met with the media ahead of the Wolfpack's clash with the Bulldogs in the 2024 NCAA Athens Super Regional.

Elliott Avent, Alec Makarewicz, and Eli Serrano, III spoke on behalf of the Pack. For the Dawgs, Wes Johnson, Charlie Condon, and Corey Collins addressed the press.

NOTE: Click on each respective thumbnail to watch each interview in the player above.

Elliott Avent

On how the team is feeling…

The team is loose. They’re playing good, they’re playing confident. They’ve been playing this way for the last, I don’t know how many weeks but I’ll guess 10. We’ve been kind of the same for the last 10 weeks.

On Georgia’s hitting depth…

Nobody’s a one-man team. When you talk about the 1927 Yankees, you talk about Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, you don’t think they didn’t have other people up and down that lineup? There’s never a one or two man wrecking crew. Georgia has a great ball club, up and down the lineup. We’re going to have to play well this weekend.

On making the Super Regional again following the 2021 postseason…

You don’t get revenge in this world from me. I don’t play with revenge or retribution. I never tell our guys to play with a chip on their shoulder. That’s not my style. You can practice with a chip on your shoulder and you can have memories in your past to make you work harder, prepare harder and hopefully lead you to a good place. Every club I’ve been privileged to be a part of, when they get to this part of the season, the reward is seeing how these kids are and what it means to them. I’m happy for this group of kids.

Alec Makarewicz

On the SEC and ACC representation in the Super Regionals…

Hearing that makes me think of just how deep those two conferences are, especially in pitching. Obviously, there’s a bunch of power hitters this year, lots of home runs.

On hitting at Foley Field…

I’ve never been here but it was fun today. Seemed like the wind was blowing out. I’m not trying to do much and trust my swing, which will pay off this weekend, I think.

On the team’s mindset playing on the road…

We don’t really overthink it. Every day is different, so we’re just trying to continue doing the things that we do right.

Eli Serrano, III

On his excitement level for the Super Regional…

I’m really excited. I think we all are. We just got done practicing here and we feel good, we’re excited to hopefully keep this great season going and get to Omaha.

On switching to the leadoff spot midway through the season…

I don’t know if it per se helped, but it kind of just gets your mind off things. You’re just going up there looking for the first pitch to see what it’s going to be. They’re going to try to beat you with a fastball on the first pitch of the game, it kind of makes it easier and you go form there. I’m not really a guy that strikes out much, so that kind of helps it a little bit. But coach has trusted me with that lead off spot and I’ve rolled with it since then.

On how Foley Field played during practice…

The ball flies, that’s for sure. If you get the ball in the air, it kind of just goes. It’s fun, though. It’s kind of like a home run derby. It will be fun.

Wes Johnson

On Charlie Condon’s similarities to Paul Skenes…

Obviously, they’re both great players. I’ve been around great players when I was with the Twins or with guys I’ve been around in college, it’s more mental. The physical stuff, some of it they’re just blessed with but they then continue to develop their talent, but it’s the mental aspect where the two guys are similar. The great players I’ve been around have a different mind, want to challenge themselves daily. When they do that, when they don’t get the result they always want, they understand that they’re going to get better because of the challenge and how hard it was.

On the team’s attitude heading into the Super Regional…

We were fortunate enough to wrap our regional up and not have to play on Monday. We’ve had a good week. We’ve had some really good practices. We haven’t made them too long, they’ve been short, crisp and fast. I’ve tried to put a lot tempo to them - get them in, get them out. We’ve had a good week. You hope and want to carry that over into this weekend.

On the team’s matchup against NC State…

I think we’re pretty evenly matched. They’ve got some really good bats, they’ve been playing exceptionally well probably their last four or five weeks now. Their pitchers are similar to ours, their offense, their defense. You look at this one, we’re pretty evenly matched, in my opinion.

Charlie Condon

On the team’s vision of postseason success…

From the start, this was the vision. This is what we’ve been working towards. This is what we’ve been working hard for in the offseason and even into this spring. It really has gotten everyone to buy into what this program is and what it's going to look like moving forward. I think we believed it for a really long time and that’s why we’re here. The persistence of this group and the non-willingness to quit and continue getting better everyday, this has been the vision for a while now.

On being named a finalist for the Golden Spikes Award…

It means a lot to me, obviously. What I’ve always said is it’s an individual recognition, it’s an individual award, but it represents a lot more than that just because you can’t win an award like that without a good group of people around you and a lot of people doing their job in this program. It might be more of a solo recognition, but I like to think of it as an accolade for this group and what we’ve done with uplifting each other. It is a massive recognition, one of the biggest in college baseball and I’m honored to be up for it but I think it speaks more to the group than it does for myself.

On what making a College World Series would mean…

It would mean way more. To be able to cherish that with this group is so much more fun than any personal recognition. To get to spend this time and create these memories with this group and really bond with one another, it really doesn’t get any better than that. That’s why I play the game and why we all play the game. So, we’re going to keep pushing for that.

Corey Collins

On what is means for the veterans on the team to host a Super Regional…

It means the world. We fell in love with this place when we first stepped onto it and we’ve wanted to bring it back here for as long as I’ve been here. For us, it means everything and means the world. Seeing Charlie grow and come up, I couldn’t have drawn up anythign better, honestly. I know I’ve said that a couple times in the last few days, but it’s been a blessing and it’s awesome to bring it back here. I love it here.

On what it would mean to make the program’s first trip to Omaha since 2008…

It would mean the world because that’s the end goal. Coming up on the end of what we just said after practice, this could be one of our last practices together. I haven’t really thought about that yet, I’m trying to enjoy every moment with these guys and spend as much time with them, but that is the ultimate goal to get there, and that’s how you know you made it. The fight and grind with these guys for I don’t even know how many days, it sums it all up and that’s what we’ve been fighting for now that we can see it. Not to get too far ahead, but it’s just that little extra motivation that, ‘Hey, we really can do this, no matter what people think.’

On the turnaround from celebrating last week to locking in for Super Regionals…

We went right back to practice. Coach told us after the game to enjoy it because these moments mean everything and they last forever. He told us that and we took that off day. Guys got away from the field and just really enjoyed it. We got back here on Tuesday and we practiced and the first thing we said was ‘Back to it. A new week, a new opportunity and we’re going back to business.’ And that’s just how it’s been. We enjoyed it and we talk about the memories and some of the things we’ve been able to do, but in the long run, there are so many more we can make that are bigger than that moment.