Elliott Avent: "Any Day I Can Step onto Doak Field Is a Blessed Day"

No. 13 NC State head coach Elliott Avent met with the media Friday afternoon to discuss the Wolfpack's upcoming season.

NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Avent’s interview.

On getting back onto the diamond...

You know how much I love being out here. It's different. You look around. You don't see the batting cages. I don’t miss that [building] at all. It was made out of tin like a corn silo or something. I don't miss that thing at all. They built us a beautiful building in center field. It’s a little bit more of a trek to get there, but it's worked out well. It's just great to be out here. I can't believe how beautiful is on January 31, but any day that I can step on the field here at Doak Field is a blessed day for me.

On what he feels about the team...

I feel blessed. I feel more blessed when we win, but it's a young team, a lot of new guys. We lost a lot. When you lose Sam Highfill and Logan Whitaker — we lost some other pitchers too, but those two guys were stalwarts for four or five years; you lose them, and you lose 70 percent of your offense from Garrett Pennington to Brandon Butterworth to Alec Makarewicz. Eli Serrano was at practice today. He did a heck of a job at first base his freshman year, and sophomore year he went out to center field and was unbelievable. The Mets thought so, too, so that's why he's not here. You lose all those guys [plus] Jacob Cozart behind the plate. Catching, we all know, is so big in this game. We've always been fortunate to have a big time catcher this place from Luca Tresh to Patrick Bailey to Jacob Cozart last year. It's a whole different team, but we're young. I'm sure we'll take a lot of lumps, but we'll see how we blend as a team, what kind of leadership we have, and if we can stick together long enough to just try to make a push to make postseason.

On Alex Sosa’s growth...

Alex loves the game. He loves the game, and it's a big part of his life. He's not just a guy that plays because he's good. He actually loves the game. When you love the game, you pay attention. He learned from Cozart last year, and I think he was around Luca Tresh, maybe working out down in Florida one time. He's talked to Patrick Bailey when Patrick comes back, and he just absorbs everything. He keeps getting better. [Drew] Lanphere had a heck of a game today behind the plate, and we’ve got a freshman, Preston Bonn, and it looks like he's making strides. It's just big shoes to fill, but Alex and Lanphere work every day to try to fill those shoes.

On Josh Hogue’s return to baseball after his season-ending injury...

I'm really amazed that he's out there right now. Everybody saw or heard about that collision, and it's probably the most violent collision I've seen since I've been in college baseball. For him to be back to where he is right now is a big testament to him, first and foremost, but obviously Scott Ensell, Luke Buffum who does a lot of rehab with with Josh, and I think there’s a trainer in Palm Beach when he goes home for Christmas and in the offseason [Tanner Allen] who did a great job...  A lot of people contribute when you see a guy like Josh Hogue through what he's gone through to get back on the field, but it's good to see. Any player that has such a devastating injury, it's a lot. It's as much mental as this physical. Physically, he's back, but mentally, does he know he's back, and can he play like he did last year? We want to make sure he's running well. There were a couple times today, and he seems like he's unsure that he's really back. I hope he's going to get there because he's a tremendous player and will be a big part of any success we have this year.

On Cal and Stanford joining the ACC and the strength of the conference...

I don't care about that. I don't get into that with the league expanding. I mean, you can talk about that however you want to. It's much more difficult for them. They’ve got to come here a lot more than we’ve got to go there. I thought you just meant the league in general. This league is so ridiculous. You talk about us being young, and I talk about so many new players; right now, we're so banged up that it's hard to have a scrimmage. This league is so unbelievably tough. I know, with preseason rankings, you're kind of ranking the consistency of how our program has been. I feel like I can give you the top 10 in football right now without looking at anybody's roster for next year, but you're ranking the consistency of the program and who they are usually, not who they have. This league, I think the preseason rankings, I haven't seen any, but I heard there's like six, seven, or eight teams always in the top 15 or 20. I know how tough it's going to be, but that's why we’ve got to keep getting better. We’ve got a long ways to go.

On the team building chemistry with so many new players...

I think it's vital. Last year, we had 20 new players and 20 returning players, and I thought, “How are we going to build chemistry?” Leadership is handed down. We've had such great leadership be a part of this program from Andrew Ciencin handing it down to Tarran Senay to Senay handing down to Grant Clyde and down to Trea Turner, Brett Austin, and all those guys, and it just keeps getting handed down. When you get so many new players, it's hard to build that leadership that gets handed down, but last year, I’ve just got to give a lot of credit to a lot of people: Garrett Pennington, a one year player here from Wichita [State], Alec Makarewicz, Cozart, Brandon Butterworth. Leadership comes in all different forms. Sometimes, it's just the toughness they play with — and people respect that and respond to that — and the consistency of how they practice every day, how they handle losses, handle at-bats, and handle tough outings [like] Sam Highfill. You can lead in so many different ways, so we're going to need that leadership because it's going to be a season that’s going to be challenging. We’ve got a way to go, and I think the leadership in that locker room at back of the apartment complex is going to go a long way to how we do.

On Chris Hart’s impact on bringing in players who have been leaders...

Chris Hart, Clint Chrysler, Bo Robinson, J.T. [Jarrett], they bring in the talent. We have talent here, and I think we recruit as well and hard as anybody in the country and do a great job of that, but you never know the character you're going to get. We brought in Garrett Pennington and Makarewicz last year. You don't expect that kind of leadership. We knew what we were going to get out of Cozart. He'd been here. He had seen what you’ve got to do. Sosa saw that last year, and you hope he brings some of that leadership, but you expect that. But when you get a one-year player like Butterworth, Alec Makarewicz, and Garrett Pennington, we didn't know about the leadership we were going to get from them. They were unbelievable.

On the leaders he’s seen in the locker room in the preseason...

I don't think you see leadership until things go bad. Anybody can lead when your horse is leading out front. Anybody can do that. Anybody can be a winner. It's easy to be a winner. What's tough is when things go bad, and [then you] see what happens. I haven't looked for that or seen that yet. What I have seen is something you mentioned while ago: the guys seem to be getting along. Matt Willadsen has been here for a while, and so has Carson Kelly, and I see those guys hanging around with freshmen or hanging out with sophomores. You’re going to get some cliques in college because it's who you bond with and who you want to go to the movies with or play video games with, but I've seen a lot of things in the dugout that make me think this team has a chance to get along. Anybody can get along, like I said, when you're winning. Can you get along and can we be tough when things get bad?

On what the entire bullpen can provide...

I hope it's going to be good. We're going to need pitching. Right now, like I said, we lost 70 percent of our offense. Makarewicz had a year I haven't seen in a long time. Garrett Pennington was unbelievable. Jacob Cozart [played well], and Butterworth played as good a defensive shortstop as I've seen here, and we've had a lot of great shortstops. There are a lot of things, but the pitching is going to have to be there. I hope we can figure out the pieces. We don't know who’s starting yet. You usually don't end up the same starting rotation you begin to season with, so we'll try to figure that out. Hopefully, we'll have some figured out by conference time which comes on you really, really quick.

On Dominic Fritton bouncing back from last season...

I'm just so proud of Dom. Dom had a chance to go out professionally last year and chose to come back to college, and whatever happens happens. You can only be proud of what you see right now. He's worked so hard. He's developed another pitch. He's gotten all of his pitches better. He got hit a little bit today, but his body language and his professionalism on the mound showed not only me, but it showed every player in that dugout how you're supposed to act when you're playing at a program like this. His body's better. He's worked so hard in the weight room, and nutrition and just everything he's done has been better. Like I said, it's a tough League, but he's a better pitcher today, much better than he was last year.

On the level of competition in the state of North Carolina...

You don’t have to go too far to get beat around here. I'll tell you that. It's unbelievable. I don't care. Carolina, East Carolina, Wilmington, Campbell, Greensboro, High Point... You don't have to go far. Everybody's good in this state. You talk about the ACC all the time because it is one of the top leagues, if not the top league, in the country. I don't get into best and all this kind of stuff. I don't like to play those arguments, but we know it's one of the top leagues in the country, but what goes unsaid is what you're talking about. Our non-conference schedule is so tough, and you just don't get a break. You just don't get a break, and if you're not good in this league, of all the ACC sports, I'll argue baseball might be the toughest to win in any sport. The ACC is just unforgiving, and you’ve got to be good. I hope we can get there.

On playing in the Jax College Baseball Classic...

You want to play good people. That's how you get better, but you take your bumps. If you're not ready for it, you can lose confidence as a team, and it can make things tough. Not only do we always want to play a tough schedule, the ACC wants to play a tough schedule to keep our RPI so we get teams in the postseason. That's what it's all about, and they've encouraged us. There's a tournament thing called Peak [Events], and they're playing tournaments all over the country, and they've encouraged us to go there. I think we might be going there next year to play in a tournament in Texas that has all good teams. We're going to Puerto Rico next year to play all good teams. This year, we're going to jacksville, I think it's Ohio State, Alabama, and Coastal Carolina. You might come back 0-3, and RPI only helps if you win a little bit. It might help the league RPI, but you’ve got to win a little bit, but we've always tried to do that. I just hope we can get this group ready for that test. It's just like you said; it's going to be a challenge with all these new guys.

On Lanphere flying under the radar...

He flies under the radar because he's not flashy. He doesn’t talk a lot. I told all the catchers after the scrimmage today: they caught really well. Our pitching coach said something about how well they caught today because, if we're going to have a good pitching staff, having good catchers is going to help that pitching staff grow. I thought all three of them did a great job today. I thought Lamphere was really, really good, personally. I thought he was really good back there. He's steady, and he's going through injuries and sickness. He was out maybe two, three weeks this preseason. He had a concussion for a couple of weeks, and it seems like concussions go longer in baseball than they do in football. It seems like, in football, they go right back out there, and baseball, it seems like we're out a little bit. He missed time with that, and then he came down with sickness, but I always am amazed at how he goes about his business. He's that guy that goes about his business day to day to day. You may not notice because he's not too flashy, and he doesn't talk, but then you look up, just like you said: “That's a good baseball player right there.”