IPS IN 5: Pack Season Ends In Auburn Regional

I withhold judgement on a Head Coach until after the season is complete for all of our sports.
I appreciate Elliot Avent for all he has done with NC State Baseball given the lack of modern facilities and shoe string budget. I celebrate the 3 College World Series appearances and honestly think we would have won the National title in 2021.

I honestly think the time has come for leadership change. Ellliot should retire and allow for a fresh start. NC State Baseball is much better than Elliot found it almost 30 years ago, but its also time for change.

Disappointing ending because you feel State had the pieces to at least win a regional but despite that I think this season was actually a step forward for the program.

You look at the last two Omaha trips in 2013 and 2021 and State didn't make the tournament the following years in 2014 and 2022 after losing the key pieces of those Omaha teams. This year State still lost the key guys again from Omaha last year. 2/3 of the lineup and weekend starters were replaced and State still finished one game away from winning the regular season and made the regional final and now you bring a heavy majority of that young core back.

This year might be Elliot's best. We really didn't have the veteran bats like past years but he managed to compete, finished in the top 4 in the ACC and in fact nearly won the regular season.

StateFan2001 said:

---

We did bring back a very proven and what should have been deep pitching staff.

---

We did. Unfortunately Smith had his injury and provided very little this season. Consiglio didn't take a step forward like most thought he would. Dudan off to a slow start before settling in. Willadsen not able to come back and be a consistent piece in the rotation. And no Paisel (sp?) who we thought would fight for a weekend starting role.

Ty Head was 3-15 in the region and one of the fastest guys on the team. I didn't hate the bunt, and I think he's got a good chance of reaching. Outside of that play the bats were just not there against a guy who hadn't started in a month and didn't come in with a good ERA. Also, having to turn to Coop in a tie ball game, bases loaded, no outs, given his struggles this season, felt like the end even before they put up 7 runs that inning.

poexcuse said:

---

This season is like what we have been. No trophy . No surprises. Nothing special. Ho Hum. Not bad,

---

Making it Omaha 2 of the last 5 years. Nothing special. Just Ho Hum

pluralitus said:

---

Ty Head was 3-15 in the region and one of the fastest guys on the team. I didn't hate the bunt, and I think he's got a good chance of reaching.

---

I'll preface this by saying that if I were a coach, I probably would never sacrifice bunt because I hate giving away outs. I probably would've told him to take until he got to two strikes and try to walk his way on.

With that said, there are several reasons why I don't find that instance to be as egregious as some.

First is personnel related. As you stated, Head had been struggling this weekend. He's also one of two guys on the team that has the speed to make the defense have to work to get him out on a bunt, as we saw with Nixon in the prior game. Head looked like he was trying to directionally bunt to me, so he may have been thinking in the same vein. If we had Sosa or Novy up there trying to bunt in that situation, yeah, I wouldn't get it.

Second is that moving the guy to third means he can score in a bunch of ways. Passed ball, balk, sac fly, pretty much any hit at all.

Third is that I think there would've been psychological value in scoring first, even if only one run. We were never going to be winning a low scoring game given where we were with pitching, but I think scoring first would've pumped the guys up, and maybe given you a little bit more from Dom in the process.

Ultimately, it didn't matter in the outcome, and Auburn did the exact same thing the next inning, so I don't think it's one of those things that should be dwelled on.