NC State head coach Elliott Avent spoke to the media about the 7-3 win against Notre Dame.
NOTE: Click the video above to watch the full press conference!
What did you like seeing today that you didn't see the last two weeks?
I don't know. This league is just so tough. Aaron Fitt covers it better than anybody, probably in the country, and so he can give you more information than I can. But this league—and I know everybody thinks their league's tough, and they are—I mean, everybody we play, I just think baseball throughout the country is incredibly competitive right now.
Every program puts money into its sport. There are so many baseball players in the country, and it's just... I look at our league in baseball, and I've been in this league for 30 years. I've never seen it top to bottom like it is right now.
Aaron can probably give you more info if that's accurate because I watch a lot of games on TV, but he sees a lot of games in person. But that's a Notre Dame team that swept Clemson. It's a Notre Dame team that battled North Carolina last weekend, tooth and nail. We got that five-run lead. We haven't been swinging it that well.
We've been competitive, like I said, the first two weekends. If you take Florida State and you take Georgia Tech, the pitching those teams have... in four of the six games, what we did offensively to battle to get Friday night started, we beat him, and then to get the other guy out and beat him—I think it was Saturday on 100 pitches and four innings.
I mean, we put ourselves in great situations, but we didn't have much to show for it because it's about winning. But this league is just tough to get a win in. And Ryan Marohn—this guy's got brass like you can't believe. First of all, he's on one day's short rest.
We thought about pitching tomorrow; I actually tried to talk him into pitching tomorrow. And he's just a bulldog. He said, "Coach, I want to go." He reminds me of Mike Caldwell, who was in our locker room earlier tonight, the great lefty from NC State and Milwaukee fame.
And he tweaked his hamstring in the weight room on Monday or Tuesday. And I just said, "Ryan, we're going to push you back to Friday." He wasn't having it. And he goes out there and delivers a gem against a great team. From the second inning on, we got nothing, right?
So he knew he had to keep us there, and that's the mindset he has. He's just such a competitor. And then that was big, getting those knocks in the bottom of the eighth. Great at-bat by Rett Johnson to get to McHugh, and McHugh delivered on the base hit to right field, and that was huge.
Just so proud of the guys who played very hard tonight. It's tough when you lose. It eats at you. I don't care who you are, this game will eat at every fiber in your soul. It eats at me a little bit. I went out to lunch with three members of the Board of Trustees today.
They were in town, getting Justin Gainey back in, which—what a great hire that was. That's incredible for our program and what NC State stands for. I was so happy with that. So I went to lunch with three members of the Board of Trustees, and I said, "Yeah, it wears on you. It's tough." And so, I'm just so proud of the guys, the way they came out and played tonight against a great Notre Dame team.
When you're in a losing streak, on one hand, obviously, you're in a rut. But on the other hand, you mentioned there were some games you were right there. You had a chance to win the series down in Atlanta and Tallahassee. How do you find that balance of saying, "Okay, we’ve got to get out of this," but at the same time, "These little things can do it. We're not that far away. Are we really close"?
But as I said, it wears on you, for one. And we're facing great teams not only on the weekend. What's hurting us a little bit right now is that the midweek games are so tough. When you play in the state of North Carolina, we've got UNC Wilmington on Tuesday. We just played Campbell and East Carolina. I'm sure they're coming to town soon, and we play them twice. Your midweek games wear you out. You're trying to win them, too.
You burn some pitching trying to win a midweek game, as we did with Liberty Tuesday night. And then you're short in an ACC series, especially when you go Thursday, Friday, Saturday. It's almost like you can't play a midweek game when you go Thursday, Friday, Saturday. I may recommend that from here on out.
Have you tried anything in particular lately to jumpstart the offense? I mean, I know baseball, right? There's got to be ups and downs. You're going to go through cold stretches. But are there any levers that you've tried to pull to try to get something going here?
Just get the guys to relax and not press. I mean, Kyle Wilson was here today. He's a great player for us, drafted by the Giants, and now he's the minor league hitting instructor for the Tampa Bay Rays. So he was here all afternoon today and talked to them a little bit. He goes around to—he's going to Charleston, I think, Tuesday, and he goes to the Durham Bulls. He's all over where Tampa Bay is.
Everybody presses when you're not hitting. It's just the facts of life: you're going to press, and it's tough. So, yeah, as a manager, as a coach, you try to—and Chris Hart runs the offense, but he tries to mix it up a little bit. Had a hit-and-run one time tonight. Laid some bunts down, tried to steal a couple times.
Fraasman got a great jump on the one when he got to second, and then he got the base hit, so he kept going to third. But you try to mix things up to take some of that pressure, take some of that wearing off of the players.
You try to make it easier for them. So that's what every manager tries to do. But I'm just so proud of how they came out tonight. The turns at first base were a big difference for me; I noticed the turns at first base. They just played with a little different energy, and that's tough to do sometimes because, as I say, the game can wear on you a little bit.
And these guys start playing—this isn't professional baseball, so they're not just playing baseball. That's not the only thing wearing on them. You know what's going on in their personal lives. We all have relationships and things that we're dealing with, and money and all this kind of stuff. We all deal with the same issues in life.
But they're going to school, and it's like 25 days of school left. And then exams come, and some of these guys are trying to finish well down the stretch on that. So they've got a lot on them, and I'm just so proud of how they came out tonight.
Are you surprised—you mentioned the ACC—are you surprised that the BC series win is gaining equity? Because, I mean, it's looking like that's a really, really good team right now.
Avent: Those guys are playing lights out there. I don't know who they've got this weekend, but—Carolina. Just like I said, they're playing lights out. They're a good ball club. And Carolina is good. I watched their 15 or 14-inning game with Campbell tonight. When I got home after the Liberty game, I was so frustrated. I turned it on to watch our game—I always watch our game over—and their game was on, so I just thought I'd finish it in a couple of innings.
So I think I went to bed at 3:30 because it took them so long that I had to watch our game. But BC's outstanding, but everybody in this league is. This is not a league where you get a pass. And I think every sport pretty much—I don't know every sport here in the ACC, but you all do—, but for the most part, I think every sport here will give you some passes on the weekend if you just don't play too bad, right? And you don't get that in baseball in the ACC.
I'm fine; I won. You can talk all night. When I lose, you can shove off anytime you want to. When I win, you can ask me about my personal life, my first wife, whatever you want to ask me.
