NC State head coach Elliott Avent met with Inside Pack Sports following the Wolfpack's 4-0 road loss at Virginia Tech Friday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Avent’s interview.
Hard to bury the lede on this one. [Brett] Renfrow [had] eight innings of strong work.
He was really good. Renfrow was outstanding. First inning, Rett [Johnson] does Rett-like things, gets a base hit into left field. Luke [Nixon] had a good at-bat and hit a rocket to left-center. But after that, he got a couple of runs early, and he just dialed in. Renfrow was unbelievable. He was what you're supposed to be on on Friday night in this league.
He was able to get you guys and go deep without a heavy pitch count. Do you think maybe he was inducing swings. How was that going?
He was pounding the zone with a lot of pitches, and we were at three balls a little bit too much. We had an 0-2 walk there with two outs and nobody on. He just did some things. When you're going to face a guy doing that, you're not allowed to make many mistakes, and the mistakes we made bit us. But we battled. Heath [Andrews] battled — he's always does — and kept them at bay. Four runs is doable. We just couldn't get anything going against Renfrow.
Obviously, you’ve got injuries, and you're sorting that, but at the same time, the three pitchers that went out there gave you a chance.
Heath always gives us a chance. He competes. He's been tremendous for us for three years as a starter, and he gives us a chance every time out. He gave us that tonight. Unfortunately, the runs that he gave up [were the difference], but he gave us a chance. And then Sam Harris was really, really good, and we just couldn't mount anything against Renfrow. He was that good tonight.
So they're embracing stepping up and giving more maybe than...
They're doing what they can do which is all you can do. You can't do more than you can do, but they're doing what they can do. They know everybody's needed right now, and everybody's giving us everything they’ve got. Like I said, Renfrow is the whole story of the game today.
Kind of piggyback talking about Sam, he seems to have had a really strong freshman campaign. What's the strides have you seen from him?
Sam's been unbelievable. He grew up loving NC State, grew up right down the road, and he gives us everything he's got, and he's been tremendous as a freshman. He's done way more than I expected him. I’m just so proud of him. The whole team is.
You’ve got to kind of shake this one, try to get that series win, starting tomorrow. What's the mindset?
[Cooper Consiglio’s] going. Coop’s another guy that’s been there, just like Heath, just like [Ryan] Marohn, just like [Jacob] Dudan — the four horsemen, I call them — and Coop will go out and give us everything he's got tomorrow. It’s a big game tomorrow; we’ve got to come out and play a little better.
