DUGOUT REPORT: Pack Lacerates Longwood

NC State head coach Elliott Avent, junior left-handed pitcher David Harrison, junior left fielder Terrell Tatum, and junior third baseman Devonte Brown met with the media following the Wolfpack’s 6-1 win over Longwood Tuesday afternoon.

NOTE: Click on each respective thumbnail to watch each interview.

Elliott Avent

“It’s always good to win. Winning’s good, and losing’s bad. It’s always good to win. It’s another game where I thought we played good defense. I thought we ran the bases fairly well though I thought we probably could have been more aggressive on the bases. Offensively, I didn’t think we were very good today, but we were defensively good. We pitched four pitchers and didn’t walk anybody. If you can throw four pitchers in a college baseball game with no walks, that’s pretty good.”

“Yeah, [Harrison] went six. If your starter gives you six innings, that’s pretty good. He threw strikes and pounded the zone. He didn’t have his good changeup early, but he had it later on. I thought Pat Bailey did a great job calling the game.”

“[Matt Willadsen]’s good. He’s a good player. He’s a good baseball player. He’s a good athlete. I thought he was very, very good for that one inning today, and he’s going to continue to get better.”

“Just confidence. Devonte’s a great player. He’s another great athlete. He’s just got to play the game. When the pros used to sign them, they’d say, ‘We’ll get them 2,000 at-bats in the minor leagues.’ It takes that to get ready to play. Your tools are there, your abilities are there, but it takes that many at-bats to understand this game and relax to being good. Playing this summer was very, very important for Devonte. It just built his confidence up, and right now, he’s been very valuable to us.”

“It’s alway been there. It’s just a matter of Devonte understanding who he was.”

“You constantly make adjustments to this game. This is a game of constant adjustments.”

“We don’t talk about cleanup spot. We talk about three, four, five, and six. People do their lineups differently, but that’s where guys need to drive in runs, and we think he can drive in runs.”

“We’re four games in, he missed the entire fall, he’s a great hitter, and he gets pitched differently. It’s Patrick Bailey. People know that. Headline of the scouting report: ‘Don’t let him beat you.’ The guy made some tough pitches on him today. There were borderline pitches that were called strikes. Patrick Bailey is one of the best hitters in college baseball. He’s going to be fine.”

“The big thing so far is having Devonte, Austin Murr, and Jonny Butler. We know what Patrick Bailey can do. We know what Tyler McDonough can do. Those three guys hitting right now is a big plus for us, but we’re going to have to get some help from the bottom of the order, too.”

“[Lawson McArthur]’s a good player. He had two strikes both times, so he’s a smart hitter. He’s been here for four years. He knows who he is and what he can do. He did a good job twice going the other way, and I think he got on another time. Lawson had a good day, but Lawson’s a good player. Like I said, we’ve just got to find some people at the bottom of the order who can get on base and set the table."

David Harrison

“I was just locating all my pitches, knowing their weak spots, knowing my strong spots, and having a good team to back me up when I didn’t have any pitch location.”

“It feels good to know that my offense can do it and that my whole defense doesn’t have to rely on going back and forth with the other team. Getting early runs is good. It settles me down.”

“It was huge. I was getting off-track a little bit with what I was doing, and [Bailey] just came up behind me and made big plays. It’s Pat. Pat makes those plays, so it’s not a shock.”

“It’s amazing how smart he is at knowing our weakness and strengths as pitchers and being able to get the best out of us every time we’re on the mound."

Terrell Tatum

“I would say that my speed is probably one of the most beneficial sides to my game because I think I can use it against anybody in the country. I like to steal bases, and if you have a time that I think I can take the base on you, I’m willing to take that risk.”

“I think it’s a secondary part to stealing the bases. If you want me to be honest, that guy actually got into my head. I couldn’t figure him out when I was trying to steal. I was actually trying to steal that base. He ended up picking me off when I wasn’t going, and I was able to get back to the base a lot faster than I was before. I kept the first baseman from being able to reach around and grab that ball which allowed me to get to third.”

“I didn’t even notice that he struck out actually, so it didn’t really bother me. I knew whoever it was was going to give me another shot to steal another base."

Devonte Brown

“I was just looking for a fastball. We knew he didn’t have very good command for most of his pitches. I was just mainly looking for a fastball. I knew he was struggling to throw his secondary pitches in the zone.”

“I think it was during summer ball. Summer ball was a big confidence booster. I got a lot of at-bats. The main thing I worked on was rhythm and timing. That was the biggest thing for me as well as being consistent. Those were the biggest three things for me.”

“I’m just looking for pitches to hit hard. I’m pretty relaxed in that spot. I don’t mind where I am. It’s just that I’m trying to be relaxed and hit the ball hard just like everybody else."