Wolfpack baseball returns with renewed hunger, appreciation

Over 345 days prior to its 2021 season opener, NC State baseball played its last game, an 8-7, come-from-behind win that featured a walk-off single from J.T. Jarrett in the ninth inning at Doak Field. 

Little did the team know that would be the end of the road for a talented group that was off to a promising 14-3 start to the season. A day later, dominos fell around the world as multiple sports ground to a screeching halt due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

An NC State baseball season that held so much potential came to an abrupt end. There would be no chance at an ACC title or getting past the regional round of the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2013. The college careers of catcher Patrick Bailey and pitcher Nick Swiney, both of whom would be early picks in last year’s MLB draft, were over. 

Now, in a different world in just about every way imaginable since the last time it played, the Wolfpack is getting set to start the 2021 season with a roster that, minus Bailey and Swiney, remains largely intact – and also very hungry to finish what it started last year.

With this weekend’s opening series against VMI canceled due to COVID issues with VMI’s program, and the Pack seeking a replacement program, it’s uknown quite when the Pack will begin this year, but when it does, the team will be ready to go. 

“Last year was my first year with the program,” said first baseman Austin Murr. “It was a great start and it was great to be part of this program, but I came here to play an ACC schedule and try and compete for a national championship. We got three games into an ACC schedule last year, and unfortunately weren’t able to compete for a national championship. We’re definitely all really excited for the opportunity this year.”

Murr will be a key piece in a batting lineup that returns most of its key contributors last year. That will include Tyler McDonough, Jose Torres, Luca Tresh, and Devonte Brown, all of whom were off to great starts last year.  There are also some promising youngsters, such as Noah Soles, who are ready to carve out larger roles. 

It will also include veterans such as Jonny Butler and J.T. Jarrett.  Jarrett, in particular, was off to the best start of his career at the plate last year. He said that while the end of the season was extremely disappointing, being separated from his teammates and the game he loves stung even more. 

“Coming back this fall just felt different,” Jarrett said. “We were all just so excited to be back and didn’t take any days for granted. We were so excited to be back that this season, I think, is going to be something special for everyone.”

One positive of the situation is the NCAA’s extra year of eligibility granted to all athletes, which allowed for a veteran pitcher like Kent Klyman to return to NC State for one more year. 

Klyman is part of a veteran pitching group that includes Evan Justice, Reid Johnston, David Harrison, Dalton Feeney, and others that is also eager to build on last season’s unfulfilled promise. 

“We had a really good team last year and we were really close,” Feeney said. “We got off to a good start, and it was very disappointing. … I think the main thing with me and Kent was we wanted to come back. We wanted to make another run for Omaha and talking with the guys, and I think it was just that much better of putting in the off time and the work in over quarantine and the off time of getting back, and now we had the fall and part of the spring. Now we’re just looking forward to the season and getting ready to go.”

Perhaps no player had more momentum when last season stopped than Devonte Brown. The junior outfielder compiled 22 hits, 19 RBIs, five home runs, and a slash line of .338/.429/.692 in 65 at bats in 2020. 

Count him among the group that feels ready to carry over what the team did last season. 

“I think so,” Brown said. “I felt like we were off to a great start, we all had the same idea of thinking we were going to go to Omaha. So the way this season ended, I think we’re going to try to just carry that on this year and hopefully have the same idea and carry that to Omaha and try to win a world series.”

However, while NC State head coach Elliott Avent understands his players’ disappointment in not getting to finish last season, he cautioned against a mentality of “unfinished business.”

Avent wants to see his team motivated by its individual and collective goals, such as that elusive trip to Omaha so many players mentioned on media day, rather than what could have been last season. 

“I’ve never been the coach that wants to use the words ‘unfinished business’ or ‘chip on your shoulder’ or all those kinds of stuff,” Avent said. “I don’t think you play for things like that. … When it gets down to it you play the game for the right reasons. You play it for your teammates. You play it for the fun of the game. You play it to see who you can be personally, and who your team can be as a unit. I think that’s what you have to focus on. We haven’t talked about unfinished business. I just know they know they haven’t played in about a year. They love this game. I think they are 18- to 22-year old guys that can’t wait to get back out there and play the game again.”

Avent knows that, himself included, not playing a game in a year will bring everyone involved with NC State baseball back with a greater appreciation for the game. 

“I’ve talked about that my whole career,” Avent said. “We all, me included, take this game for granted. All of us. We take life for granted. Any time you have something taken away from you, it makes you appreciate it a lot more.”

That appreciation for the game, and the simple opportunity to play, is one of the biggest lessons NC State’s players learned during their time away -- and it’s one they’ll carry with them into this new season as they look to achieve their goals of contending in the ACC and getting further in the postseason than any Wolfpack team in the past seven seasons. 

“I don’t want to ever take this game for granted again, which I kind of felt like I had once it stopped on a dime,” Jarrett said. “I’ve been playing this game my whole life, and then for the first time ever I wasn’t at the ballpark during the spring, and that was weird. I think a lot of the guys on this team are probably saying the same thing. I think I speak for everyone on that.”