6/19/2021 baseball Edit

A look back at past College World Series for Wolfpack baseball

Tim Peeler

The Wolfpacker contributor

There was something both unexpected and favored about NC State’s first two trips to the College World Series.

Just like this one in 2021.

Maybe that’s what makes being an NC State so much fun and so frustrating at the same time, the thrill of the comeback by an underdog team or the joy of watching the Wolfpack exceed expectations.

And this year’s version of Elliott Avent’s team had the most amazing season-long comeback in the history of the program, from losing eight of the first nine ACC games early in the year to losing to top-ranked Arkansas 21-2 in the opening round of the NCAA Fayetteville Super Regional.

Yet Avent and his team overcame obstacle after obstacle on their road to Omaha, Nebraska, for the program’s third visit to college baseball’s biggest event. And it has been a satisfyingly sad journey for the head coach, who lost his biggest fan just before the start of his 25th season when his father, Jack Avent, died at the age of 93.

Dad was certainly smiling down on his son’s team when they came back with two one-run victories over the Razorbacks to earn one of the eight spots in the final field.

There are great expectations for the Wolfpack faces Stanford Saturday afternoon in its opening game of this year’s event at T.D. Ameritrade Stadium, especially from those who went before them.

“It is such a good, scrappy team,” said veteran major league pitcher Mike Caldwell, the freshman ace of the 1968 team. “They have five or six quality pitchers who throw a lot of strikes. After what they did to Arkansas, the No. 1 team in the country, they just might have a chance.”

Caldwell’s team finished tied for third in the nation in the old format of the CWS in 1968. More than a dozen of them went to Omaha to watch the 2013 team compete. The current squad reminds him of his team long ago.

“We just didn’t realize that we weren’t supposed to win,” Caldwell said. “I have a feeling these guys are a lot like that. They had a poor beginning, they battled back to the top of the [Atlantic Coast Conference] and won at Arkansas. It’s been a great year for them.

“And with a few good bounces here and there…”

NC State Wolfpack baseball — NC State will be looking to celebrate in Omaha in 2021. (NC State)

Remembering the River Rats

Nothing was more unexpected than second-year head coach Sam Esposito taking his team to Omaha, back in the old format of the championship that required winning a six-team district event before advancing.

Following an 11-11 debut, Esposito had low expectations for his 25-player second team, especially when infielders Chris Cammack and Darrell Moody began the season with injuries and pitcher Alex Cheek pitched the second half of the season with a broken toe.

Those were among the reasons Esposito called his team the “River Rats,” because they were so hard to get rid over.

“Two things stand out about them,” Esposito once said. “They loved baseball, and they played real hard, just busted it every day.”

The Wolfpack won a surprise ACC championship by beating Wake Forest in a one-game playoff, thanks to a magnificent 1-hit, 77-pitch performance by Tarboro freshman Caldwell, who gave up a single on the game’s first pitch and watched as catcher Francis Combs erased the runner trying to steal second base on the second.

That 4-0 win earned the team a trip to the District III championships in Gastonia, along with Southeastern Conference champion Alabama, Southern Conference champion East Carolina and heavily favored at-large entry Florida State.

“Winning in Gastonia was almost a bigger deal than going to Omaha, because of beating Florida State,” said Tommy Smith of Albemarle at a 50th anniversary reunion of the team. “But it also allowed a lot of us to go on an airplane for the first time in our lives. It was just a real thrill to go out there and play.

“You hear so much about it now, but they didn’t talk about it as much back then. Sam never told us how good or bad we were. He never told us we weren’t supposed to win. He just said go play and see what happens.”

What happened in Omaha was both inspiring and heartbreaking, for a team that had only three starting pitchers: senior Cheek and freshmen Joe Frye and Caldwell.

Caldwell beat Southern Illinois in the opener. In the next game, the Pack lost 6-5 in 11 innings to St. John’s, a contest that turned on a controversial play at the plate. Caldwell pitched another gem to eliminate second-ranked Texas, which might be the only game that could compare with last weekend’s series win over the Razorbacks.

In a Saturday night affair against eventual champion Southern Cal, Smith made his first and only start of the season, allowing only two runs to a powerful offense. For the first time all year, however, State did not score a run, despite having runners in scoring position in each of the final four innings. The season ended with a 25-9 record, and memories of a lifetime for the 25 players on the team, many of them who attended Esposito’s memorial service following his death in 2018.

A Loaded Squad

Avent’s first trip to the CWS also powered by two future major leaguer first-round picks, first-round shortstop Trea Turner and pitcher Carlos Rodon.

Both are stars now, with Turner a perpetual candidate for All-Star honors with the Washington Nationals and Rodon of the Chicago White Sox one of several pitchers this season who has thrown a no-hitter.

They didn’t, however, carry the full load on a loaded roster. First baseman Terran Senay joined Rodon and Turner on the All-ACC list, and catcher Brett Austin was a fourth-round MLB pick who reached AAA. The squad also had one of the best bullpens in program history.

The team reached Omaha after five consecutive postseason wins at Doak Field at Dail Park, three straight in the NCAA Raleigh Regional and two over Rice in the NCAA Raleigh Super Regional.

In a brilliantly pitched game by Rodon over Triangle rival North Carolina, the seventh-ranked Wolfpack won 8-1 over the second-ranked Tar Heels in its CWS opener for Rodon’s 10th win of the season.

Cruel luck, including a potential late, game-winning home run by Turner being held in only by the cavernous TD Ameritrade ballpark in Omaha, led to a 2-1 loss to No. 6 UCLA..In a rematch with Carolina, Rodon tried to pitch on short rest but it was not enough to avoid elimination as the bats went cold in a 7-0 loss, ending the most successful season in NC State baseball history with a 50-16 record.