6/23/2021 baseball Edit

Elliott Avent, Wolfpack baseball taking advantage of rest

Matt Carter • TheWolfpackCentral

Editor

The first thing NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent did this morning, as he told the ACC Network’s Packer and Durham Show, was check the weather. Seeing that temps in Omaha, Neb., were going to be in the low-90s, he made the decision to practice on the AstroTurf earlier, 11 o’clock central time, and for just about 75 minutes.

The earlier and shorter practice will allow his team to continue its resting up process. A bug has been making its way through the team, with Avent himself feeling a bit under the weather in recent days, although the coach professed to being much better on Wednesday.

“The rest was needed,” Avent confessed. “Thank goodness Sam Highfill was Sam Highfill the other day, and Evan Justice, to give us a few days off. We needed it badly.”

Highfill was NC State’s freshman pitcher who threw 7.1 innings of two-hit, shutout ball against Vanderbilt on Monday, and Justice the junior closer that completed a 1-0 victory which put NC State into the finals of its side of the College World Series bracket.

The Pack needs just one more win to reach the title series, but Avent is not concerned about an interruption of its momentum.

NC State Wolfpack baseball — The Pack baseball team will look to clinch a spot in the final series with a win Friday afternoon. (NCAA)

“You handle it very gladly, I’m telling you,” Avent said. “This few days off, not only with our thin bullpen, ... this virus is going around for a little bit, it’s going to be good for the players.”

After watching the weather report, he flipped over to an HBO show called “The Art of Coaching” featuring legendary coaches Nick Saban of Alabama football and Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots.

Belichick noted sometimes it’s good to have a hiccup during a season, such as a first loss following a string of wins to begin the year. That bump in the road can be an important reminder for a team to refocus and remember what they need to do to accomplish goals.

That advice gave Avent a proper perspective on how this 2021 CWS team is different from the 2013 squad that also made it.

“There’s always similarities, but I think the difference that I can see is that team that came out here eight years ago didn’t have the hiccups we had with this team,” Avent noted. “They didn’t start out 1-8, they didn’t lose two of their best players in the middle of the year for COVID and contract tracing.

“They didn’t start the first month of the season with their shortstop [freshman Jose Torres] out for the first month of the season, and a bullpen decimated by injuries. They didn’t have those things to overcome.”

This team has also made it further than that one. The 2013 squad lost a 2-1 heartbreaker to eventual national champion UCLA in the winner’s bracket whereas in 2021, Highfill and company led the Pack to a thrilling one-run win over the favored Commodores.

Vanderbilt now must beat Stanford Wednesday evening to stay alive. The loser of that contest is headed home, while the winner must turn around and beat NC State twice, with the first game being 2 p.m. Friday afternoon.

“It’s going to be a great game,” Avent predicted. “Vandy’s pitching is really, really elite. I don’t know as much about Stanford because we don’t see the Pac-12 as much all year. You don’t know the depth of their pitching staff, but the offense from both teams can score runs.

"The explosive bats from Stanford are pretty impressive.”

Watching the Pack’s win over Vanderbilt was the all-time greatest basketball player in school history, David Thompson. Avent and Thompson have developed a friendship over the years. Thompson once went to a NC State baseball game in Charlotte despite coming off knee surgery. It helped that Avent was able to get Thompson a parking spot close to the stadium by simply name-dropping the legend to the parking attendant.

Seeing Thompson in Omaha “meant everything” to Avent.

“David Thompson, he transcends time like no other athlete at NC State,” Avent said.

Another transcending athlete at NC State is former quarterback and second baseman Russell Wilson. Avent may have dropped a teaser at the end of his interview.

“I hope we are going to get a Russell Wilson-sighting before the thing is over with,” he said.