Evan Edwards has no regrets

Evan Edwards did not have a long list of options coming out of Southern Guilford High in Greensboro, N.C. That particular high school was not known as a hotbed of baseball talent.

Edwards though never had a doubt he had a future in the sport. His hope was that future would take him to NC State, somehow. This Friday when the Pack starts its NCAA Regional action in Greenville, N.C., Edwards will be a senior leader trotting out to play first base as well as anyone has done for the Pack under head coach Elliott Avent, a statement made by Avent himself.

“That just pushes me work even harder,” Edwards noted. “I guess I have to live up to it.”

Edwards grew up around NC State fans both in his family and among friends. Ironically he graduated in the same senior class at Southern Guilford that included running back Reggie Gallaspy Jr., who rushed for over 1,000 yards this past year for the Wolfpack football team.

Playing at a showcase baseball event at Doak Field in Raleigh helped reinforce to Edwards his dream of a future in a Wolfpack uniform.

“I always wanted to come here to play,” Edwards noted.

Any chance of making it to Raleigh out of high school was going to require a detour, which Edwards found at USC Lancaster, a junior college in Lancaster, S.C. He hit .339 as a freshman for the Lancers with 12 homers and 69 RBI.

“I wouldn’t change it for the world,” Edwards said of his stop at USC Lancaster. “I had the time of my life there, really. Had some good coaches and some good teammates that I still talk to today. It was fun.”

It was those coaches at USC Lancaster that helped Edwards reach his dream. They reached out to NC State, and the Pack followed up by watching him play. An offer was forthcoming at that point.

“It was my first offer my sophomore year,” Edwards recalled. “And I took it before they could take it away.”

Edwards batted .342 with 17 homers and 57 RBI as a sophomore and was on his way. His stop at USC Lancaster also taught him a valuable lesson: baseball is a grind.

The good thing about junior college baseball is that the leap to college baseball is not as significant as it would have been coming out of high school. In fact, Edwards said the school aspect of NC State was a bigger adjustment.

He still had to win a starting job however.

“Competing for the position here was pretty tough, and it was actually really fun,” Edwards said. “I really go to know the other guys [at first base]. We didn’t hate each other.”

Edwards would start 55 of 59 games he played in last year and hit .297 with 15 homers and 48 RBI. He had an impressive .419 on-base percentage and .564 slugging percentage. The production along with his stellar defense at first base left open the possibility that he would be one-and-done at NC State.

For that to happen though, a MLB team was going to have to make Edwards a great offer.

“I guess it was a 50-50 thing,” Edwards said. “I set a number up [for signing bonus] and they weren’t able to reach the number. I was completely fine with coming back here and doing my senior year.”

Edwards has called his senior year “awesome” and “ a blast.”

“I definitely wouldn’t change it,” he added.

He is hitting .330 with 13 home runs and 58 RBI this year, improving his on-base percentage to .435 and slugging percentage to .598. That helped him be named third-team All-ACC.

But the ultimate goal is really Omaha for the College World Series.

Everything is on the line starting Friday with a noon first pitch against a Campbell team that split a pair of games with the Wolfpack this season. The regional hosted by top seed East Carolina is a double-elimination.

Edwards said coming off a disappointing finish in the ACC Tournament, the Wolfpack has worked hard to get ready.

“The past couple of days, practice has been awesome,” he said. “We are just going to work hard and see what we got in Greenville.”

What Edwards hopes that does not include is the end of his time in a Wolfpack uniform that he worked so hard to get into.