The NC State Wolfpack baseball season was cut short like the rest of collegiate athletics after an 8-7 win over North Carolina A&T on March 11. At that point, head coach Elliott Avent’s squad was 14-3 overall and 1-2 in the ACC after dropping the conference-opening series at Virginia.

Here’s an early look at the prospectus going ahead to next season now that the five-round MLB Draft has been completed, starting with pitching.

This much is known: lefty ace Nick Swiney is gone after being picked in the second round by the San Francisco Giants. Swiney was dominating in four starts as a junior, allowing just 13 hits and six walks in 28.0 innings while striking out 42 batters.

However, Avent should have plenty of options to fill out the rotation.

Reid Johnston, a right-hander, should be back. Although Johnston had gotten off to a slow start in 2020, allowing eight earned runs off 11 hits, including three home runs, in 12.2 innings, he also struck out 17 batters. Plus Johnston is a proven commodity.

He was a Collegiate Baseball Freshman All-American in 2018 and followed up by going 6-2 with a 3.71 earned run average in 17 games (14 starts) while throwing a team-high 77.2 innings as a sophomore.

Junior lefty David Harrison was appearing to be on track to fill out the weekend rotation in 2020. In five games, including three starts, Harrison had thrown 19.2 innings and allowed 15 hits and four walks while fanning 23. Only three of the 15 hits were for extra bases.

There are also the intriguing freshmen who will be a year older. Lefty Chris Villaman and righties Austin Pace and Matt Willadsen were all touted in-state prospects who turned down MLB interest to enroll at NC State.

Villaman allowed eight hits and walked four in 11.1 innings while striking out 14 in five games, including three starts. He had a 3.86 ERA. Pace pitched three games, two of them starts, and he surrendered just one earned run on four hits in 7.1 innings. The 6-foot-10 Pace walked no batters and struck out nine.

Willadsen had tougher luck, giving up nine earned runs on nine hits (two of which were extra bases) and three walks, but he struck out seven in 7.2 innings.

The good news early in the season was the senior lefty Kent Klyman was showing signs of the dominant, reliable Klyman out of the bullpen that NC State had seen most of his previous three years. He allowed only one earned run in 6.1 innings and had two saves in five appearances. Klyman is allowed to repeat his senior year by the NCAA.

Sophomore righty Baker Nelson was strong out of the pen, allowing five hits and one walk in 9.1 innings over seven appearances and striking out seven batters. Freshman righty Sam Highfill showed his promise, too. Highfill’s 14.0 innings in relief were third most innings thrown on the staff, and he struck out 15 batters while walking just two. He had a 3.21 ERA, but also did allow 18 hits.

There are intriguing options potentially returning. Hard-throwing junior lefty Evan Justice struck out nine batters in 9.2 innings but also walked five and gave up five earned runs. Redshirt junior Dalton Feeney had a 2.35 ERA in five games, spanning 7.2 innings, but he also allowed eight hits and struck out just three batters.

Junior Logan Bender, a former freshman All-American at Campbell, also was off to a slow start, allowing six hits and four earned runs while walking six in 4.1 innings.

Also, promising redshirt sophomore right-hander Cameron Cotter was unable to get on the field this past spring while recovering from an injury. Cotter was expected to play a large role after flashing his considerable potential as a rookie. In 22 games in 2019, Cotter threw 39.0 innings and had three saves. He gave up 32 hits and 10 walks but struck out 36.

The shortened draft means that some players who would have been questionable to show up at NC State are now far more likely. John Miralia, a 6-foot-7 lefty from Charlotte’s Providence Day, may be one such example. Perfect Game rated Miralia as a potential top-10 round pick after he had a 0.68 ERA as a junior and struck out 98 batters. Teams hit just .164 against him that year.

Miralia has been clocked at 91 miles per hour with his fastball, but reportedly his curveball is his better pitch. Miralia and right-handed signee Garrett Payne from Charlottesville, Va., who like Miralia is 6-foot-7 and reportedly throws 90 miles per hour, could combine with Pace to give NC State one of the tallest pitching staff in the country.

Right-hander Coby Ingle from Wentworth (N.C.) Rockingham County was off to a sizzling start as a senior, throwing 14.0 innings in two starts without allowing a hit or a walk and striking out 25 batters before the season was called. That came after Ingle fanned 105 batters and posted a 0.79 ERA in 62.1 innings as a junior. Ingle has reportedly been clocked at 92 miles per hour on his fastball.

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