It has seemed like a roller coaster that never ends for No. 12 NC State baseball. Senior righty Matt Willadsen went down with a torn UCL on the first day of practice. The Wolfpack had two more pitchers miss time with illness, notably graduate righty Logan Whitaker’s more than a month off. And sophomore reliever Shane Van Dam went down with a torn UCL at Florida State at the beginning of the month.
That’s just what NC State’s pitching staff has withstood this spring, not including the illnesses and injuries that ravaged the position players at points this season as well — sophomore outfielderJosh Hogue’s broken leg headlines that group of adversity.
While the Wolfpack has missed key contributors throughout the season, NC State is on the right track. And for Elliott Avent, the Pack’s 28th-year head coach, this has been a year like no other when it comes to missing his talent on the field.
“I have not had a team that has dealt with this much, injury wise,” Avent said. “Let alone to deal with it, but do what they’ve done. Every team brings you something, gives you something as a coach that you’ll always remember. Players teach you much more than you teach them. But this team is going to be special for what they’ve done and how they’ve stuck together.”
Through all of that, NC State managed to work past the adversity to claim the No. 3 seed in this week’s ACC Tournament at Truist Field in Charlotte. The Wolfpack, owners of what could be the best conference resume with series wins over five top-12 ACC teams, has leaned on one another to get to this point.
It began after Willadsen’s injury, leaving the Pack without a starting pitcher before the preseason practices could even get in full swing. That left NC State with the mentality of picking each other up, and it has been palpable ever since.
When graduate right-hander Sam Highfill and Whitaker missed their starts at Louisville, it ended in a three-game sweep by the Cardinals. The Wolfpack, a preseason top-15 team, needed to find a way to rebound.
It did just that at then-No. 2 Clemson the following weekend, taking the first two meetings of the series.
“That’s just who we are,” junior catcher Jacob Cozart said. “I don’t want to say next man up, but we more pick each other up. … That was the toughest week of the year, but we found a way to bounce back from that. It put us in a great position.”
“Now, we’ve got everyone back for the most part on the pitching staff and they’re leading us, with the bullpen being the best it’s been all year,” Cozart continued. “All the pieces are coming together at the right time.”
NC State’s bullpen has been the rising star of the spring, allowing the Wolfpack to withstand the injuries the pitching staff has faced. When the Pack went through the hurdles, it used underclassmen to overcome it. That paid off in the long run.
The Wolfpack has used freshmen or sophomores for nearly 300 innings this spring. They’ve been effective, headlined by freshmen relievers Cooper Consiglio, Ryan Marohn and Jacob Dudan, while sophomore closer Derrick Smith has been on a new level.
NC State might not have known how effective its younger arms could have been without the illness and injury, but that group was able to prove they could do it. Now, they’re key pieces to NC State’s surge through the national landscape.
“Guys had to fill in and step up,” Avent said. “Now, that adds to the mix. As you get Sam and Whitaker back, now the guys that stepped up, it just adds to the mix [in the bullpen.]”
Dudan, who has been relied on late in games with his up 90s fastball and power slider, came up with his own analogy for what the pitching staff has done.
“We’ve worked so hard this year and we’ve dealt with a lot of injuries, of course, but we’re like a three-headed snake,” Dudan said. “Once someone’s head gets cut off, someone else rises to the occasion. We’ve seen that a lot, but this team just fights and fights.”
That three-headed snake has put the Wolfpack in the thick of the NCAA Tournament contention — taking the team from clawing its way into a regional to likely hosting one next weekend in Raleigh.
And though the bullpen has been crucial in that, the Wolfpack’s batting order has been too — mainly because it’s been the most consistent bunch of the year, personnel wise.
Yes, the Wolfpack lost Hogue to a campaign-ending leg injury that required surgery a couple days later, but NC State has five hitters that have played in every game this year. That has been key in the Pack’s consistency at the plate to give the squad a chance each night on the field.
Graduate third baseman Alec Makarewicz leads the way with a .362 average, while he has a team-leading 19 home runs and 67 RBI this spring. He has been complemented by graduate first baseman Garrett Pennington’s .341 average with 14 homers and 57 RBI, and Cozart’s .290 average with 16 home runs and 45 RBI.
That trio has paced the Wolfpack in times it has needed a clutch hit, while other key contributors have come up big at times, including junior shortstop Brandon Butterworth, sophomore outfielder Eli Serrano III and freshman catcher Alex Sosa — who has been on a recent hot streak.
“If you look at the overall numbers, we don’t really show how good we are as a lineup,” Cozart said. “But I would say we’re more of a clutch lineup. We do our job, we know what it is, and when it comes to it, we know what we have to do.”
That has led the Wolfpack to a pivotal time in the Queen City with an opportunity to claim NC State’s first ACC Tournament title since 1992. Avent has been to the final game five times, but has not been over the hump to this point in his career.
If the Wolfpack will do that this year, it will come down to what the Wolfpack has done all season long: picking each other up when adversity strikes.
“We have all the trust in the world for each other, knowing that if we don’t get our job done, the next person behind you is going to pick you up,” Cozart said. “That’s the way this team has been built. This is the type of team that Avent has programmed us to be. … That’s the story of this team.”
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