NC State head coach Elliott Avent spoke to the media following the team’s 6-4 win over South Carolina on Saturday. Here’s what he had to say.
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On starting pitcher Dominic Fritton’s performance
“He’s kind of exactly where he’s at right now. He went through some things in the fall, so he didn’t have a complete fall, and the spring started our slow. And you see how talented he is. He’ll probably go very high in the Major League Baseball Draft in a month, six weeks or so.
“Like you said, the game against (Wake Forest pitcher) Chase Burns, when you’re facing opponents like that — and tonight in (Garrett) Gainey, who I thought was terrific — then you know you got to be at your best. That’s what he was against a very, very good lineup.”
On what relief pitcher Derrick Smith means to the team
“Right now, we got confidence. Everybody we put out there — like, I thought Cooper (Consiglio) came in after Dom and was terrfic. And then everybody we’re putting out there — right now, we have great confidence in. And Derrick was recently selected to Team USA. That’s about as high of an honor a college player can get.
“But he likes moments like this. He’s very composed. He went out and worked his butt off this summer. So when you earn everything that you get, then it makes you comfortable when you’re out there, no matter the situation.”
On if anything has changed with Smith since the start of the season
“Nothing’s really changed — (it’s) just opportunity. Like I said, he worked his butt off this summer. And I think he pitched three (games) in his last year here at NC State. I don’t know where he’s at now. But it’s just all the hard work he’s put in. And I’m talking about the way he eats, in the weight room, what he did this summer. All that has given him the makeup of who he is right now. And that’s why he’s able to handle situations like this.”
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On NC State finding different ways to win in NCAA Tournament
“You work all year; you take batting practice all year. You do early work; you do stuff all year. I thought one of the big plays of the game, it turned out, was the bunt that (Matt) Heavner started out the inning (with) down the first-base line. It reminded me of Trea Turner, who used to make that bunt down the first-base line. I saw Jake Fincher here tonight from the World Series team, and 13 and Jake used to do that bunt down the first-base line. That got things started. And he wound up with a big play when the ball hit him in the back and went down the line.
“It’s all the little things. But I thought we played really good tonight defensively. And with that said, a couple more hits — and we had great at bats — but I think we left the bases loaded. Even though we got the one run on (Alex) Sosa’s walk, we left the bases load. And I think we had second and third maybe twice where, if you punch a hit in, that’s two more runs. And every run’s big in a game like this.
“So, we played good, but, like I said, South Carolina’s good to. Everyone’s good at this point of the year. And you just got to play pretty near perfect baseball.”
On how much momentum Saturday’s win gives NC State
“I think every win just gives you confidence. That’s the way it’s been all year. Especially, when you get down to the last six to eight weeks, if you talk about the people we played (and) those series we played, every series gave you more confidence. The series against Clemson at Clemson, against (South) Carolina here, at Florida State, at Virginia, the ACC Tournament — every series we’ve played down the stretch, every win, and sometimes, even a loss. We know we didn’t play that bad against Duke. Duke’s just a very good team that played very, very well that night. You just keep building on what you do good and try to find little ways to do little things, as Chip mentioned, to get you across the finish line.”
On the atmosphere surrounding an ACC versus SEC matchup in the Raleigh Regional
“I don’t try to get into ‘bests’ a lot. I think there’s a lot of good teams out there, and everybody can beat you. As you follow this thing (the NCAA Tournament), there’s been scores that may have surprised a lot of people, but not me. There’s a lot of good teams. Winning is hard, and everybody wants to win. And there’s more avenues and more access to winning than ever before in college baseball with all the new stadiums and the money poured into programs. That’s what it takes.
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“Obviously, the SEC and ACC get a lot of hype, and deservedly so. But there’s a lot of good teams, I’ll tell you. Everybody in this tournament — I’ve watched a lot of games this weekend. I’ve seen a lot of good things from a lot of teams.”
On building an electric atmosphere at Doak Field
“It does mean something to me, and I can’t expound on that because, when I came here, my big thing is I worked very hard to try to sell out season tickets. I’d call everybody — breakfasts, lunches — I wanted to sell out season tickets. Then, after you sold season tickets — which, we sold them out for, I don’t know how many years, a bunch in a row — you want to get the people that buy the tickets to come to the games. Sometimes, it’s basketball season and their mind’s on basketball. Sometimes, the weather isn’t conducive to come out and sit outside for a three-hour baseball game.
“But the crowd tonight — I talked to (associate head coach) Chris Hart on the way over here. And we’ve been through a lot of good crowds here. I remember we went to Omaha with Rice, and that game was, like, 17 innings or something crazy with a two-hour delay. And people were there (at) whatever time we finished that game in the middle of the night.
“This was probably the best I’d ever seen the crowd. This crowd was electric tonight. They were in every pitch. Just a big hats off to the fans of NC State for the way they came out and cheered this team on. I thought it was the best crowd I’d seen since I’ve been here.”
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