Wolfpack baseball team has ‘nerve-racking’ wait but can celebrate NCAA selection
N.C. State’s selection for the NCAA baseball tournament created such a celebration and commotion Monday that Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent momentarily overlooked one significant detail: the Pack’s opponent.
The Wolfpack players, coaches and staff gathered Monday at Doak Field at Dail Park to watch the selection show. About halfway through the NCAA field, the Columbia, South Carolina, regional was announced — the Gamecocks as the top seed — and “N.C. State” flashed up as the No. 3 seed, ending speculation about the Pack being a bubble team and a possible exclusion — again.
“It’s been nerve-racking,” Avent said Monday at a media availability. “When we got in, that was the last thing I watched because everyone was going crazy.”
Avent said he jumped up for an “ol’ Tiger Woods” fist pump, missing the Pack’s opponent. Only a few minutes later did Avent say he learned the Wolfpack (35-19) would face Campbell (44-13), the No. 2 seed in the regional, in the first game set for Friday at 1 p.m at Founders Park.
“What a great year they’ve had,” Avent said of the Camels, the Big South Conference champions. “I listened to the (NCAA) show and they talked about how they might have a chip on their shoulder because of the regional thing.”
Of the top 16 teams in the NCAA baseball RPI ratings, only Campbell was not chosen to host a regional. Auburn, with a higher RPI than Campbell and not in the RPI top 16, was picked.
“A lot of people think they should have hosted and I’m sure Campbell does,” Avent said. “They’ve got a really good team. A lot of older guys, playing with a lot of confidence. Good hitting, good pitching. They do it all-around. What a great job they’ve done there throughout the last few years, not just this year.
“Obviously you’ve got the other two teams there, too. But you have to focus on the first game. The three teams there besides us all think they have a chance to advance.”
The Gamecocks (39-19), the No. 15 overall seed in the NCAA field, will face Central Connecticut State (36-12) in their first game. The winner moves on to play the N.C. State-Campbell winner in the double-elimination event.
The past two seasons have been among the most stressful of Avent’s lengthy career with the Wolfpack. There was the stunning Omaha debacle in the 2021 College World Series, then the snub of not being picked for the NCAA field in 2022 despite the Pack being tagged as a possible No. 2 seed in a regional.
The Wolfpack reached the College World Series in 2021 after upsetting No. 1 overall seed Arkansas in a Super Regional, but was forced to forfeit a game against Vanderbilt and dispatched from the event because of Covid-19 issues. That will always rankle Avent, the players on that team and their families and Wolfpack fans.
Twice, Avent has had to gather his players and deliver the harsh news, although the word of the Pack’s forced departure from the College World Series quickly swept through social media. Twice, he had a hard time explaining the how and why of the decisions to his team.
“I had to walk in to some of these guys two years ago at Omaha at 1:30 in the morning and get them out of bed and tell them the NCAA made one of the worst decisions of all time, and try to explain that which was unexplainable,” Avent said. “Then last year we knew we didn’t get in … and we had a players meeting to try to explain that.
“The last two days I lived with the fear of looking at these same guys in the eyes .. and saying “I don’t know what happened, you did everything you needed to do.’ It didn’t happen.”
Instead, the Wolfpack team celebrated its selection, held a luncheon at Amedeo’s restaurant near campus, then held a practice later Monday afternoon.
With a 13-16 ACC record, the Wolfpack had to sweat it out despite its No. 23 NCAA RPI. But the Pack swept Pitt in its final ACC series at home, then topped Duke in its ACC Championship opener in Durham before losing a tight 4-2 game with Miami.
Avent said he watched “parts’ of more than 70 games the past few days. When Tulane, which was 18-40, upset East Carolina on Sunday in the American Athletic Conference title game, that only added to the tension.
“It was pretty suspenseful,” junior pitcher Sam Highfill said Monday. “We didn’t want to experience that heartbreak again. I was worried we might have to, but fortunately I think the (NCAA) committee made the right decision.
“This team deserves to play in the postseason.”
NCAA Columbia Regional
Founders Park, Columbia, S.C.
Friday, June 2
Game 1: No. 2 Campbell vs. No. 3 NC State, 1 p.m., ACC Network
Game 2: No. 1 South Carolina vs. No. 4 Central Connecticut State, 7 p.m. , ESPN+
Saturday, June 3
Game 3: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2, 12 p.m.
Game 4: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2, 6 p.m.
Sunday, June 4
Game 5: Winner Game 3 vs. Loser Game 4, 12 p.m.
Game 6: Winner Game 4 vs. Winner Game 5, 6 p.m.
Monday, June 5 (If necessary)
Game 7: Winner Game 6 vs. Loser Game 6NCAA
This story was originally published May 30, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
