The non-revenue roundup is going to be a bit brief this weekend as Omega spent Sunday traveling for wee Omega's soccer commitments and arrived home rather late.
On to the doins:
Reports of the demise of NC State's baseball team may have been a bit premature, as the bats warmed up with the warmer weather this weekend in Raleigh. The Pack nine have won five of six since an embarrassing 1-0 shutout loss to Charlotte, including taking two of three from Clemson to kick off ACC play. The Pack plated 22 runs over the last two games of the series against the Tigers, a solid team in the ORV category in the NCAA's baseball rankings.
Logan Ratledge keyed Saturday's 8-3 win with a pair of bombs and five runs batted in. Brock Deatherage had four hits in Sunday's rubber math, a 14-6 Pack triumph (which wasn't that close; it was 14-2 going into the ninth). The freshman leadoff man had six hits over the final two games of the series. Jake Armstrong had perhaps his best series in a Pack uniform, going 5-for-10 with two homers, two walks, a hit by pitch (of course!), and four runs batted in. Andre Knizner, Preston Palmeiro, Jake Fincher (!), and Ryne Willard also left the yard during the course of the series.
Suddenly it looks like we may have ourselves an offense here:
NC State now embarks on a five-game road trip with a stop at Florida Atlantic before a three-game tilt in Coral Gables. Miami is ranked 15th in the most recent NCAA poll. State has an away-home midweek thing with UNCG before heading to Boston College the following week. If the Pack can manage a win (or more) at Miami and take care of annual bottom dweller BC, suddenly things will be looking pretty good after an uneven start to the season.
SOFTBALL
The Lady Pack nine struggled against three teams currently ranked in the top seven to start the season but had no trouble with #23 Notre Dame in their ACC opening series. NC State outscored the Irish 21-7 in the three-game sweep.
After looking shaky in a midweek loss to Elon, Emily Weiman was dealing again, bookending the series with a pair of complete games. She allowed just three earned runs in her two starts while compiling a 15-to-4 K-to-BB ratio over her 14 innings. Courtney Mirabella was just as good, fanning eight to only one walk in her complete-game win.
The ladies love the long ball, apparently, as the Pack pounded nine over the fence on the weekend. Tyler Ross homered thrice, Molly Hutchison and Renada Davis added a pair, and Meredith Burroughs and Lana Van Dyken added one of their own.
Because scheduling has quirks, the ladies will play eight straight non-conference games before returning to ACC play at Pittsburgh March 21st.
WRASSLIN'
It was a disappointing ACC championship for the Wolfpack considering their recent big wins in duals. NC State finished sixth in team scoring and only secured three NCAA tournament automatic qualifiers. Heavyweight Nick Gwiazdowski will begin defense of his national championship after repeating as ACC champion, so there's that.
Kevin Jack (fourth at 141 pounds) and Pete Renda (fifth at 171 pounds) will also make the NCAAs. Several other Pack wrestlers could receive at-large bids
RIFLE
Let's end on a good note: NC State's rifle team took home (shot down? blasted its way to? fired off?) their fourth consecutive South Eastern Air Rifle Conference championship on Saturday. Lucas Kozieniesky finished second among individuals, while Alex Martin and Daniel Cliff placed fourth and fifth, respectively. Martin was last year's individual winner.
Looking at the roster I noticed that over a third of the players (shooters?) have redshirted and one is from Spain. This stuff is bigtime, just ask Terry Henderson.