NC State’s Avent COY, While Four Players Move Up Draft Boards

Lots of attention put on the future of the State football program this week, but baseball got A LOT of love too.

Avent College Coach of the Year Award

After State’s run to the College World Series, and leading Team USA throughout the summer, Elliott Avent was named College Coach of the Year.

A year in which he went to his second College World Series, saw a dozen players get drafted and received the Regional Coach of the Year award, Avent has proved he can grow the program to be something special. Avent currently is sitting at 926 victories, while having coached 37 All-Americans.

Players Creating Buzz

This week, Perfect Game USA talked 2022 Draft, in which they game love to four Wolfpack members.

Sam Highfill: Just with CWS performance alone, Highfill has become a legend in Raleigh. 2021 saw him go 9-2 with a 3.66 ERA. A near 4-1 K-BB ratio, batters hit .224 off of him. Ironically enough, while he is a pitching stud, his 3 for 4 performance BATTING, is what got folks in WPN buzzing during the Pack13 game. There is no doubt, with another solid season, Highfill’s name could be rocketing towards the top of scouts’ list.

Chris Villaman : Used more as a long reliever for parts of last season, Villaman should get the day two nod behind Highfill this year. He ended up with a 5-2 record and 4.35 ERA last year, while holding batters to .204 BAVG. His aggressive pitching nature leads to a solid 5-1 K-BB ratio. Should be fun to see what he can do as a starter this year.

Josh Hood: Hood is one of many new transfers to the program, and might be the one with the most buzz. In his freshman year at Penn, he was the unanimous Ivy League Rookie of the Year, going .331, 8 HRs, 42 RBIs with 25 extra-base hits. Unfortunately, with Ivy Leagues shutting completely down for COVID, Hood was forced to stay fresh in Coastal Plains and Cape Cod League. If he can get back into a groove, he’ll provide the perfect replacement for Torres at short, while giving ample pop to this lineup.

Dom Pilolli: Another transfer, this time from UNC-Charlotte. Outfielder that, similar to Hood, had a ridiculous freshman campaign. Pilolli made the Freshman All-American team with hitting .403 (!), which was sixth-best among freshman nationwide. Slowed down a bit his second year, before a season-ending injury. There is no doubt that he’ll; A) Create highlight reel catches in left field and B) Provide a steady bat in Avent’s lineup.