With a remarkable recovery in Games 2 and 3, NC State Baseball is heading to Omaha for only the third time. Making it to the College World Series is a grueling marathon, where teams need to have solid regular seasons, steady postseason play and survive and advance two separate regionals. For a team that isn’t a host the task gets even tougher? My goodness what State did is impressive…

When you look back at this season, it’s truly remarkable that they’re even at this point. NC State Baseball should have never succeeded and gotten to Omaha.

Avent Heads into 25th Season, After the Loss of His Dad

It’s well known that Wolfpack fanbase falls into two categories; those that love Avent and those that love Avent, but just not as our ball coach. Over his two and a half decades of coaching it could have been easy to let him go, say we didn’t achieve enough, that “his time had come.” The heartbreaks of years past could have caught up to Avent and made the job unappealing, the pressure unbearable and the effort unfound.

Then COVID and the loss of his father.

Avent has made it clear his love for his role model father. After a shorten season then his world turned upside down at home, he could have said “enough” and let his foot off the gas to coast through what could be one of his final seasons. The heart and desire could have easily faded.

Yet on that opening media day, he was as lively as ever. The energy hadn’t dropped an ounce, while his character remained unchanged. Avent was ready to go to work.

Rough Start with Off-Field Arrests

If there is anything that has been documented more than Arkansas’ Kopps’ throwing “Gyro Balls”, is that State started out 1-8 in ACC play, 4-9 overall. We and many others have written about all aspects of the atrocious start. That 60% of the pitching staff had double-digit ERAs. Offensively, it was only a couple players a game that were doing anything of value. They were getting beat on and off the field.

The senior anchor of this team, Klyman? Arrested. Harrison, a valuable bullpen guy who would have ate innings all year long? Arrested. Since the incident, both plead guilty. Both could have been used throughout the season, now they turn into nothing more than a distraction.

The chances that State would just fold it up for the year, were immense. Plenty of programs have early struggles or extracurricular misconduct and were never the same. But add both cases and a full ACC schedule, the games/season never got easier. This team was doomed.

Yet they managed to go on one of the greatest runs in State history, winners of 19 of 23. From the worst team in the ACC to third. An unreal turnaround.

ACC Championship Shutout Against a Beatable Team

After a big win against Pitt and a pride-only loss to UNC (Can’t believe our friends from the north actually still make a big deal about it. Start a pitcher with 10 innings of experience and still almost come all the way back, after spotting you a 6 spot in the first. I hate you all so much. GTHC), State was back in form for the tournament.

The Wolfpack dominated Georgia Tech before facing off against rivals and complete ACCT underdogs, Duke. Straight to the point, it was a winnable game. The fact that pitching was unreal for the Pack, giving up only one run on a sac fly, hurts. That it was the worst offensive display in years for State, somehow hurts even more. It didn’t matter, State lost what they should have won.

This could have been part of the State collapse. Becoming consumed by a game and Tournament that was very much winnable.

Yet this team chose instead to become obsessed with a spot in Omaha to make up for lost opportunities.

Biggest Loss in School/Super Regional History with Only Freshmen Remaining

The Ruston Regional went far better than expected. Even the most realist of State fans thought that if these team put together a solid performance, they were the best team of the four. But I don’t think any of us expected it to go THAT well.

A quick three game sweep (twice of host and nationally ranked LA Tech) by a combined score of 30-11. Other than a quick two runs by the Bulldogs in the second game versus LA Tech, State controlled the weekend, from start to finish.

Then a trip to the second best Fayetteville in all the land to face the consensus number one team. Arkansas hadn’t lost a series all year, while holding the best home record in the country. Winners of the stacked SEC, the Hogs were the best team State could have faced, and it showed in Game 1.

When you lose any game, at any point by 19 runs, it’s embarrassing. While we, from a State fan perspective, understood the game was lost and threw out any arm available outside our top five guys, the baseball nation didn’t. This team was absolutely harassed and dragged for 24 hours. They easily could have overcompensated and got off their game. State should have laid down with a poor performance in Game 2 and went home early.

Yet with the help of THREE FRESHMEN, State did the impossible and won Game 2 and Game 3 to advance to Omaha.

The Demons of State Past

This can’t be understated, State doesn’t have the best track record in the postseason. I will not bring up any such games against a Christian school from Texas…but it ain’t easy to be a State baseball fan. Now imagine it from the player’s perspective.

Here you are as a 19-20 year old with the incredible pressure of an entire institution and fanbase. You play in a ballpark that isn’t the best and you have to claw and fight for every single ounce of respect you can get. It would have been far too easy for this team to have a coach that became complacent…to give up after such a horrible start…to lose their fight after having their worst game, at the worst time…to become frightened by the expectations of coming back from the dead in a top five college atmosphere.

Yet they didn’t…not even for a second. This team is playing with house money and they’re pretty damn good to boot. Let’s get it boys…

For 9️⃣. pic.twitter.com/k70iKqVlfc

— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) June 14, 2021