Florida Gators
SLOVAN BRATISLAVA
GAINESVILLE SUPER REGIONAL: A look at N.C. State Wolfpack
Thursday, June 7, 2012 | Baseball, Women's Basketball, Scott Carter
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Gators swept through the Gainesville Regional last weekend, beating Bethune-Cookman 4-0 behind a no-hitter by Jonathon Crawford and then taking back-to-back games against ACC Tournament champion Georgia Tech.
The No. 1 overall seed Gators (45-18) face another team from the ACC in this weekend's NCAA Gainesville Super Regional. North Carolina State visits McKethan Stadium for a best-of-three series against the Gators.
The winner advances to the College World Series in Omaha.
N.C. State is perhaps known best for its basketball tradition. The Wolfpack won their first NCAA men's basketball title in 1974 under Norm Sloan, the former Gators coach.
After Sloan left to take over the UF program for a second time, N.C. State won another national title in 1983 when the Wolfpack upset Houston's highly favored 'Phi Slamma Jamma' team featuring future NBA stars Clyde Drexler and Hakeem Olajuwon.
However, they know how to play baseball on Tobacco Road, too, and the Wolfpack showed that by bouncing back from the loser's bracket to defeat Vanderbilt twice on back-to-back days to advance from the Raleigh Regional.
(Photo: LHP Carlos Rodon)
Here is a look at the team the Gators have to beat to advance to the CWS for a third consecutive year:
N.C. STATE WOLFPACK
Record: 43-18
How they qualified: Went 4-1 in the Raleigh Regional, including a 9-7 win over Vanderbilt in Monday's championship game
Head coach: Elliott Avent (16th season) … Avent is the all-time winningest coach in N.C. State history ... He once served as Ray Tanner's assistant coach at N.C. State in late 1980s ... As head coach at New Mexico State, he took over a program administrators considered dropping prior to his arrival
Quote of note: "I think North Carolina State stacks up well. They've got a very good hitting team. They've got a couple of guys who can leave the ballpark and in [Ryan] Mathews have a quality power hitter. They've got a very similar ballpark as they play in here [at N.C. State]. The lines are shallow [329 feet down left-field line, 325 in right]. In saying that, I think Florida is the best team in the country that we've played this year. Their pitching is very good. They can hit. They don't make mistakes. And they'll be playing at home. Does that factor into it? It does factor into it.” -- Vanderbilt coach Tim Corbin in Raleigh News & Observer
Players to watch: LHP Carlos Rodon (9-0, 1.61 ERA, 111 IP, 132 SO), RHP Chris Overman (33 IP, 42 SO, 6 SV), OF Ryan Mathews (.336, 17 HRs, 62 RBIs), INF Trea Turner (.344, 56 of 60 SBs)
Notable ex-players: Roger Craig, Mike Caldwell, Dan Plesac, Doug Strange, Dave Robertson
NCAA Tournament record: 39-48
Fun fact: The Gators have faced N.C. State three times in the NCAA Tournament -- 1988, '91 and '96. Each season Florida advanced to the CWS.
Need to know: Rodon is one of three finalists for Golden Spikes Award give to nation's top player; Gators C Mike Zunino is also a finalist ... This is first time Wolfpack have advanced to Super Regional play since 2008 when they lost two of three to Georgia ... Trea Turner's 56 steals lead the nation; Turner is from Lake Worth in South Florida ... The Wolfpack have 42 home runs, 29 fewer than Florida's NCAA-leading 71 ... A freshman, Rodon may have been the No. 1 pick in this weeks MLB amateur draft had he been eligible; he was a 16th-round pick by the Brewers in 2011 ... N.C. State men's basketball coach Mark Gottfried spoke to the team prior to its departure for Gainesville on Wednesday night ... Junior OF Tarran Senay came off the bench in Monday's win in the seventh inning. In two at-bats, Senay had five RBI to help the Wolfpack overcome a 7-3 deficit.
