Through injuries and a brutal conference slate, the Pack are on the verge of hosting a Regional
Is this 2024 Wolfpack team Elliott Avent’s best coaching performance?
Let me preface this by saying that it’s a dumb question to ask in the sense that there’s an obvious rebuttal. Avent has led NC State to the College World Series twice, so the easy answer is no, this is not his best coaching performance. Even if this team were to end up with a national championship in hand, it still wouldn’t touch the 50 wins put up by the 2013 team that ended up in Omaha.
Okay, if this team ends up hoisting a national title, then it’s also a dumb question because, yes, obviously this would be Avent’s best coaching performance.
But let’s not deal with that hypothetical. The 2013 had two future MLB All-Stars leading the way and the 2021 team didn’t really hit their stride until the Ruston Regional. So, again, is this Avent’s best coaching job?
He’s put together better lineups, better defenses, and better pitching staffs. He’s had teams with more wins and better RPIs. Yet this team is likely it.
NC State this year has faced the toughest schedule in the ACC, avoiding only the three worst teams in the Coastal division. The ACC has seven teams ranked in the top 20 of RPI (with NC State being one of them) and the Pack have squared off with the other six. Not only have they faced them, they’re 12-5 against UNC (4th), Clemson (7th), Florida State (8th), Wake Forest (11th), Virginia (12th), and Duke (20th).
This team could have up and quit when hit with the rash of injuries that have beset them. Before the season even started they lost starting pitcher Matt Willadsen to a season-ending elbow injury. That wouldn’t be the only blow to the starting rotation as both Sam Highfill and Logan Whitaker missed time with their own respective injuries, although both are thankfully back now. Shane Van Dam missed time due to a concussion but came back to earn a prominent relief role, only then to go down a few weeks back with an elbow injury of his own.
Noah Soles was lost for a chunk of the season with a leg injury that required surgery. He came back early after Josh Hogue, who was performing as one of the top three hitters on the team, was lost for the year to a leg injury of his own. Promising freshman Alex Sosa missed a large chunk of the year, too, battling various illnesses. He, too, is now back and crushing the ball.
In the midst of piecing together lineups and a patchwork pitching staff amid all the injuries, this could have been a team that looked at the schedule in front of it and simply gave up. Thankfully it isn’t. Instead, NC State is tied for 4th in the country for the most Q1 wins this year with 12. Over the last five weeks of the season – the closing stretch that matters most – the Wolfpack are tied with Texas A&M and Arkansas for 2nd in the country in Q1 wins with 8, trailing only Tennessee. All three of those SEC teams are locks to be national seeds come selection Monday a week from now.
Whether you like him or not – and I’ll admit there are times when I am among his harshest critics – you have to respect what Elliott Avent has done this year with the Pack. He’s held it together when all looked lost and has put the team on the cusp of hosting a regional in Raleigh for the 5th time in the last 12 postseasons.
It’s been an incredible coaching performance, and quite possibly the best of his career.