NC State baseball begins practice, touts deep pitching staff

NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent strode into the lobby of the Wolfpack’s baseball facility with a grin across his face Friday afternoon. He donned the Pack’s red and white pinstripe pants and a red NC State sweatshirt — the first day of practice had arrived. 

It’s year No. 28 at the helm of the Wolfpack for Avent, but his high energy personality oozed as he spoke about this season’s squad that has less than a month until the season opener against VCU at Dail Park. 

It didn’t seem like the routine to a new season has gotten old for Avent, who is two wins shy of 1,000 at NC State. The one thing he did note, it will always be hard to surpass the opening practice of his first season in Raleigh. 

“I don’t know if anything can be more exciting than that first year here when I came back to follow Ray Tanner,” Avent said. “I don’t know if anything can top that first day, maybe less jitters, but still the same excitement. But nothing can top that.”

The 28th edition of Avent’s first day of practice with the Wolfpack brought an optimistic view to NC State’s pitching depth in 2024. 

NC State likes where it stands with its arms, a blend of veteran experience and highly-touted talent through its freshman class. 

“It’s really dynamic with our pitching,” Avent said. “You have Logan Whitaker, who’s a sixth-year, you have Sam Highfill and Matt Willadsen, who were starters on the ‘21 team that took us all the way to Omaha.”

“So you talk about those guys, and then we have a lot of freshmen that have great arms,” Avent continued. “Their maturity level in the fall, they didn’t seem like they were 18 years old, they didn’t seem like they weren’t ready for this moment. We’ve got a bunch of good young arms, and we have the veterans that have done so many things for us, so we’ll see how that works out.”

The aforementioned Whitaker was the Wolfpack’s Friday night starter a year ago, who tossed 79.2 innings with 79 strikeouts and 17 walks en route to a 4.29 ERA. Highfill is back healthy, and Willadsen is expected to have another key starting role in the rotation. 

On top of the returning talent, NC State signed a pair of top-100 freshman pitchers, Chance Mako and Jaxon Lucas, as well as a handful of other first-year arms that are capable of pitching this season. 

And in addition to that, the Pack brought in a pair of transfer pitchers that will make an immediate impact. 

Avent is high on Tennessee transfer Hollis Fanning, who made 24 appearances with the Vols with 29 strikeouts and four walks in 20.1 innings pitched. The Pack is also excited about Division II transfer Shane Van Dam, who spent his freshman season at SUNY Cortland with 43 strikeouts and 13 walks in 29.1 innings with a 3.07 ERA. 

“There’s a lot more depth this year, for sure,” Whitaker said. “In years past, we had five, six or seven guys that were pretty consistent, but this year there’s no telling. There’s a lot of depth, a lot of young talent, a lot of old guys that are really starting to hit their stride. It’s going to be exciting to watch.”

NC State feels as though it has a pitching staff deep enough to close out weekend series strong each time out, while it will also be able to position itself well for the postseason on the mound. 

Wolfpack catcher Jacob Cozart, a preseason projected first round pick in this summer’s MLB Draft, raved about NC State’s pitching staff. 

“We’re very talented as a young staff, and we’ve got the same old guys that are very, very talented — they’re even better this year,” Cozart said. “With that mix right there, I think that’s all we can ask for.”

No matter who NC State trots out onto the mound, the Wolfpack feel confident the staff is in a good spot heading into the 2024 campaign. And while the team’s pitching seems to be in order, it has garnered a No. 13 ranking from D1 Baseball going into the regular season. 

Cozart said the rankings are nice, but the team is not worried about that heading into what is expected to be a tough schedule with six ACC squads inside the top-25. 

“We’re doing a really good job at focusing on what we can control, not focusing on what all of the outside media says, all the buzz surrounding the team,” Cozart said. “That stuff’s oblivious to us, and we just focus on what we can do to get better every single day.”