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In this episode, we get into perennial Baseball/Softball matchups this week, as well as a brief review of the winter season.

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Creators and Guests

Host

Logan Brumley

What is In The Den?

"In The Den" with host Logan Brumley covers everything from the NC State Wolfpack's NCAA, intramural and club sports. "In The Den" is a podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 at NC State University.

00:00
Logan Brumley
And welcome to WKNC's official sports podcast In the Den. We're going to start by going over all of the major winter sports and their conclusions and then we're going to go into Wednesday night's matchup Wolfpack softball against Arizona State. And we'll finish by looking to a Unfortunately not top 10 matchup for men's baseball against Georgia Tech. So get your headphones on and let's get straight to it. We will start with gymnastics because it has been a while since I talked about it. The ACC tournament has wrapped up NC State finished fourth out of the six teams that had qualified but it was good enough for them to get into the team brackets. They will be playing and I guess the Missouri Regional. I'm pretty sure that's how it works where it'll be number eight Missouri, number nine Arkansas, Maryland and NC State.

01:21
Logan Brumley
Some notable other things to talk about would be the top performers of the ACC championship. We have Ava Meyers and Autumn Rardin in the vault but outside of that it has been a largely uneventful weekend for NC State. It was just kind of a happy to be there thing for the school generally and we'll see how they do in this tournament. Hopefully they can get themselves a strong performance. Correction, they're not going to be playing in like the Missouri regional. It's actually the Lexington Kentucky Regional which is weird because Oklahoma, the number one in the nation is also no exiting regional and is not hosting but you know, national championships in Fort Worth. So I mean that's close enough to Oklahoma that especially with I don't see the Longhorns on the brackets should indicate essentially home for them but you know we'll see.

02:42
Logan Brumley
Best of luck to all the Lady Wolf Pack gymnasts. I will make sure to for the next episode kind of go into it a little bit more. Their first matchup should be Let me double check for y'. All. It is the Friday, April 3rd 1pm so I'll make sure to do another more in depth episode on the opponents and qualifications and all that next time. But just have another brief review of what is already over. NC State and Wrestling School scored 41 out of their 112 available points which finished 12th and you know team stand ins. Penn State of course wins their I think fourth consecutive national championship and they finished second in the ACC with I think Virginia Tech finishing in the top five.

03:48
Logan Brumley
Most of them kind of felt early on in their rounds or didn't really get too far in their wrestle backs which is basically like the losers bracket. But the winner of the losers bracket is third place. Interesting enough but the only real podium finishers are Vincent Robinson who finishes fourth and of course see what's crazy is that Will Denny is sort of in the top 10. I don't know for sure but he did not get too far. Isaac Trumbull is the only champion for NC State having won the 285 pound. So overall I would say it's kind of disappointing for NC State. They lose Trumbull, Redding and Ryan Jack who are all six year seniors. It's happy to see Trumbull get one before he graduates.

04:55
Logan Brumley
So I would say compared to their early expectations which I'm pulling up now, Preseason Wrestling Top 25, I believe that they met their expectations. If not, maybe they exceeded it. Let's see, NC State was seventh, they finished 12th, so a little disappointing. They were supposed to finish above Virginia Tech and be the top in the ACC. But I would say it's not terrible season. I do not like largely disappointed in it as I am the men's basketball losing their first four to Texas on that disgusting game winner and now Texas is looking like the Cinderella story haven't beaten. You know they beat BYU with the bonsta and then they beat Gonzaga and now they're going to be playing number two Purdue in the Sweet 16 which you know, hopefully Purdue can sneak off with the win.

06:09
Logan Brumley
The only notable person who's going to be leaving from graduation is Alyn Breed who is a redshirt senior. The rest of the roster is TBD with the transfer portal and the draft. However, I will mention that Tankathon which is a collection of kind of simulations for draft orders and prospect Rankins has both Matt Abel and Darrion Williams as second round draft pick prospects. So we'll see. I think Darion Williams is out the door. Paul McNeil is a question mark. Let's see if maybe he can get up in the rankings. Maybe he'll want to transfer to a bigger school. Well, we'll have to see women's basketball blowout loss in Michigan after, you know, keeping it close in the first half. Let's see. Michigan should be playing. Yeah, it's the sweet 16 now and they will be playing Louisville. We'll see if they can win there.

07:23
Logan Brumley
Most of the core roster should be safe bar in transfer portal. I don't really have any seniors on the roster. However I will note that Zoe Brooks and Khmalil Pierre are sort of getting looks at the WNBA draft or at least they were in the beginning of the season. We'll have to see if they can play their way back in maybe. But for right now I would say yes that 2027 we could see two NC State players when, you know, this year there doesn't look to be anyone, but last year was a decent one for NC State, you know, with Rivers and James. So we'll see about that. I think that pretty much sums it up. I think most of this was common knowledge, but just kind of wanted to get under all under one envelope.

08:28
Logan Brumley
I think over the summer I could probably do a more deeper dive into things. We'll see. But now we're going to transition over to spring sports where we'll see softball matchup and a baseball matchup to kind of pick up where we left off with early season previews. Alright, so NC State has fallen out of the top 10 this weekend, but a serious win against Georgia Tech could be just what they need to slip back in. So far NC State has a 18. 6 record but are sitting with an ACC record of 3 and 3 including series win versus Boston College and a series loss versus it was like NC State was 10, Florida State was 11 but I think they swapped positions. D1 baseball hasn't really updated their top 25 yet and it's been 8 days.

09:22
Logan Brumley
Oh the one two pitching duo of Marohn and Dudan has been great for NC State so far, both of them being 4:1. Mayeron is the Friday starter, he has a 2.02 ERA in five games and Jacob Dudon is the Saturday starter with a 3.72 ERA in six games and both of them have an opponent baton average of around .216. Their Sunday starters in question, Heath Andrews has kind of had the precedence of a 2-1 record, 4.3 ERA and five starts. But Cooper Cognisilo who has also had worked as a relief pitcher, he has a 21 record with 2.05 ERA and three starts. Collins Black has been notable reliever, he has two saves and seven appearances while Anderson Nance is also one who was early on supposed to be really good and he has a save and seven appearances as well.

10:27
Logan Brumley
There's a couple others who have one, but Black and Nance are probably the more important relievers and I do expect to see them get reps against Georgia Tech's dominant hidden this weekend. You know Georgia Tech has three first round potential draft picks in their hidden rotation. They have Drew Burress who's hitting.276, five home runs and 18 RBIs. Now that's not impressive but he's listed as a top draft prospect. So keep an eye out him Vahn Lackey who has been really good so far for Georgia tech. He's the first team preseason all American catcher. He has.425 batting average with nine home runs and 33 RBIs, which is not great for NC State. I think Georgia Tech, as you'll see is definitely a really strong hidden team and it's definitely going to be a pitcher's nightmare this weekend in Atlanta, Georgia.

11:40
Logan Brumley
Especially since when you look at, you know, if you look at the Braves pitch and rotation it makes you want to cry. But that's neither here or there. See where was I? I lost my page. All right, And the other big hitter who is a first round prospect is Jarren Advincula, their second baseman with a.394 home run, 27 RBI batting numbers. They have a couple other decent hitters, but the only other one I think we really should mention Is Alex Hernandez with.424 five home runs and 22 RBIs. They have a really strong hidden outfield which as we'll see later is not relevant to NC State so much on like I said, we'll go into that later. It's going to be a real big challenge for NC State.

12:50
Logan Brumley
I mean when they had gone up against Florida State they never gave up less than, well, four runs isn't bad, but they gave up 11 and 15 runs in their Saturday Sunday march ups and they played some really good hitters such as like Myles Bailey or Brayden Dowd. I think this is definitely going to be the best hidden team NC State has and if you look at her schedule, maybe will face this season. So it doesn't really spur a lot of confidence in them. But NC State might just have the bat power to be able to keep up, especially since Georgia Tech's pitching is not as impressive first hit. And wise, NC State stars are doing as great as expected. It's business as usual. On a hidden side they have Chris McHugh.372 baton average, seven horse runs, 31 RBIs. Ty Head center fielder.

14:02
Logan Brumley
He has himself a.263 batting average with eight home runs and 27 RBIs. And the only other player I kind of want to give a big shout out to is the freshman outfielder Rett Johnson. He has a.425 baton average and 15 walks to seven strikeouts as a pure freshman which is really impressive. And you know he's definitely unfortunately in the transfer portal watch. But I think even though he's only hit one home run and 19 RBIs and he has only gone home 24 times, which is third on the team. He's been playing really impressive and he would definitely get himself a spot on the like all ACC freshman team. Just know that NC State, they have a lot of good hitters. You know, Dalton Bargo has been really good. You're looking at, you know, Chris McHugh is good. Luke Nixon.

15:12
Logan Brumley
I think I mentioned Chris McHugh already. But let's see today have. I'm trying to see if they have any draft prospects, like anyone who's really gained momentum because I know Mehron was in talks before, but he's kind of sent outside the top 100. Yeah, no one yet, but we'll see. We'll see. They have a great team. This weekend's gonna be tough, but Georgia Tech's pitching is kind of where NC State has the upside. Despite the fact that they're hitting us good enough for them to be considered the third best team in ncaa. Georgia's pitching is not that great. In NC State, if they can get hot, maybe they have a chance of winning the series. I mean, just. Just take a look.

16:16
Logan Brumley
You have Tate McKee.444 ERA, 2.0Record as the Friday starter, Dylan Loy as the Saturday starter for 4:30 batten average and a 1 and 1 record in five games. And their Sunday starter could be either Cooper Underwood, who has had the president but has a.697 ERA, or Jackson Blakely less experience but a 2 and 1 record in a 312 ERA. Well, I mean, we'll see. Overall, I do think NC State should be able to win at least one of these games. I think there's a reality where they will probably end up losing that first game. They could lose. I think they can win Sunday for sure. But you know, I think Friday and Saturday are up in the air. That Friday's at 7pm NC State, I don't think they've played it okay. Yeah, they played 6pm a couple of times. We'll see.

17:42
Logan Brumley
Overall, I think NC State are cut out for them, but I am confident they can at least win one game and maybe this year. All right, so now let's finish with. Of course we have softball. Well, I mean, when you look at it, interstate softball has not been great. You've likely walked by Tally or Carmichael and see them training or playing. But has that been a success for them? They did well in our out of conference schedule and are 19 and 13. But they set an abysmal one in five in a conference including series losses versus Virginia Tech. Really dominant college softball program and a not as dominant pit. Yeah the Panthers. But they do have some bright spots with good young infield group. They have their pitcher batter Morgan Talley.

18:59
Logan Brumley
She has an on base percentage of.354 and she's gonna get an extra base three stuff too. Seven home runs and 21 RBIs. Just very strong. And of course she does have pitching experience on her side as well. When she's not pitching she'll likely play first, but when she is, she has a 9-3 record. A team lead in 2.89 ERA which isn't that great but will take it especially with an opponent batting average of .190, which is pretty good. So she shares first base duties with Taryn Massey who has a.247 batting average, three home runs and 13 RBIs in her own right which is why it's not leading the team in any major statistic. It is good enough that she gets a shout out and she's a sophomore. I mean a lot of their older great hitters I expect to better, not doing too good.

20:11
Logan Brumley
Tegan Thrunk hasn't hit a home run yet and.222 average. See Hannah Church while she's gonna, she's hitting pretty well actually. But she's not the star. I would say that I feel like kind of goes to wide range of infield hitters as I mentioned before. All of them kind of being freshmen or sophomores who are playing really good and are likely to get poached. In the transfer portal you have Lily Livingston with a.261 bat average, seven home runs and 29 RBIs. Who's in the cleanup spot? Kendall Simmers has a.333 baton average with six home runs and 29 RBIs. And Carly Short has that same baton average as the number two hitter with three home runs and 18 RBIs of her own. Some other notable players. Maia Townsend has an almost.400 baton average as a as the team's kind of center fielder.

21:18
Logan Brumley
And while it's not an impressive hidden outfield, her kind of getting on base a lot has been really helpful for the team. So that's pretty good. I won't go too much into her weekend rotation. I was going to go over Syracuse, but decided that the Arizona State matchup was, let's admit it was a little more exciting I'd say, especially since yeah, the Syracuse matchup is in Syracuse as well. So it's not like you can go out to see it but you can't go out to see Arizona State who is sitting at 23rd in the nation. So it's gonna be a ranked matchup. What do you need to know about this Arizona State squad? Well, they're pretty good. Arizona State has a 238 record but an abysmal in conference record of 3 and 5 compared to their lofty expectations of third in the conference.

22:38
Logan Brumley
NC State does have potential due to the sloppy overall pitching from Arizona State which I know that's a lot coming from NC State but they have Kenzie Brown and Aissa Silva who are both seniors with 320 batting averages. Kenzie Brown 6 and 2 Aissa Silva 72 I think we're most likely going to see Kenzie Brown kind of come in and be that. What's it called, starting pitcher. Let me see if they've confirmed that yet. See. They have not kind officially declared one yet but it looks like it's going to be Kenzie Brown I would say. See, we'll see. Hidden wise they do have some pretty good players. Katie Chester, their first baseman in particular has a almost.400 bat average with 10 home runs and 32 RBIs of her own.

24:03
Logan Brumley
Some other notable hitters we have another good power hitter and center fielder Kaylee Pond. This is a team that's a lot more older, a lot more established. They made NCAA tournament beforehand and they from what I can tell did decently well at it. So yeah, I mean I'm a little concerned for NC State this weekend matchup they have see I think 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 hitters and they're starting nine who have above a.333 batting average. So it's kind of guaranteed like five hits which is giving guaranteed a run maybe sort of probably kind of. I would just kind of be careful. I'm expecting more cataly to start for NC State not softball matchup but it's definitely going to be really tough for her.

25:03
Logan Brumley
But you know if NC State can get that win and then go on and have a good weekend series against Syracuse who if I kind of looking at the stand ins I think is dead last in the conference with a 0 and 5 record. Yeah, I mean there's definitely potential for and he stayed to have a strong record and while they are sitting way outside the top 25 there could be a chance that they kind of start getting themselves taken a little more seriously especially since next weekend is unc. But we'll have to see. That's all I have for you guys today. I hope you enjoyed it and go pack.