2017 College Preseason Top 25 Capsules: No. 14 N.C. State

14. North Carolina State

2016 Record (Ranking): 38-22 (25). RPI: 8.
Coach (Record at school): Elliott Avent (755-466, 20 years).
Postseason History: 28 regionals (active streak: 2), 2 CWS trips (last in 2013), 0 national titles.

Watching Coastal Carolina celebrate a national title last June, it was hard for North Carolina State’s players not to think, “That could’ve been us.” The Wolfpack had been just an out away from eliminating Coastal in regionals before giving up its lead in the Raleigh Regional final. Coming on top of a similarly gut-wrenching regional loss at Texas Christian the year before, it’d be easy let those experiences get a team down.

Head coach Elliott Avent sees them differently. The Wolfpack may not have finished the job, but to him it proved it could compete with the country’s best.

“That gives you a certain confidence about where your place is among the elite teams in college baseball,” he said. “But it also gives you awareness that anything can happen, so just don’t take too many things for granted.”

If the Wolfpack is going to break down the door to Omaha for the first time since the Carlos Rodon and Trea Turner-led 2013 team, it’ll lean on an offense that returns six starters from a unit that ranked fourth in the Atlantic Coast Conference in scoring a year ago at 6.9 runs per game. The lineup won’t have any true boppers after losing Chance Shepard (team-high 15 homers a year ago), but it should be dangerous from top to bottom.

Outfielders Josh McLain and Brock Deatherage bring explosive athleticism to both sides of the ball, and the lineup is filled with well-rounded hitters like Evan Mendoza, Brett Kinneman, Stephen Pitarra and freshman Will Wilson. Joe Dunand, the nephew of Alex Rodriguez, may have the most raw power of the group, while freshman catcher Brad Debo, the biggest prize in NCSU’s 17th-ranked recruiting class, adds another high-ceiling bat.

“We’re not expecting tremendous power from anybody, even though everybody has power on this ballclub,” Avent said. “Nor do we need that. We want to be very competitive, very scrappy. One through nine, and with some guys off the bench, we want to have ways that we can get to the bullpen early and not let starting pitchers go six, seven, eight innings against us.”

The pitching staff is where the questions lie, as the Wolfpack has to replace both its best starter (Ryan Williamson) and best reliever (Will Gilbert) from last year. Veteran pitchability lefty Brian Brown returns to front the rotation, joined by hard-throwing freshman Dalton Feeney, an unsigned 40th-round pick in last year’s draft and the No. 237 prospect on the BA500.

The third starter’s spot is more up in the air. Cody Beckman has never started a game for NCSU but was still a 25th-round pick in last year’s draft and got some experience starting games in summer ball. He’ll compete for the role with power armed junior Tommy DeJuneas, the team’s former closer, along with senior Cory Wilder. Former starter Johnny Piedmonte has moved to the back of the bullpen, where his stuff has played up in shorter bursts.

“I think our staff is deep,” Avent said. “I think it’s very, very deep. Sometimes it can be too deep and you can’t pitch everybody. There’s a lot of programs where probably seven guys get most of the work, but we’ve always probably pitched a few more than that here. We do have a deep staff. Early on, we’ve got to figure out who can come in in what role and accomplish what.”

2017 LINEUP
Pos.	Name, Yr.	AVG	OBP	SLG	HR	RBI	SB
C	Brad Debo, Fr.	HS—Hillsborough, N.C.
1B	Shane Shepard, Jr	.258	.396	.461	2	13	1
2B	Stephen Pitarra, Jr.	.291	.376	.347	0	25	2
3B	Evan Mendoza, Jr.	.362	.417	.449	4	33	3
SS	Joe Dunand, Jr.	.297	.345	.424	4	41	3
LF	Brett Kinneman, So.	.296	.405	.526	6	32	2
CF	Josh McLain, Jr.	.300	.359	.465	4	37	13
RF	Brock Deatherage, Jr.	.317	.395	.482	6	39	14
DH	Will Wilson, Fr.	HS—Kings Mountain, N.C.
Pos.	Name, Yr.	W	L	ERA	IP	SO	SV
LHP	Brian Brown, Jr.	7	3	3.70	88	79	0
RHP	Dalton Feeney, Fr.	HS—Bismarck, N.D.
RHP	Cody Beckman, R-Jr.	2	0	6.05	19	23	0
RP	Johnny Piedmonte, R-Sr.	1	3	5.56	34	28	1