Tuesday, February 25
Raleigh, N.C.
4:00 p.m.
Davidson College
at
No. 6 NC State
Forrest Brandt last season at NC State
Watch Davidson at No. 6 NC State Today 4 PM on ESPN3
2/25/2014 10:50:00 AM | Baseball
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- Davidson starter LHP Rob Bain made his first career start at NC State two years ago as a freshman. In 2.2 innings he surrendered eight runs on seven hits, but just one run was earned as the 'Cats had a rough day defensively, committing eight errors.
- The Wildcats faired much better against State last season, but ultimately yielded the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, 4-3.
- Davidson finally played its home opener this past weekend after snow erased the opening series scheduled Feb. 14-16 against Buffalo. The 'Cats defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-2, and then split with Mount St. Mary's.
- LF Lee Miller batted 6-for-7 with two doubles in the first two games this season, and is now batting .538 with three doubles through four games to lead the team. RF Nathan Becker leads the team with six RBIs, which all came Sunday thanks in part to his first career grand slam. RHP/DH Ryan Lowe is tops in on-base percentage after tying a school, single-game record with four walks Sunday against The Mount.
- RHP Danny Mooney was the 'Cats' top pitcher the opening week, pitching an inning at Wake Forest and not allowing an earned run in 6.0 innings against Fairleigh Dickinson Friday. RHP Matt Saeta was the relief ace, nearly getting a two-inning save at Wake Forest and closing out FDU.
- The Wildcats have yet to trail entering the ninth inning through four games this season.
- Davidson's last win over a nationally-ranked team was in 2011 against No. 21 College of Charleston. The Wildcats have gone 0-6 since against nationally-ranked teams, but have had three one-run losses: No. 6 North Carolina, 4-5 (3/6/12), No. 3 South Carolina, 1-2 (5/2/12) and No. 6 NC State, 3-4 (4/23/13)
SCOUTING NC STATE
The nationally-ranked Wolfpack are off to a 6-1 start this season, playing four games against SoCon opponents. They went undefeated, winning one against Elon and completing a three-game sweep of Appalachian State. Their lone loss was to Canisius in the season opener. NC State entered the season with its highest preseason ranking ever - No. 5 according to Baseball America - and was picked to finish second in the ACC's Atlantic Division by the league's coaches. LHP Carlos Rodon and SS Trea Turner were named preseason All-Americans by multiple publications, and Turner leads the team with a .423 batting average and is also 6-for-7 stealing bases.
BLANKED: Davidson used five pitchers in its shutout win over Mount St. Mary's (2/23). It was the first time Davidson had five pitchers combine for a shutout since 2009. The final three pitchers used against The Mount - Cody White, Jonathan Carkhuff and Chase Plebani - were making their collegiate pitching debuts.
GRIDIRON TO DIAMOND: Senior Jonathan Carkhuff became Davidson's all-time passing leader as a four-year starter for the football team, but is now concluding his Wildcat career as a relief pitcher. He had not played competitive baseball since high school, where he was an all-area player. Carkhuff made his debut against Mount St. Mary's (2/23), contributing to a combined shutout with a scoreless inning in which he surrendered two hits and a walk.
WALK THIS WAY: Ryan Lowe tied a school record for walks in a game with four against Mount St. Mary's. Many have achieved the feat, but Lowe was the first to do it since Michael Zeblo '13 in 2012.
DOUBLE DUTY: Ryan Lowe is one of 28 players in the country this season that is in the everyday lineup and weekend pitching rotation.
LEADOFF LEADOFF: Senior Forrest Brandt has been batting leadoff for the first time in his career this season. He had typically batted second, third or fourth, but he led the team last season with 11 stolen bases.
GRAND OPENING, PART 2: Davidson's past two home opening weekends have featured grand slams. Forrest Brandt hit one in the season opener against George Washington in 2013, and then Nathan Becker hit one against Mount St. Mary's (2/23) in the final game of the 2014 opening weekend.
EXTENDED OPENING: Davidson's season opener at Wake Forest (2/18) was the first to even enter extra innings since 1930, and at 12 innings, was the longest in school history.
FLIP-FLOP: After snow forced the cancelation of Davidson's opening series against Buffalo, soggy conditions on Wilson Field also forced Davidson to flip-flop its home-and-home series against Wake Forest. The Wildcats traveled to Wake Tuesday for their opener when they were supposed to host, but they will now host the Demon Decons on March 18.
Catching the Action
Watch Davidson take on No. 6 NC State live at 4 p.m. today on ESPN3. Twitter updates will be available from @DavidsonWildcat.
LEADING OFF
- This will be Davidson's second game against an ACC opponent in a week, as the Wildcats opened their season at Wake Forest Tuesday, Feb. 18. Davidson led most of the game, but allowed an unearned run in the bottom of the ninth inning and lost in the 12th inning.LEADING OFF
- Davidson starter LHP Rob Bain made his first career start at NC State two years ago as a freshman. In 2.2 innings he surrendered eight runs on seven hits, but just one run was earned as the 'Cats had a rough day defensively, committing eight errors.
- The Wildcats faired much better against State last season, but ultimately yielded the game in the bottom of the ninth inning, 4-3.
- Davidson finally played its home opener this past weekend after snow erased the opening series scheduled Feb. 14-16 against Buffalo. The 'Cats defeated Fairleigh Dickinson, 4-2, and then split with Mount St. Mary's.
- LF Lee Miller batted 6-for-7 with two doubles in the first two games this season, and is now batting .538 with three doubles through four games to lead the team. RF Nathan Becker leads the team with six RBIs, which all came Sunday thanks in part to his first career grand slam. RHP/DH Ryan Lowe is tops in on-base percentage after tying a school, single-game record with four walks Sunday against The Mount.
- RHP Danny Mooney was the 'Cats' top pitcher the opening week, pitching an inning at Wake Forest and not allowing an earned run in 6.0 innings against Fairleigh Dickinson Friday. RHP Matt Saeta was the relief ace, nearly getting a two-inning save at Wake Forest and closing out FDU.
- The Wildcats have yet to trail entering the ninth inning through four games this season.
- Davidson's last win over a nationally-ranked team was in 2011 against No. 21 College of Charleston. The Wildcats have gone 0-6 since against nationally-ranked teams, but have had three one-run losses: No. 6 North Carolina, 4-5 (3/6/12), No. 3 South Carolina, 1-2 (5/2/12) and No. 6 NC State, 3-4 (4/23/13)
THE SERIES
VS. NC STATE: Davidson trails in the all-time series, 31-86, with State claiming the last six meetings. Davidson last won in 2000, 7-5. Last season, No. 6 NC State never led until the end, but a sacrifice fly by James Fincher gave the Wolfpack a 4-3, walk-off win. Sam Foy led Davidson, going 3-for-4, while Forrest Brandt went 2-for-3 with a walk. Davidson scored three runs in the fifth inning and held NC State scoreless until allowing a run in the sixth inning. Fincher then drove in runners from second and third base with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game. Davidson got a pair of runners on in the eighth but came up empty, and then went down in order in the top of the ninth.SCOUTING NC STATE
The nationally-ranked Wolfpack are off to a 6-1 start this season, playing four games against SoCon opponents. They went undefeated, winning one against Elon and completing a three-game sweep of Appalachian State. Their lone loss was to Canisius in the season opener. NC State entered the season with its highest preseason ranking ever - No. 5 according to Baseball America - and was picked to finish second in the ACC's Atlantic Division by the league's coaches. LHP Carlos Rodon and SS Trea Turner were named preseason All-Americans by multiple publications, and Turner leads the team with a .423 batting average and is also 6-for-7 stealing bases.
NOTES
EXCLUSIVE GROUP: Chris Dyer became just the second catcher to ever to catch NC State's Trea Turner stealing second base in last season's meeting between the Wildcats and Wolfpack. Turner became NC State's all-time leader in stolen bases after just 94 games.BLANKED: Davidson used five pitchers in its shutout win over Mount St. Mary's (2/23). It was the first time Davidson had five pitchers combine for a shutout since 2009. The final three pitchers used against The Mount - Cody White, Jonathan Carkhuff and Chase Plebani - were making their collegiate pitching debuts.
GRIDIRON TO DIAMOND: Senior Jonathan Carkhuff became Davidson's all-time passing leader as a four-year starter for the football team, but is now concluding his Wildcat career as a relief pitcher. He had not played competitive baseball since high school, where he was an all-area player. Carkhuff made his debut against Mount St. Mary's (2/23), contributing to a combined shutout with a scoreless inning in which he surrendered two hits and a walk.
WALK THIS WAY: Ryan Lowe tied a school record for walks in a game with four against Mount St. Mary's. Many have achieved the feat, but Lowe was the first to do it since Michael Zeblo '13 in 2012.
DOUBLE DUTY: Ryan Lowe is one of 28 players in the country this season that is in the everyday lineup and weekend pitching rotation.
LEADOFF LEADOFF: Senior Forrest Brandt has been batting leadoff for the first time in his career this season. He had typically batted second, third or fourth, but he led the team last season with 11 stolen bases.
GRAND OPENING, PART 2: Davidson's past two home opening weekends have featured grand slams. Forrest Brandt hit one in the season opener against George Washington in 2013, and then Nathan Becker hit one against Mount St. Mary's (2/23) in the final game of the 2014 opening weekend.
EXTENDED OPENING: Davidson's season opener at Wake Forest (2/18) was the first to even enter extra innings since 1930, and at 12 innings, was the longest in school history.
FLIP-FLOP: After snow forced the cancelation of Davidson's opening series against Buffalo, soggy conditions on Wilson Field also forced Davidson to flip-flop its home-and-home series against Wake Forest. The Wildcats traveled to Wake Tuesday for their opener when they were supposed to host, but they will now host the Demon Decons on March 18.
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