The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1389905
40 ■ THE WOLFPACKER BY MATT CARTER xpectations were high for head coach Elliott Avent's baseball squad entering the 2021 season, but when the Pack was a win away from making the champi- onship series in Omaha, Neb., it seemed improbable. Along the way, the baseball team took NC State fans on one of the most memo- rable rides in recent school history, which is saying a lot in a year where many Wolf- pack teams reached new heights in national relevance. Football won a school-record seven ACC games. Women's basketball took home a second straight ACC Tournament title and received its first-ever No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Women's cross coun- try and women's swimming each finished second at their respective NCAA Champi- onship meets. Women's tennis reached the Final Four for the first time in school his- tory. Wrestling and men's swimming each notched top-10 finishes at nationals. Yet the lasting memory from the 2020-21 athletics season, a year like no other in col- legiate sports, will be a baseball team that turned out to be great, like anticipated, but in a manner completely unexpected. It's why the Wolfpack baseball team is The Wolfpacker's Male Team of the Year. Overcoming A Slow Start The team that was picked this preseason to finish No. 2 in the stacked Atlantic Di- vision of the ACC and considered to be a potential College World Series contender looked nothing like that in the opening weeks of the schedule. In hindsight, there were logical explana- tions for the slow start, which included the E MALE TEAM OF THE YEAR BASEBALL NATIONAL CHAMPION NATIONAL CHAMPION WORTHY WORTHY NC State's Baseball Team Had A Season To Remember NC State baseball went on the road to beat No. 1 Arkansas in the Super Regional to punch the Wolfpack's third- ever ticket to the College World Series. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS