The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1389905
42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER "No one expects us to come out of this Super Regional, so there's no pressure on us," Pack junior All-ACC designated hitter Terrell Tatum noted before the best-of-three series was played. "We are just here to play baseball, play the game that we know, that we love, and have as much fun as we can." Arkansas' 21-2 demolishing of NC State in game one seemed to confirm many peo- ple's thoughts on the series — the Wolfpack was nothing but a speed bump on the Razor- backs' path to a dream season. A 6-5 win over Arkansas in game two left Razorbacks head coach Dave Van Horn taking no chances. In the do-or-die game, he was going to use pitcher Kevin Kopps, who was having one of the best seasons in college baseball history. Making It To Omaha Going into game three in Fayetteville, Ark., Kopps had surrendered a meager six earned runs over 81⅔ innings, never walked more than two batters in an appearance and had a perfect 12-0 record. Kopps had al- lowed just 43 hits and 15 walks while strik- ing out 122 batters. He had also never started, doing his work in a variety of relief roles, from long relief to closing, for Arkansas. A two-run homer by Butler in the third inning put the Wolfpack up 2-1 and concern in the Arkansas faithful. A solo homer by the Hogs in the seventh tied the score, but then Torres delivered a hit that will go down in NC State baseball lore. When Torres stepped to the plate to lead off the top of the ninth, he had a game plan. He was waiting on Kopps' cutter. "I was just sitting on the cutter, then fo- cused on it, and I got it," Torres noted. "I was able to put a good swing on it and got a home run out of it." "Kevin made a mistake, and I don't even know how much of a mistake it was," Van Horn said. "I just think Torres went down and hit a good pitch, and hit it a long way." Junior left-hander Evan Justice, who thrived in his role as a closer after be- ginning the season as the opening-game starter, shut the Hogs down in the bottom of the ninth. Arkansas had just lost its first series all year, Kopps took his first loss and NC State was going to the College World Series for the third time in school history. For Avent, it represented his second trip to Omaha. He had been before in 2013. "There's always similarities, but the dif- ference is the team that came out here eight years ago didn't have the hiccups we had with this team," Avent noted. "They didn't start out 1-8, they didn't lose two of their best players in the middle of the year for COVID and contact tracing. "They didn't start … with their shortstop out for the first month of the season and a bullpen decimated by injuries. They didn't have those things to overcome." Junior outfielder Jonny Butler earned All-America honors from four different outlets, after he finished the regular season with an ACC-best .406 batting average. PHOTO BY MARK KUHLMANN/COURTESY NCAA PHOTOS