The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1436409
32 ■ THE WOLFPACKER between .833 and .899 is considered very good. Avent said he believes that Jarrett, who hit .251 with a homer, 11 doubles and a triple, will prove to be one of the best defensive second basemen in school history. Jarrett had a .991 fielding percentage a year ago with just two errors. Jarrett played outfield against Duke because Avent wanted to get a look at a group of high- upside newcomers. Two are transfers: redshirt junior Josh Hood from Penn and sophomore LuJames Groover III from Charlotte. Hood was drafted in the 20th round by the Boston Red Sox but opted to stay in col- lege. He was the unanimous selection for Ivy League Rookie of the Year and was first-team all-conference in 2019 when he batted .331 with a team-best eight homers for Penn. The Ivy League canceled baseball the past two seasons. Groover led Charlotte with a .351 batting average in 54 games, including four homers, and was named to the Conference USA All- Freshman Team. Two highly regarded freshmen who have joined the team are Payton Green from Cary, N.C., and Tommy White from St. Pete Beach, Fla. Green was chosen in the 15th round by the Red Sox but elected not to sign. Perfect Game USA rated White the No. 18 prospect nationally in the 2021 class and the top third baseman. Freshman catcher Jacob Cozart from High Point, N.C., was ranked No. 133 nationally in the class by Perfect Game, but like White went undrafted due to a strong commitment to NC State. He and transfers Jacob Godman from College of Southern Nevada and Matt Oldham from Elon will try to replace Luca Tresh, who caught all 56 games a year ago. In the outfield, sophomore Dominic Pilolli transferred in from Charlotte, where he was hitting .274 with four homers, two triples, five doubles and nine stolen bases through 29 games before his season was cut short by injury. Sophomores Noah Soles and Trey Truitt, junior college transfer Brady Lavoie, and freshmen Chase Nixon and Carter Lindsay are other options. Nixon, who homered in the Duke scrim- mage, is the son of former longtime MLB outfielder Trot Nixon, a former two-sport star in high school who enrolled at NC State to be a quarterback and baseball player but then signed with the Red Sox, after the franchise selected him in the first round in 1993. On The Mound Avent has a little more familiarity with his pitchers thanks to the return of the talented sophomore trio of Sam Highfill, Chris Villa- man and Matt Willadsen. But Avent is quick to point out that the loss of Reid Johnston and Evan Justice means 14 wins and 14 saves are gone from last year's team, which finished 37-19. Justice in particular thrived when con- verted to an overpowering lefty closer, sav- ing 13 games with impressive numbers. He struck out 74 batters over 59.2 innings and allowed opponents to hit just .188 off him. When asked if anybody may be able to replace Justice, Avent half-joked, "Mariano Rivera," referring to the first-ever unani- mous selection to the MLB Hall of Fame. "Nobody on this staff, I think, is going to be able to replace Evan Justice," the coach added. "What Evan Justice did for NC State last year, I haven't seen done since I've been here. It wasn't just what the fans saw on the mound, it was what we saw every day in the locker room. "We just have to find ways to close games, but nobody is going to replace him." The trio of Highfill, Villaman and Wil- ladsen is a good starting point for the staff, however. Highfill outdueled the top pitcher taken in the 2021 MLB Draft, Jack Leiter of Vanderbilt, during a 1-0 NC State win in the College World Series. He finished last season with a 9-2 record and 3.66 earned run average over 16 starts and 93.1 innings. Villaman alternated between starter and reliever, and the lefty may have some of the best stuff on the staff. He was 5-2 in 2021 with a 4.35 ERA in 60.0 innings, giving up just 45 hits and striking out 71 batters. He tossed a complete game one-hitter at UNC Greensboro and threw 4.1 innings of hitless ball in relief during the ACC title game loss to Duke. Willadsen was 5-3 on the mound, and he was the starter in the Super Regional series- clinching game three victory over Arkansas, throwing four scoreless innings. Willadsen had a 4.73 ERA in 83.2 innings and tossed a complete-game shutout at Boston College. The key for Avent and pitching coach Clint Chrysler is to find more arms to fill out the staff and bullpen. "We feel like we have some great depth," Avent said. "We feel like we are going to have some newcomers that are going to help us. Clint Chrysler does such a good job. He's a fabulous pitching coach, such a great communicator." One name to watch could be sophomore righty Garrett Payne, who made his first career start in the College World Series re- match with Vanderbilt. Part of the famous #Pack13 — the 13 players who were al- lowed to play in the contest due to CO- VID-19 — Payne, who at that point had thrown 8.2 innings all season, went 5.0 in- nings and allowed just two hits with one earned run. "Garrett Payne gained so much confi- dence through that outing in that crazy game with Vanderbilt," Avent noted. "That not only gave him confidence as a player, it gave him the sense of who he could be." ■ Sophomore pitcher Sam Highfill went 9-2 last season with a 3.66 ERA in 16 starts and outdueled the top pitcher taken in the 2021 MLB Draft, Jack Leiter of Vanderbilt, at the College World Series. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS/MCLEAN ROBERTS