OMAHA, Neb. – With half his roster unavailable because of coronavirus concerns, North Carolina State baseball coach Elliott Avent gave his remaining players two choices before their College World Series game against Vanderbilt on Friday: Play or forfeit.
“Let me know what you want to do,” Avent said he told them. “Took about probably six seconds. That’s who they are. We found a way to make it work.”
The Wolfpack were more competitive than would have been expected under the circumstances against Vanderbilt, the No. 4 national seed and the reigning NCAA champion, but Kumar Rocker struck out 11 batters in six innings as the Commodores won 3-1, handing N.C. State its first loss at this College World Series.
The last two teams remaining in their four-team bracket at TD Ameritrade Park Omaha, N.C. State (37-19) and Vanderbilt (48-16) meet again Saturday, with the winner advancing to the best-of-three title series that starts Monday.
“If you get a knock here or there, we might be talking about playing for the national championship starting on Monday,” Avent said. “Now we’ve got to come back tomorrow and beat a really good Vanderbilt team. And we’ve got to go back and regroup here and see what’s going to happen.”