OMAHA, Neb. — Sam Highfill jogged out of the bullpen in right field at the end of North Carolina State’s practice Thursday at Charles Scwhab Field Omaha, stopped to sign a few autographs for kids along the railing, then finished his trek to the dugout to grab a drink and yuk it up with teammates.
No return trip to the College World Series was ever promised three years ago, when the Wolfpack were sent home by the NCAA amid a COVID-19 outbreak on the team. Four players from that 2021 roster, including Highfill, have made it back to the eight-team event with two double-elimination brackets setting up a best-of-three title series, and they’re savoring every moment.
The Wolfpack (10-21) — who were seeded 10th when the 64-team bracket for the NCAA Division I tournament was set three weeks ago — are set to face No. 2 Kentucky (45-14) in a first-round game at 2 p.m. Eastern on Saturday.
This is the fourth CWS appearance overall for N.C. State, and three have come under the direction of Elliott Avent, the program’s head coach since 1997. After the Wolfpack’s initial appearance in 1968, they didn’t make it back until 2013 before going again in 2021.
The 2022 team lost to rival North Carolina in the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament final but did not receive an at-large bid to the NCAA tourney, while last year’s Wolfpack made the 64-team field but failed to advance as a regional No. 3 seed. While a two-year CWS absence may not seem like much in the big picture, college baseball careers are relatively short, and the feeling of unfinished business is strong with N.C. State players who were around in 2021.
“It’s so incredibly hard to get here, and we found that out the last couple years,” said Highfill, who was off to a solid start as a freshman in 2020 before the pandemic canceled the remainder of that season in mid-March. “Everybody you have to beat to get here is such a good team. The goal is always to be back, and I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.”
AP photo by Rebecca S. Gratz / N.C. State baseball players, including Sam Highfill, right, wait in and around the dugout in during a delay due to COVID-19 protocol before playing Vanderbilt at the College World Series on June 25, 2021.June 25, 2021, was a dark day in Wolfpack sports history. N.C. State, after wins in its first two games at that year’s CWS, had only 13 players available for an afternoon game against Vanderbilt; the other 14 were sick, had tested positive for the coronavirus or were ruled out through contact tracing. After a team vote, the shorthanded Wolfpack elected to play anyway.
The Commodores won 3-1, but the Wolfpack — who had beaten Stanford 10-4 in their CWS opener six days earlier and Vanderbilt 1-0 two days after that — gave a game effort.
Highfill, normally a starting pitcher, filled in at first base and went 3-for-4 at the plate, even though he hadn’t batted in a college game for more than a year. Garrett Payne, who had pitched a total of 8 1/3 innings over six relief appearances, gave up two hits over five innings, but an error and a wild pitch led to two runs. Payne was with the team this season until entering the NCAA transfer portal last week.
Even though the Wolfpack lost, they were looking forward to a winner-take-all bracket final against Vanderbilt the next day for a spot in the championship series. Shortly after midnight, the NCAA announced further testing and contact tracing made it impossible for N.C. State to continue in the CWS, and Vanderbilt was sent to the title series.
“It was a roller coaster of a day,” Highfill said. “So many good and bad memories from that 24-hour period.”
Avent said telling his players they were going home was his toughest discussion in four decades as a college head coach: “I didn’t see a dry eye or smile the entire bus ride to the airport, entire flight home.”
The Commodores, in the CWS finals for the fourth time in an eight-year span, lost to fellow Southeastern Conference program Misssippi State as the series went all three games.
Joining Highfill from the 2021 team at the CWS this year are Carson Falsken, Noah Soles and Logan Whitaker. Highfill, Soles and Whitaker are all from North Carolina.
AP photo by Ben McKeown / N.C. State pitcher Cooper Consiglio shouts after completing an inning for the host Wolfpack against South Carolina on June 1 in the NCAA tournament’s Raleigh Regional. The Wolpack went 3-0 in their regional, then took two of three games against No. 10 Georgia in the Athens Super Regional to advance to this year’s College World Series.N.C. State went 3-0 while hosting the Raleigh Regional two weeks ago, then blitzed No. 7 Georgia with an 18-1 victory last Saturday to open the best-of-three Athens Super Regional. The host Bulldogs responded with an 11-2 win the next day to force a Monday night rubber match for the last available CWS berth, but the Wolfpack extended their season by winning 8-5.
In the postgame news conference, Avent said he was glad for the opportunity, pointing out that for multiple players — he mentioned Highfill by name — it was their last chance.
“There’s nothing like walking on that field there in Omaha,” Avent said.
Avent said the sting of having to leave the CWS in such jarring fashion in 2021 wore off when the team returned to its stadium in Raleigh, where about 2,000 fans were waiting.
“They had a microphone, and I spoke and players spoke,” said Avent, who studied at N.C. State — but did not play baseball for the Wolfpack — before later graduating from Virginia Commonwealth University. “That’s when I saw the healing process begin and the smiles come back on the faces. And they knew how admired they were. I think that was America’s team that year.”
That doesn’t mean Avent agreed then, or now, with the NCAA officials who made the decision to remove his team. Three years later, he said he doesn’t dwell on it.
“It doesn’t mean I’ve forgotten, and it doesn’t mean I’ve forgiven,” he said. “Because I haven’t.”
Whom would the coach forgive if he wanted to?
Said Avent: “They know who they are.”