During an improbable run to Omaha and the College World Series, the N.C. State baseball team inspired belief among Wolfpack supporters who’ve long waited for something, anything, to celebrate during a decades-long national championship drought.
For a while, it felt like N.C. State baseball might rekindle the men’s basketball magic of 1983.
And yet this year, like so many before it, ended in heartbreak.
This one hurt worse than others, perhaps, because State did not lose on the field but off of it. It lost to COVID-19, which at first left the Wolfpack depleted in a defeat on Friday and then, based on NCAA protocol, forced it out of the College World Series, a victory away from playing for a long-coveted national championship.
Just days ago, after a 2-0 start in Omaha, N.C. State almost appeared destined to reach the College World Series’ best-of-three finale. Then everything unraveled without the Wolfpack ever seeing a pitch.
Talking to the media Friday night after N.C. State’s 3-1 loss to Vanderbilt, coach Elliot Avent wouldn’t say whether or not he was vaccinated or if he encouraged his players to avoid or take the vaccine that could have protected them from such a situation.
“The parents drop their young men off and leave in my care,” Avent said. “They’ve raised them to be the quality people that we recruit. My job is to teach them baseball, make sure they get an education and keep them on the right track going forward. But I don’t try to indoctrinate the kids with my values or my opinions.
”Obviously we talk about a lot of things. But these are young men who can make their own decisions and that’s what they did,” he said.
A destiny denied?
The NCAA’s COVID-19 protocols forced N.C. State to play without several starters during a 3-1 defeat against Vanderbilt on Friday afternoon. The teams were set to meet on Saturday for a third time in the College World Series, but that won’t happen.
The same virus-related problems ended the Wolfpack’s season.
Following Friday’s game, in a Zoom news conference with reporters, Avent said he was still trying to figure out why some players couldn’t play and others could, as well as who might be available for a Saturday game.
“Quite frankly I have no understanding of what happened today,” Avent said Friday.
Defeat did not come on the field, but instead in an announcement at 2:10 a.m. on Saturday. In a tweet, the NCAA announced then that the Wolfpack’s game against Vanderbilt had been declared “a no-contest because of COVID-19 protocols.”
“This decision was made based on the recommendations of the championship medical team and the Douglas County Health Department,” the NCAA announced. “As a result, Vanderbilt will advance to the CWS Finals.”
The announcement brought a sudden, swift end to a postseason run that made believers out of the most beleaguered Wolfpack faithful. The Wolfpack recovered from a 1-8 start in the ACC to become one of the league’s best teams, and it was at its best when spring began to turn to summer.
“The last 24 hours have been extremely difficult for everyone involved and my heart goes out to the student-athletes, coaches and staff of our baseball program,” N.C. State athletic director Boo Corrigan said in a statement released by the school on Saturday. “This is an excruciating way to have their season come to a conclusion.”
Wolfpack’s College World Series run
After a 1-0 defeat against Duke in the ACC tournament championship game, State won three consecutive games, including two against host Louisiana Tech, to advance out of an NCAA regional in Ruston, La. The Wolfpack advanced to a Super Regional at Arkansas, where the Razorbacks were the No. 1 national seed.
Arkansas dealt N.C. State a 21-2 defeat in the first of a three-game series, but, unlikely as it seemed after Game 1, the Wolfpack won the next two games to advance to the College World Series for the third time. It then delivered sterling pitching performances in victories against Stanford and Vanderbilt.
The 2-0 start in Omaha put State in prime position to advance to a best-of-three series to decide the national champion. The Wolfpack needed but one more victory to reach the championship series. Then news emerged Friday that N.C. State would have to play without several contributors because of NCAA COVID-19 protocols.
The Wolfpack had but 13 players, including only four pitchers, available on Friday. And though it prevailed in a 1-0 victory against Vanderbilt earlier in the week, State’s 3-1 defeat on Friday in some ways more personified its resiliency. The Commodores arrived in Omaha the most recent winner of the College World Series, in 2019.
“To have the season abruptly end this way is devastating,” ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips said in a statement on Saturday. “Watching this team, especially in the postseason, has been nothing short of inspiring and we applaud the entire program for the resiliency it has shown this season.”
After his team’s defeat on Friday, Avent spoke of his team’s toughness and expressed uncertainty about which of his players might be available on Saturday. At the time, he was hoping there would be a Saturday.
“When I get the information that the NCAA deems appropriate, then we’ll go from there,” Avent told reporters.
He was, at the time, looking forward to tomorrow, but for the Wolfpack tomorrow never came. Fewer than 10 hours after its final loss on the field, its dream run ended off of it.
On Saturday, N.C. State’s student-athlete advisory committee (SAAC) posted a message on its Twitter feed asking for more transparency about the situation.
“Pack United, SAAC and all of N.C. State athletes stand in solidarity with our baseball team who had their championship hopes dashed in the middle of the night,” the statement read. “The NCAA has shown time and time again that they do not have their athletes best interests at heart. NCAA leaders continue to abandon any semblance of leadership on issues of importance to athletes and the lack of guidance and transparency demonstrates that change is a necessity.”
NCAA’S COVID-19 protocols
In a statement posted on its Twitter feed around 2:30 p.m. on Friday, N.C. State athletics said “an undisclosed number of players from the team have been put into COVID-19 protocol and will be unavailable for today’s game. N.C. State, the NCAA and appropriate parties are working together to monitor the situation.”
It’s unclear if only unvaccinated players on N.C. State’s team were tested or placed into COVID-19 protocol or quarantine.
N.C. State did not respond to calls and texts from The News &Observer on Friday or Saturday. But in a statement from the school Saturday, Avent said: “This is a heartbreaking situation and I’m gutted for everyone involved and for all those that were captivated by the heart and fight of this team.””
Here’s a look at the NCAA’s COVID-19 protocols for all championship games.
— Championships will have a “controlled environment” for all Tier 1 personnel, which is players, coaches and staff, according to the NCAA. That includes following safety rules from when they leave home until they leave the championship site. In this case, Omaha.
— College World Series participating teams called for a negative antigen test within one day of arrival or a negative PCR test within two days of arrival for Tier 1 personnel.
— The same personnel was tested upon arrival. Anyone testing positive would quarantine until confirmed negative. Otherwise, teams were tested every other day while participating on-site.
— The NCAA says fully vaccinated players and other Tier 1 individuals with no COVID-19-like symptoms may be exempt from routine testing.
— Players and other Tier 1 participants who are not vaccinated must continue to undergo testing at NCAA championships.
— Should state or local authorities require testing of vaccinated individuals, their guidance will supersede this policy and vaccinated individuals will be required to be tested