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College  | Story  | 2/20/2016

Wolfpack rally late to win big

Jheremy Brown     
Photo: NC State Athletics




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No. 13 NC State 13, No. 21 Coastal Carolina 10

Everything that the Wolfpack did wrong as a team Friday afternoon that ultimately led to their 5-0 demise of Old Dominion was a distant memory as Coach Elliott Avent’s club arrived at the park Saturday afternoon. Opening up the season as a nationally ranked club amongst all national publications and No. 13 by yours truly, North Carolina State came out swinging and actually had two more home runs (five total) than they had hits opening day, a mere three. To see the team rebound as a whole is very promising as nearly every player collected at least a base hit and they did so against several talented Coastal Carolina arms, ultimately outslugging the No. 21 ranked Chanticleers 13-10.

As he was in their opening game, first baseman
Preston Palmeiro proved to be State’s top hitter and arguably the top performer this afternoon regardless of side, though Coastal’s Zach Remillard may have something to say about that. My first viewing of Palmeiro came this spring on the Cape and during my look it appeared as though Palmeiro was pull heavy in his approach and wanted to hit everything to right field, regardless of where it was pitched. The opposite couldn’t be more true over the first two games, especially against Coastal Carolina as Palmeiro showed an advanced and very professional approach at the plate.

In yesterday’s recap I mentioned out loose and quick Palmeiro’s hands are in his lefthanded swing and he once again showed that as he collected four base hits, two of which were doubles and another a solo home run, and finished the day with four RBI. The first double that Palmeiro connected on may have been one of his better swings on the day as he did a nice job of keeping his weight and hands back just long enough on an outer changeup which he appropriately shot to the left-centerfield gap, turning around first in 4.52 seconds. His next at-bat yielded another double to the opposite field and it was a ball he was loft higher into the air that eventually carried in the wind enough to hit off the wall. Showing no problem with velocity in his fourth trip Palmeiro squared a 92 mph fastball back up the gut for a line drive single before crushing a ball to the right of the batter’s eye in his final trip for a solo shot, a ball that looked as though it was hit as high as it was far.

So far it’s been a fruitful opening weekend for Palmeiro and should he continue to show this type of approach and overall advanced feel for hitting he could see his name slide up draft boards come June.


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