Elliott Avent: "You've Got to Play a Little Better Than We Played Tonight"

NC State head coach Elliott Avent met with the media following the Wolfpack's 9-4 loss to No. 2 North Carolina Thursday evening.

NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Avent’s interview.

Overall thoughts...

We played hard which we always do. We played really well at times. [North Carolina’s Jason] DeCaro, I don't think he had given up an earned run his last three starts, and we got him out in the fifth inning and did a great job against [Caden] Glauber. Glauber's been almost unhittable all year, and we did a great job against him, got his pitch count above 40, and did the same with [Walker] McDuffie. So we did a lot of good things. I thought Heath [Andrews] threw a lot better than the numbers are going to say on that paper. Heath, I thought, threw pretty good tonight. They got the two home runs — of course, the winds made it an offensive ballpark today — but we didn't make a couple plays, and that led to four runs. We hit a guy and made an error, and the next thing you know, they got a four--spot, so that was tough. Then another error later led to another run. We had a shot, but when you play the No. 2 team in the country — they're deserving of that ranking; they're very, very good — you’ve got to play a little better than we played tonight.

On Andrews striking out the side in the sixth inning after allowing five runs in the fifth...

He's a competitor, like I said. He's a three year starter, one of the guys who helped get us to the 2024 World Series, and he's been through all the stuff. So yeah, he's quite a competitor. I just thought he had good stuff tonight. They're a good hitting team. I thought he had good stuff. It's just didn't show. We're a really good defensive team, I think one of the top defensive teams in the league. Tonight, we made a couple mistakes, which you're going to make, but they cost you sometimes.

On the starting rotation for the rest of the weekend...

Coach [Clint] Chrysler is going to make that decision, and I don't want to say it publicly. I'm pretty sure whom we're going with, but I don't want to say it.

On Michael Ragusa pitching an inning of relief, building his work load after starting the season injured...

He missed so much time with a [pulled lateral], and having him back is a plus. He's just coming back, so his stamina is not up, but he threw really well in that one inning.

On the positive takeaways from the game...

I just thought we played really well at times. Like I said, we did a good job offensively, but you’ve got to play really good to beat this club. This club's really good.

On the silver lining of seeing the Tar Heels’ best relievers so early in the series...

I don't make their decisions on who they use, but anyway, I thought we did a good job against them.