How Bryant baseball ended up in the Raleigh Regional
When NC State takes the field at The Doak on Friday night, it will square off with America East champion Bryant to open both teams’ stays in the Raleigh Regional.
The Bulldogs are the lone autobid to the NCAA Tournament playing in the City of Oaks this weekend as the Pack, South Carolina and James Madison all earned their way in via an at-large opportunity. And Bryant is looking to feed off that energy — and momentum — as it makes its first regional appearance since 2016.
Bryant sprinted through the America East Tournament with an unblemished record in its first season playing in the league.
“I think the main goal when we transferred from the NEC to the America East was to prove who we were,” Bryant star Gavin Noriega said. “It was very important for us to win the conference and show everybody what the ‘Dogs can do and we did that this year.”
While the Bulldogs felt they had something to prove this spring, their campaign did not start in the best of ways. Bryant was 1-7 through its first eight games after it dealt with injuries in the preseason.
But being swept in three games at Maryland may have been what the Bulldogs needed to reset. Bryant ripped off a four-game winning streak after that and later went on to finish the regular season on a 35-12 clip.
“We weren’t playing like we knew how to play,” senior infielder Carmine Petosa said. “We decided that it was time and enough was enough. We had to go to work and that’s what we did. Just a bunch of hard working guys.”
All the Bulldogs needed was to find their identity. It turned out that it was a no-quit team — and the entire roster embraced that.
“This team is just relentless,” Bryant senior ace Austin Wainer said. “We’ve had a bunch of injuries throughout the year, it’s kind of dragged us down and our juice and energy in the dugout has always brought us back. Our offense is just relentless, whether we’re down 15 or one, as a pitcher we always trust that they’ll get us on the board.”
Wainer was also a key cog in Bryant’s turnaround. He stepped into the Friday night starter role and exploded onto the scene in the America East.
The right-hander was previously a reliable bullpen arm for the Bulldogs, but with a dire need of a starter, Bryant coach Ryan Klosterman turned to Wainer.
That bet paid off. Wainer leads the Bulldogs with a 7-2 record across 15 starts. He owns a 4.03 ERA in 80.1 innings with 67 strikeouts and 23 walks this spring.
“He likes the big moments, he likes the pressure,” Klosterman said. “As a staff, we just wanted to go with our best. … He’s given us a chance to win, we’ve had a lot of success on Friday nights.”
Now, Wainer will take the mound against NC State to open the Raleigh Regional.
While the Bulldogs are a mid-major champion, the Doak Field atmosphere won’t intimidate its players. Bryant won at Virginia Tech last season and earned a victory at Pittsburgh this spring, in addition to opening the season at UCF.
Klosterman thinks that will be helpful playing in the NCAA Tournament — a first for the program in nearly a decade.
“Everytime you put the schedule together, you try to get these guys prepared for an opportunity like this where we can play in a regional,” Klosterman said. “In that process, you want to make sure that they’re playing on the biggest stages, playing in front of big crowds against the best teams.”
That will be put to the test in front of a sold-out crowd against the Wolfpack on Friday night.
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