College Baseball: Monty’s Musings, Week 1

Welcome to the first edition of Monty’s Musings, a weekly college baseball segment in which I provide my thoughts and reactions to specific storylines and performances. Most of these observations will occur from games I attend, often including post-game quotes from coaches and players.

The 2025 season got underway on Friday, and the entire weekend was packed with double headers, rain delays, walk-offs, and season debuts. I spent my weekend in the research triangle of North Carolina, where Duke and UNC hosted Big 12 opponents and NC State faced off against Fordham. 

NC State’s Dom Fritton: Bounce-back Candidate?

North Carolina State was one of the country’s first 2-0 teams, thanks to a doubleheader sweep on Friday. The story of the weekend for the Wolfpack is undoubtedly the offensive explosion after losing such productive hitters as Garrett Pennington, Alec Makarewicz, Jacob Cozart, and Eli Serrano III.

Elliott Avent’s squad scored 42 runs over the three-game set, which may have put those offensive concern questions to bed.

My highlight was seeing junior southpaw Dominic Fritton take the mound on Friday in the opening game. In 2023, Fritton was a freshman All-American boasting a sub-4.00 ERA while striking out 75 batters over 62.2 innings pitched.

His sophomore year, however, was a bit of a disappointment as the 6’1” hurler struggled with consistency and saw his season ERA balloon to 7.64 over 17 appearances. His home runs allowed total jump from seven to 22 while pitching fewer innings than the previous year.

Debuting in 2025 as the Friday starter, I was looking to see what development and adjustments Fritton has made since last season. There was still some inconsistency between innings, but their command improved vastly as his fastball sat in the low 90s, and his slider showed good movement. 

 “He had a really good fastball,” Avent said of his ace post-game. “[He] got his breaking ball over better late in the game. But I was hoping [he] was going to pound the zone a little more.”

Overall, Fritton went 4.1 innings in his debut and didn’t give up an earned run. He allowed three hits, two walks, and plunked a pair of hitters but struck out five and generated quite a few whiffs on the day. Of his 83 pitches, 52 were thrown for strikes.

He was still slightly inconsistent, but I’m optimistic after seeing his improvements firsthand. If he can maintain command of the fastball and slider, he’ll have a much improved season in 2025.

Duke’s Jack Coombs Field Debuts First Phase of Renovations

It wasn’t the weekend result Duke had hoped for following their season-opening series loss to visiting Cincinnati, but I was extremely impressed with the upgrades made over the offseason to the Blue Devils’ Jack Coombs Park.

The first of three phases of construction began last August and is mostly completed as of this writing. New dugouts and updated field dimensions highlight the upgrades. In contrast, new bullpens and a hospitality area behind the outfield fence will be utilized at some point shortly this season.

Additional features include an outdoor hitting facility and upgrades to lighting and player development facilities. The changes to the dugout alone made the ballpark feel much more like a new age and no longer obstruct fans’ views. 

“I thought the field played well, the dugouts are amazing,” said Duke Head Coach Chris Pollard following Friday’s game. “I thought we had a great opening day crowd. I thought it was really, really cool to see how our fans and our players and everybody were able to take advantage of the stadium enhancements.”

The new outfield dimensions were more subtle and yet more important to the play on the field. Historically a very pitcher-friendly park, Duke has since brought in the outfield walls about 10 feet and now sits 320 down the outfield lines and 390 to straight away center field.

The park appeared to play smaller despite chilly temperatures, as the Blue Devils and Cincinnati each had their share of home runs on the weekend.

“It played smaller, but I thought it played true,” Pollard told me. “I didn’t think it played like a band box. But a couple of those balls were gonna get out of either fence. And [Cincinnati] had one or two that got out of the new dimensions, and that’s what we wanted.”

Additional phases for the ballpark over the next few years include a player clubhouse and coaches’ office building, an improved entry plaza and gate, more restrooms, concession/hospitality areas, and broadcast/media space.

North Carolina Freshman Pitching Trio Electrifies in Debuts

The North Carolina Tar Heels swept the Texas Tech Red Raiders this weekend after dominant pitching and timely hitting. Storylines coming out of that series will include the return of Jake Knapp and Folger Boaz from injury or the debut of their revamped outfield, but I want to highlight the trio of freshman arms that debuted in Chapel Hill this weekend.

Walker McDuffie, Camron Seagraves, and Ryan Lynch combined to go 2-0 and toss 9.1 innings of one-run baseball while striking out 14 hitters.

While UNC returned a bevy of veteran hurlers and added some more in the transfer portal, it’s important to note that Head Coach Scott Forbes didn’t shy away from relying on them in high-leverage situations.

“I’m not that big into the freshman thing,” Forbes said following the series on Sunday. “The talent level’s the talent level, and they work. I’m gonna put the best guys out there.

I don’t care what year they are or how long they’ve been here. Those three in the preseason showed us that they are three of our best pitchers.”

Ryan Lynch, who struck out seven over his four innings of relief on Saturday, credited the coaching staff and the culture.

“I like the fact that on our staff, there’s no disdain towards freshmen or being new,” Lynch said. “You don’t have to necessarily establish yourself within the team right away, which is great. They make us very comfortable, and our guys are really good at that. Just being able to get an opportunity so early is a blessing, and I can’t ask for much more.”

Seagraves was good, but Lynch’s ability on the mound blew me away. The 6’5” righty sat 94-96 MPH with ride on the fastball while mixing in a slider to keep hitters off balanced. The fastball, in particular, is special and generated more than its fair share of swings and misses.

“He’s got stuff he can throw down the middle, but the slider’s real too,” Forbes said of Lynch. “I thought Ryan was in complete control with his fastball and slider. I thought he could throw both, and he made some big pitches to left-handed hitters when he needed to. No walks, seven strikeouts, just nasty stuff.”

Georgia Tech Bullpen Shines as Jackets Sweep Old Dominion

Over recent years, the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been known for their offense, but on a chilly weekend to open the season, Head Coach Danny Hall’s squad shined due to its pitching.

Tate McKee and Riley Stanford were each very good in their season debuts starting on the mound, but the story of their series against Old Dominion was the electric display from their bullpen.

12 Georgia Tech relievers combined to go 3-0 with a 2.00 ERA over 18 innings while striking out 32 batters and walking just 4. The bullpen was aggressive and confident as they attacked hitters and pounded the strike zone, allowing the Jackets to come from behind in all three games.

As a whole, the pitching staff made history. Their combined 40 strikeouts are tied with 2022 for the most this century, while their 2.67 team ERA over their first three games is the lowest since 2017. Tech held ODU to a .200 team average over the series, the lowest opposing batting average that the Jackets have had over their first three games since 2016. 

“We were able to get 15 different guys in there this weekend, and several guys had huge performances,” Georgia Tech pitching coach Matt Taylor told me. “It was fun to watch all the new guys get their feet wet in front of the home fans. ODU is a really good club and they’ll be a force in the Sun Belt.”

Drew Burress may have walked off the Monarchs on Saturday, but that bullpen was the real star of the opening weekend for the Jackets. If they don’t perform at that level in all series, there’s a chance that Georgia Tech could have started at 0-3 instead of 3-0. As a team with Omaha aspirations, the Ramblin’ Wreck needs the bullpen to continue this success moving forward.