BREAKING: NC State RHP Matt Willadsen expected to be out for the year with arm injury
NC State baseball’s pitching staff took a hit before the team even took the field for its season opener. Senior right-handed pitcher Matt Willadsen, the Wolfpack’s Saturday starter a year ago, is expected to miss the rest of the season with a preseason arm injury, per TheWolfpacker.com sources.
Willadsen led the Pack with 81.0 innings pitched in 16 starts last season. He logged 86 strikeouts and was second on the team with a 3.78 ERA.
The Holly Spring, N.C., native allowed two earned runs or fewer in 12 of his 16 starts during the 2023 campaign, and he went more than five innings nine times. Willadsen tossed a season-best seven innings with a season-high nine strikeouts against No. 14 Virginia, while he allowed just one run and three hits in that contest last season.
Willadsen was efficient in ACC play last season as a whole. He led the NC State pitching staff with a 3.92 ERA in league play with 51 strikeouts and just 22 walks in 50.1 innings pitched against conference foes.
During the 2022 season, Willadsen made 14 starts in 16 appearances with a 5-4 mark and a 4.19 ERA. He paced the Pack with 88.0 innings and 95 strikeouts during his sophomore season. He logged a career-high 13 strikeouts in seven scoreless innings against Radford that season.
Willadsen made 13 starts in 18 appearances during his second-year freshman season in 2021 with a 4.73 ERA with a 5-3 record in 83.2 innings on the bump. He had a complete-game shutout against Boston College with just two hits allowed during that season. Willadsen also had an 11-inning scoreless streak on the mound during the 2021 campaign.
The former Holly Springs High standout posted a career 1.20 ERA during his time on the mound at the high school level. He logged three no-hitters during his senior season with the Golden Hawks.
Without Willadsen, NC State has a weekend rotation spot to fill going into the season-opening series against VCU, which opens Feb. 16. SUNY Cortland transfer Shane Van Dam could fill Willadsen’s role in the rotation, but so could senior arm Sam Highfill, though he is returning from injury.
Van Dam made three starts in 15 appearances at the Division III level last season. He had a 2-1 record with a 3.07 ERA while he struck out 43 batters with just 13 walks in 29.1 innings pitched. Van Dam limited opposing batters to a .162 average and gave up only six extra-base hits. He tossed 11 strikeouts in five scoreless innings to earn the win at Plattsburgh on April 28, 2023.
