College World Series: Coach inspired by missing sidekick

OMAHA, Neb. (WOWT) - In many ways, family makes the College World Series special.

It’s about sharing lifelong moments. But it feels different this year for the head coach at North Carolina State.

When Elliott Avent first rolled into Omaha eight years ago, he had his dad, Jack, by his side. Avent said he lived to watch the Yankees and North Carolina State baseball. Jack’s life came to an end just before the season.

“It’s tough. I’ve had a lot of tough losses,” Avent said. “There’s nothing that compares to this.

“I owe everything to that man. Whatever I accomplished in life is all due to him. And the shortcomings I had that wasn’t due to him, there were going to be a lot more if it weren’t for him, I’ll tell you that. He was an unbelievable person, and I’m glad most of our players got a chance to know him.”

Here’s North Carolina State, in one of the most coveted positions of the CWS. The club has two chances to advance to the finals. Go back a couple weeks, it’s a team nobody expected to be in this position. The Wolfpack did not even host a regional.

But here, on a magical run, it is a coincidence ...

“When we were 1-8 in the conference, I thought maybe Daddy just didn’t want to stick around and watch us because it was too hard,” Advent said. “Now, where we are now, I think he retired early so he could help me in a different place to get this team to do some special things. And I think every day, a lot of this is attributed to him.”