Season likely over for Rodon after early tourney loss

N.C. State left-hander Carlos Rodon entered the spring with big expectations. He was the top-ranked player on MLBPipeline.com's Draft Prospects list and told reporters that the Wolfpack's season would be a "failure" if they didn't return to the College World Series.

From the start, however, the season didn't go according to plan for either Rodon or the Wolfpack. Now, it may be over. N.C. State lost, 4-3, to North Carolina in the first round of the ACC Tournament on Tuesday. After going 32-23 and finishing 10th in the ACC, most college baseball bracketologists predict N.C. State will be left out of the NCAA Tournament when the field is announced Monday.

If the season is over for the Wolfpack, Rodon threw his last game Friday against Virginia Tech. He allowed four runs in five innings and struck out eight batters. In 14 starts this season, Rodon went 6-7 with a 2.01 ERA and struck out 117 batters in 98 2/3 innings.

Though Rodon has thrown well this season, he hasn't been as dominating as he had been the last two years. Scouts no longer believe he is the clear-cut best player in the Draft class, and he slipped to No. 2 on MLBPipeline.com's Top 100 Draft Prospects list.