Andrew Brackman - College Career

College Career

Brackman attended North Carolina State University where he played two seasons as a dual-sport athlete, in basketball and baseball. During his freshman basketball season (2004–2005), he played center and forward averaging 7.4 points and 3.5 rebounds.

In his freshman baseball season, he was 4-0 with a 2.09 ERA in 10 appearances as both a reliever and later, as a starting pitcher. He was starting pitcher of the first game of the 2005 ACC Baseball Tournament, striking out five batters in seven innings to earn the victory against the Miami Hurricanes. He was named a second-team preseason All-America player by Baseball America for 2006.

After the Wolfpack was defeated in the 2006 NCAA tournament second round by Texas, Brackman chose not to return to the basketball team the next season, and instead focused on developing his pitching with hopes of doing well in professional baseball.

Brackman suffered a stress fracture to his hip in his sophomore year of baseball limiting him to only seven games and a disappointing 1-4 record with a 6.09 ERA. In the summer of that year, he pitched for the Orleans Cardinals in the Cape Cod League earning a 1-0 record with a 1.09 ERA. This effort led to Baseball America ranking him the league's number two prospect.

Brackman's junior year at NC State saw a return to his freshman-year numbers: in 13 games he struck out 74 batters in 78 innings with a 3.81 ERA and a record of 6-4, but due to elbow injuries, he did not pitch in either the ACC nor the NCAA tournament.