The NC State baseball team had a wet weekend in Tallahassee, Florida, losing two games to the elements. Whether or not those games will affect the standings when it is all said and done remains to be seen, but for right now, the Wolfpack and Seminoles have played two fewer conference games than everyone else in the league, with Florida State leading the Atlantic Division and NC State sitting in sixth.
As the Wolfpack prepares for its final game of its eight-game road swing, here are some quick thoughts on the team’s recent stretch.
Facing the 49ers
The Wolfpack will be back in action again Tuesday night, traveling to face the UNC-Charlotte 49ers. The game will be played in BB&T Ballpark, home of the International League’s Charlotte Knights. It’s the third time this season that NC State will face a foe in a minor-league stadium.
The 49ers are 12-12 on the season, but have wins over Wake Forest and Georgia on the season. The 49ers are led on offense by juniors Logan Sherer (.350 BA, four home runs, 24 RBIs) and T.J. Nitchting (.370 BA, one home run, 19 RBIs) and currently average 5.4 runs per game.
Freshman outfielder Reece Hampton could trouble the Wolfpack with his speed as he has swiped six bases this season and has hit .340 for Charlotte out of the lead-off spot.
Who the Wolfpack coaching staff chooses to throw on Tuesday is yet to be seen, especially with the rainouts this past weekend.
Wet Weekend
Speaking of the rainouts, the Wolfpack’s weekend was a wash. NC State entered the weekend with an opportunity to chase down the Seminoles in the ACC Standings, but the rain put an end to any chance the Wolfpack may have had.
The two teams did manage to play the series opener, with the Seminoles defeating the Wolfpack 8-5. The Wolfpack was undone by a huge first inning, where the Seminoles exploded for six runs. The Wolfpack battled back to make the game close, using RBIs from five different players to bring the score to 6-5 in the sixth inning.
However, in the seventh inning, freshman catcher Cal Raleigh homered to left field, bringing the score back up to 8-5 and ending the Wolfpack’s run.
Starting pitcher junior Joe O’Donnell (0.2 IP, five earned runs, two walks) had a disastrous outing just one week after pitching a complete game against Notre Dame.
With the two rainouts, the Wolfpack’s record is 3-4 in the ACC, good for sixth in the Atlantic Division. The Wolfpack is within striking distance of Notre Dame and Wake Forest (both 4-5).
Recent Struggles
With the loss to the Seminoles on Friday night, the Wolfpack is just 4-6 in its last 10 games. The stretch includes all seven ACC games, but also three games against nonconference foes in which the Pack is just 1-2. The Wolfpack has dropped completely out of Baseball America’s Top 25 for the first week all season.
The team has lost games all sorts of ways, through rough outings from starting pitchers, bullpen implosions and lack of offensive production. The Wolfpack averaged 8.5 runs per game in the four wins and just 2.8 in its seven losses, both of which are far from the Wolfpack’s season average of 5.8 runs per game.
The team will need to find the middle ground more often and start having consistent production up and down the lineup if it wants to remain a factor in the ACC.
