The No. 8 NC State baseball team will return home to play Coastal Carolina Wednesday, March 4 at 3 p.m.
The Pack (11-0) is returning from a very successful trip to the Cambria College Classic this past weekend, where it continued its undefeated season with wins over Iowa, Purdue and Minnesota. With two solid victories to start the trips and a huge comeback win over the Golden Gophers, it’s safe to say it was a great weekend for NC State.
One major factor of the Wolfpack’s success so far has been its stellar offense. It is currently tied for fourth in the country in home runs with 19 and with an average of 1.73 per game. The offense has become a power-hitting machine. Junior infielder/outfielder Devonte Brown and junior catcher Patrick Bailey each lead the team with four bombs and over five other players have each contributed at least one of their own.
The Pack has also had great success on defense, especially in its ability to produce double plays. Tied for fourth in the country, NC State has a total of fourteen double plays already and averages 1.27 per game. With such a strong defense and powerful pitching behind starters such as lefty junior Nick Swiney, who was recently named the ACC Pitcher of the Week and one of Collegiate Baseball’s national players of the week, no wonder NC State is almost unstoppable on both sides of the ball.
Coastal Carolina (7-3) will travel to Raleigh on short rest after playing a game against UNC-Charlotte early Tuesday evening.
The Chanticleers have a very strong offense, with five of its main starters having a batting average over .300. Freshman infielder Cooper Weiss leads the team with a .455 batting average including eight runs and eight RBIs. With only six homers on the season, Coastal Carolina doesn’t have the same power-hitting mentality as the Wolfpack.
After letting up only five runs in its weekend series against Minnesota, the Chanticleers have recently shown how strong their defense can be. Along with the Wolfpack, it’s tied for fourth in the NCAA in double plays this season with 14.
With a combined 2.10 ERA the pitching has also been great. Coastal Carolina’s pitchers have allowed just 13 extra-base hits to start the season and no more than five runs in any game.
The first pitch will be at 3 p.m. Wednesday, March 4 at Doak Field. The game will be aired on the ACC Network and you can follow @TechSports on Twitter for live updates.
