On the heels of a five-game winning streak that doesn’t seem to be slowing down any time soon, the NC State baseball team takes on Wake Forest this weekend in a three-game series in Raleigh at Doak Field.
After a rough five-game losing streak saw the Wolfpack (36-12, 15-9 ACC) drop an away game at Duke, three home games against UNC-Chapel Hill and a home game against Campbell, the Pack has bounced back nicely, sweeping a three-game home series against William & Mary and a mini two-game home series against James Madison.
The Demon Deacons (22-26, 11-13 ACC) enter the weekend series on a hot streak of their own, winning three of their last four games, beating Georgia Tech, Elon and Radford, and losing to High Point. However, the Deacs have been slumping in ACC play, going just 1-5 in their last two ACC series after a three-game sweep of Boston College had the Deacs sitting at 10-8 in conference play.
NC State’s pitching is likely to face a Demon Deacons lineup that is far from frightening. Wake Forest struggles mightily on offense, hitting only .254 as a team and slugging an extremely poor .366.
The Demon Deacons lineup is led by infielder Jake Mueller, the only starter on the roster hitting above .275. Mueller has been a force at the plate this season, hitting a team-high .314 and walking 35 times, putting his on-base percentage at an excellent .427. Similar to his team’s name, Mueller has also been a demon on the basepaths, swiping a team-high 16 bases in 23 attempts.
Wake Forest’s lineup gets its power from outfielder DJ Poteet and infielder Johnny Aiello. Poteet has bashed eight home runs, while Aiello has hit six of his own. Neither Poteet nor Aiello contribute much else at the plate though, as they are hitting only .253 and .251, respectively.
The Wolfpack is likely to see the Deacs’ top three starters this weekend, righties Griffin Roberts (4-4, 3.56 ERA), Colin Peluse (6-1, 3.62 ERA) and Morgan McSweeney (2-5, 3.98). Outside of Roberts, neither of the other two have pitched exceptionally well this year, so the Pack’s bats should have no trouble knocking in some runs.
Roberts has proved a force on the mound in his junior year, striking out 109 batters in his 78 innings of work and limiting opposing hitters to just a .213 batting average.
Wake Forest’s bullpen has been its Achilles’ heel all season. The Deacs’ relievers have an ERA of 5.54 and have surrendered 25 home runs. When Wake Forest is forced to go to its bullpen, the Wolfpack should have a field day knocking the ball around the Doak.
NC State’s offense, which is hitting .299 as a team and has knocked out 71 home runs is exceptionally strong from top to bottom and is primed for a big weekend against the Deacs’ average pitchers.
The Pack has five players with 10 or more home runs: junior outfielder Brett Kinneman (14), senior outfielder Brock Deatherage (12), sophomore infielder Will Wilson (12), junior infielder Evan Edwards (11) and freshman infielder/catcher Patrick Bailey (10).
The Pack’s senior lefthanded ace Brian Brown (6-1, 1.78 ERA) will get a start this weekend to go along with a combination of graduate student Johnny Piedmonte (4-2, 4.14 ERA), freshman Reid Johnston (7-0, 2.62 ERA), sophomore Michael Bienlien (3-3, 6.15 ERA) and freshman David Harrison (1-2, 6.16 ERA)
The Pack kicks off its weekend series on Friday at 6:30 pm at Doak Field.
