This weekend, the NC State baseball team will get the 2016 season underway with the Baseball at the Beach series against the Old Dominion Monarchs, the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers and the Kent State Golden Flashes.
Last season, NC State finished with a 36-23 record and as the runner up to Florida State in the ACC Tournament. Despite the solid record and strong surge at the end of the season — 12-4 in the month of May — the season came to a heartbreaking end when the Wolfpack lost to the TCU Horned Frogs in extra innings of the NCAA regional game, 9-8.
The Wolfpack will get the first opportunity of the season to prove it is deserving of the preseason No. 10 ranking bestowed upon it by D1Baseball.com. The Pack is also ranked No. 19 by the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Monarchs are looking to improve off of a season that was mired with inconsistency. Despite sweeping the 2014 ACC champion Virginia Cavaliers, the Monarchs finished 27-29 on the year and lost five starters from last season’s team.
One of the key players returning for the Monarchs is left-handed pitcher Adam Bainbridge, who posted a record of 4-2 with a solid ERA of 2.39 and 33 strikeouts, all in 67.2 innings. The pitcher will have his hands full against NC State.
One of the major players returning for the Wolfpack, and a potential replacement at shortstop for Logan Ratledge, is sophomore Joe Dunand. While only hitting .219 last season, Dunand made the most of each hit, notching 13 extra base hits, and his seven home runs ranked tied for second on the team.
In addition to Dunand, the player to watch for NC State will be redshirt junior pitcher Johnny Piedmonte. The season will be Piedmonte’s second full season with the team after missing 2013 due to Tommy John surgery and 2014 because of back surgery. In 2015, Piedmonte started 12 games posting a 1-2 record and a 3.26 ERA, along with 40 strikeouts in his first season playing for the Pack.
The toughest test for the Pack in this opening weekend will be Coastal Carolina. The two teams faced each other last season, but the Wolfpack was overwhelmed. It fell to the Chanticleers 12-3 after giving up 10 runs in the first two innings.
The Chanticleers are currently heavy favorites to win the Big South Conference and will be returning David Parrett, who led the team with 10 home runs and had 38 RBIs last season.
The Wolfpack will conclude the weekend against the Golden Flashes. Kent State posted a decent 31-22 record in 2015 but went 18-9 in the Mid-American Conference. Despite the spectacular conference record, Kent State lost its opening games in the MAC tournament and was not invited to any further postseason baseball.
Kent State will have depth to improve its season from a year ago, returning Conner Simonetti, who hit 11 home runs and drove in 41 runs, both of which led the team.
The Wolfpack will get the weekend action started with Old Dominion Friday, with 88.1 WKNC providing radio coverage for the game.
