For the second weekend in a row and the fourth time in five weeks, the baseball team will travel to play an ACC opponent. This time N.C. State (27-11, 11-7 ACC) is headed to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech.

The Yellow Jackets, perennially a top-25 program, are 23-14 overall, 10-7 in the conference and are not ranked in any major college baseball poll. Georgia Tech began this season at 11-10 and opened ACC play at 3-3.

But coach Elliott Avent is not buying into the idea that the Jackets are down this year.

“They’re not down,” he said. “In fact, they’re playing very, very well right now.”

Since the slow start, the Jackets have rebounded and come into Friday’s game having won 10 of their last 12. Avent said teams go through ups and downs in a season, which do not have a lot to do with how good the team is.

“We all struggle some early,” he said. “We lost two out of three to Maryland. And that Sunday game against Virginia Tech, we’d like to have it back. And we felt like we gave one away against Florida State. So everybody’s got games they look back at. And maybe Georgia Tech just wasn’t playing their best ball of the season early.”

As for whether or not all the recent travel has taken a toll on the team, Avent said no, but admitted it has been tough on him.

“They’re young,” he said. “I’m not.”

And the Wolfpack’s ACC road record certainly backs up the coach’s assessment. So far this season, State is 7-2 in conference play away from Doak Field compared to 4-5 at home.

“We play pretty good on the road. So obviously, it doesn’t bother us,” Avent said. “They like going to Boston and Atlanta and seeing all these cities. They’re having a ball.”

For associate head coach Tom Holliday, this weekend’s trip to Atlanta will be fun for another reason. He will get to see his oldest son Josh, who is Georgia Tech’s hitting coach and recruiting coordinator.

“It’ll be kind of odd to look across and see him,” Tom said. “But it’ll be fun, too.”

Josh, who played at Oklahoma State and actually coached at State before moving to Atlanta, is in his third year on Tech’s coaching staff. Tom said he doesn’t get to see his son much during the season, but said he talks to him on the phone a lot and passes him on the recruiting trail sometimes in the summer.

But despite the competition between father and son and their opposing teams, Tom said he and Josh leave the baseball part of their relationship on the field.

“When the game’s over, we’re still going to go do our thing,” Tom said. “It isn’t going to be a do or die, life-threatening situation.”

Tom added this trip, though, he’s more excited about seeing Josh’s young daughter than he is about seeing Josh.

“My granddaughter has kind of taken over the No. 1 spot in his house,” the elder Holliday said.

Whether or not his connection with Josh will pay dividends for the Pack, Tom said he’s not sure, but that he might have something up his sleeve.

“I got a couple of ideas about what he teaches,” he said. “But I don’t know if we can really pitch to that. But we’ll find out.”