The NC State baseball team looks to remain unbeaten on the young season when it travels to Durham Athletic Park to face the NC Central Eagles on Wednesday night.
The Wolfpack (11-0) has responded as well as possible to an extremely challenging nonconference schedule, and is one of four remaining undefeated teams left in the country. NC State will look to continue that against the Eagles (5-7) before beginning ACC play.
Wednesday night will already mark the sixth game that the Pack has played away from the friendly confines of Doak Field at Dail Park.
Junior Alec Barger started last week against Campbell and will get the ball again for NC State. Barger has a 1.42 ERA in 6.1 innings so far. Juniors Michael Bienlien and Mathieu Gauthier, as well as sophomore David Harrison, could be in line for some innings as well.
Offensively, senior Evan Edwards is carrying the load for a potent Wolfpack offense. Edwards has a .783 slugging percentage and .453 on-base percentage, each of which lead the team. His four home runs and 15 RBIs pace the Pack as well.
On the other side of the diamond, the Eagles lost two out of three this past weekend against Lafayette.
The pitching staff is clearly the strength of the team, as the Eagles have a 3.77 team ERA. Central has not announced a starter yet. Brendan Bell and Chris Krennrich have starting experience this year and have performed well, with a 2.25 and 3.97 ERA, respectively.
The Eagles have a deep bullpen that has performed well through the first 12 games. If NCCU has a chance to win the game, keep an eye on weekend starters Ryan Miller and Chris Kemen. They have been dominant this year, coming out of the bullpen late in the game.
Things aren’t as rosy at the plate for the Eagles, who only have two hitters hitting over .300: Nick Fajardo and Trey Maslin. They have hit only four home runs in 12 games as a team. Central is aggressive and effective on the bases, going 20 for 25 on stolen base attempts this year.
This game isn’t a huge game for the Pack, but it would likely be a wart on the resume come tournament time. NC State has gotten off to such a good start that it has built a margin for error in the remaining 45 games.
First pitch is at 4 p.m. at Durham Athletic Park. There is no video coverage of the game but there will be radio coverage on WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1 in Raleigh.
