Emma Sheppard
Sophomore outfielder Jonny Butler throws to the infield against the UNCW Seahawks on Tuesday, April 16, 2019 at Brooks Field in Wilmington, NC. Butler had three runs for the Wolfpack. The Pack beat the Seahawks 14-7.
NC State baseball will head to the Triad for a pivotal three-game ACC series against Wake Forest starting Thursday.
Going into this game, the Wolfpack (30-8, 12-6 ACC) is in second place in the ACC Atlantic, trailing Louisville by one run after getting swept in Raleigh by the Cardinals last weekend. The Demon Deacons (21-16, 9-9 ACC) are currently sitting in fifth place in the ACC Atlantic and are coming off two series wins against Virginia Tech and Pittsburgh.
The Wolfpack ended its five-game losing streak Tuesday night against UNC-Wilmington, as the NC State bats exploded for 14 runs. Unfortunately, the win may have come at a cost.
In the second inning, junior shortstop Will Wilson hit a two-run home run, but as he was rounding first base he collided with UNC-Wilmington’s first baseman and was unable to round the bases. He was forced out of the game and his status for this weekend is unknown.
Wilson is NC State’s second-leading hitter with a .340 batting average and is the team leader in home runs with 13. If Wilson is unable to go this weekend, look for freshman Vojetch Mensik to move to shortstop from third base, sophomore David Vazquez to move from second base to third base and sophomore J.T. Jarrett to be inserted in the starting lineup to play second base.
Senior first baseman Evan Edwards, sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey and freshman center fielder Tyler McDonough will all look to stay hot, especially if Wilson is unable to go. Edwards leads the team in batting average at .348 and in RBIs at 48. Bailey, the powerful switch-hitter, is currently batting .336 and leads the team in doubles with 14. McDonough, also a switch-hitter, has been a great addition to the Wolfpack this season, batting .333 on the season for the Wolfpack.
The NC State pitching staff allowed a total of 34 runs in their three-game set with Louisville last weekend and will look for junior Jason Parker, who has been NC State’s number one weekend starter all year, to bounce back from a rough start last weekend. In his worst start of the season, Parker allowed 10 earned runs on 13 hits in five innings of work.
Sophomore Reid Johnston, who has established himself as the number two starter for NC State, also will be looking to bounce back from a rough weekend. In game two of the doubleheader last weekend, Johnston only made it through 3.1 innings while giving up nine earned runs on ten hits.
A major problem in last weekend’s series was early deficits; the Wolfpack at one point trailed by eight runs in game one and game two of the series against Louisville. If the Wolfpack can get good performances from its starting pitchers, look for the Wolfpack offense to feed off that energy and score plenty of runs off the Wake Forest pitchers which have a team ERA of 5.88.
The Demon Deacons will be lead by Patrick Frick, who holds the second-highest batting average in the ACC at .391. Fellow teammates Bobby Seymour and Chris Lanzilli own averages at .373 and .344, respectively. It will be big for the NC State pitchers if they can keep these three from having productive weekends, as they account for 132 RBIs as a trio.
Colin Peluse has been the leading pitcher for Wake Forest this season, posting a 5.82 ERA in 51 innings pitched. Look for Peluse, Morgan McSweeney and Jared Shuster to all pitch significant innings this weekend for the Demon Deacons.
The three-game series will begin Thursday night at 6 p.m. at David F. Couch Ballpark in Winston-Salem, with game two Friday night at 6 p.m. and game three at 4 p.m. on Saturday.