The NC State baseball team looks to get back on track in its penultimate home series of the season when the Radford Highlanders visit Doak Field for a three-game series this weekend.
The Pack (34-12, 14-10 ACC) has not played well in the month of April and will look to turn the page starting against Radford (23-21, 14-7 Big South), who is in second place in the Big South.
NC State is coming off an 11-3 win that clinched a season sweep against UNC-Wilmington on Tuesday night, while Radford had the midweek off after winning two of three against conference foe Gardner-Webb.
Andrew Szmanski will lead the Highlander offense into Raleigh. He leads the team with a .337 batting average, is tied for the team lead with nine home runs and has driven home 47 runs, which is top on the squad. J.D. Mundy also has nine long balls this year. Radford is balance up and down the order, as ten players have hit at least three home runs this season. On the year, the Highlanders have outhomered its opponents 59-37.
On the mound, Zack Ridgley is the best starter. He has a 3.70 ERA, but only 33 strikeouts in 56 innings. After that, there hasn’t been much consistency from the starters. However, the bullpen is loaded. Four pitchers have an ERA under three in at least 16 innings pitched, led by Bruce Hudson who has a 1.80 ERA in 35 innings. If the Highlanders can lean on the long ball and get to the bullpen with a lead, they will cause problems for the Wolfpack.
The Wolfpack’s struggles have been well documented and injuries to junior shortstop Will Wilson and sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey have not helped. Wilson was back in the lineup on Tuesday night after missing six games while Bailey has played through undetermined injuries, according to D1 Baseball’s Aaron Fitt. Senior first baseman Evan Edwards has continued to provide from the plate, hitting .356 with 13 home runs, but he needs help from the rest of the lineup. For the Pack to regain it’s early season form, it’s stars need to get back to doing what they do.
Things haven’t gone as well on the mound either, although it has been much better the last five games. The staff has allowed four runs per game in the last five, which will win a lot of baseball games, especially with a lineup like the Pack has. This weekend will be key for weekend starters junior Jason Parker and Reid Johnston who have each struggled the last two weekends. The third spot has been a bit of a revolving door, but sophomore Canaan Silver has pitched well when given the opportunity.
Radford is going to give NC State a good test and this series is big for the Wolfpack. It needs to string wins together to rebuild confidence headed down the stretch of ACC play. The Pack has not won two games in a row since April 5-6 and hasn’t won more than two games in a row since its six-game winning streak ended on March 27th.
Friday and Saturday’s games will begin at 6:30 p.m. and Sunday will start at 1 p.m. and each game will be broadcast on the ESPN app.
