The NC State baseball team will finish out the 2019 regular season at UNC-Chapel Hill, taking on the Tar Heels starting Thursday at Boshamer Stadium.
NC State (39-14, 16-11 ACC) is coming off a crucial series win over the Clemson Tigers, its first series win since Boston College in early April, and has now won six of its last eight games. The Tar Heels (36-15, 16-11 ACC) just lost an away series at Pittsburgh and will face High Point on Tuesday. UNC has lost three of its last four games.
The rivalry series has turned out to be an important one before heading into the ACC Tournament in Durham the following week. Both teams are still fighting for a seed in that tournament, as UNC fell to third in the ACC Coastal but is just one game behind Georgia Tech for the division lead.
The Pack finds itself tied for second with Florida State and three games behind Louisville in the ACC Atlantic with three games left. Although the Cardinals are out of reach, the Wolfpack will shoot to put together a good weekend in order to claim that second spot.
The Pack was embarrassed by the Heels last season, getting swept at home despite the success of the team throughout the year. With the incredible start the team had this season, another sweep would be disappointing to the fans. It is also an important series for NCAA Regional seeding.
The Pack will face two certain starting pitchers in Tyler Baum and Austin Bergner, who both have 12 starts and boast 4.03 and 4.77 ERAs, respectively. Last year, Baum pitched in the Sunday game against NC State and pitched only one inning, giving up a solo home run to Brock Deatherage before being taken out.
On the other hand, Bergner faced NC State on Saturday and dominated the Pack, pitching eight innings and giving up three runs on five hits. Baum has been pitching on Fridays and Bergner on Saturdays, so the Pack is almost guaranteed to see them in that order this weekend.
On the offensive side, the Tar Heels are scoring 7.6 runs per game, ranked at No. 20 in the country, fourth in the ACC and behind NC State, scoring 7.8 runs per game at 17th nationally.
The Heels are led by freshman first baseman Aaron Sabato, who is batting .322 with a 1.056 OPS and 12 home runs, tied for the team lead with junior Michael Busch.
Other top offensive producers include Jackson Hesterlee, who’s batting .302 in 26 starts this year, and Ike Freeman, who hits .291 at shortstop.
However, the key to the game will likely be the pitching staff. Both teams can score with the best of them, but the bullpens can make or break a late-game lead. NC State went through a period of struggling with pitching staff but appears to be back on track as of late.
Game one on Thursday and game two on Friday are both set to begin at 6 p.m., with the potential rubber match on Saturday at 4:30 p.m.
