With six games left in the regular season, the NC State baseball team is still trying to force its way out of the rut its been in. After a 4-9 stretch starting April 7 with a loss to Boston College, the Pack won four in a row before falling to Campbell on Tuesday night.
Although the four-game winning streak came against UNC-Wilmington and a series at home against Radford, its a good sign heading into the two most important series of the year, a home series against Clemson then away at UNC-Chapel Hill.
NC State (37-13, 14-10 ACC) sits at third in the ACC Atlantic just behind Florida State (31-18, 16-11 ACC) and just ahead of the Clemson Tigers (29-20, 12-12 ACC). If the Pack wants to stay where it is or move up in the standings, a series win this weekend is necessary.
In a game of streaks, Clemson is certainly on a cold one, similar to NC State. The Tigers have lost 13 of their last 18 games, including four losses against non-ACC opponents and an eight-game losing streak within that stretch.
The Pack has slowed down since its historically hot start to begin the season, but still remains a threat for the ACC Tournament and an NCAA Regional. However, to have any shot of hosting a regional, it’s going to need to get things going in the last two weeks of the season.
There have been a couple of injuries to the lineup, including minor ones to junior shortstop Will Wilson and sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey, that have hurt the offensive power of the team but the bullpen and starters have struggled just as much recently.
The pitchers with the most appearnces this season are sophomore Evan Justice (21), sophomore Nick Swiney (20) and freshman Baker Nelson (20), but they hold ERAs of 3.90, 6.14 and 7.15, respectively.
The bullpen has been used as a revolving door this year when the starter comes out, sometimes throwing a new pitcher every inning, so there are a couple of other pitchers with a lot of appearances as well. The depth of the bullpen has been a strength of the team but recent struggles have left a lot of question marks.
On a positive note, redshirt sophomore Dalton Feeney has continued to dominate, holding a 1.82 ERA in 18 appearances and redshirt freshman Cameron Cotter has come on strong with a 2.70 ERA in 16 appearances.
The Tigers are coming off a 17-3 win over The Citadel but have seen some similar pitching struggles recently, giving up 7.1 runs per game over its last 10 games. The bullpen dynamic for both teams will be the area to watch and could easily decide who wins this series.
Both teams are fighting for seeding in the ACC Tournament in Durham in a couple of weeks but more importantly, NC State is desperate for some momentum to get this team back on track before facing UNC-Chapel Hill next weekend and needing a good showing in the ACC Tournament.
Game one is on Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Doak field while games two and three are scheduled for Saturday and Sunday at 6:30 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
