After taking down Kent State, Michigan State and Coastal Carolina at the beach last weekend to extend its winning streak, NC State baseball turns its eyes towards Wednesday’s game in Buies Creek against Campbell.
The Pack (7-0), who beat Campbell 2 of 3 times last season including a 21-4 blowout, ends its early-season, five-game road stretch against the Fighting Camels (5-2). NC State shouldn’t take Campbell lightly as it already has a 7-6 win against highly-ranked East Carolina and a three-game sweep over Georgetown.
The only common opponent of these two teams so far this year is Coastal Carolina. NC State beat the Chanticleers 7-6 this past weekend while Campbell lost 11-2 in Conway, SC over a week ago.
On the bump for the Wolfpack is junior Alec Barger, who has two appearances this season. He pitched three innings against Bucknell giving up just one hit, however; against Coastal Carolina, he threw just 0.2 innings and gave up two hits.
The Polk State Community College transfer will match up against Campbell’s Seth Johnson. Johnson pitched four innings and gave up one hit and two walks in his start against ECU so far in his first season at Campbell.
One big thing to look for is the speed of the Fighting Camels. Campbell currently ranks at No. 10 in the country in stolen bases, averaging 2.71 per game. Sophomore catcher Patrick Bailey has caught two of five runners this season, so he will have to be quick to catch the running Camels.
The best way to combat the speed is not allowing any free passes on base, something NC State has done very well by allowing the fewest walks per nine innings in the ACC at 2.42.
Campbell returned five starters from last season’s Big South Championship team including Matthew Barefoot, Big South Preseason Player of the Year. Barefoot hit .364 last season with 29 extra-base hits, 32 RBIs and 58 runs scored.
Two other players to look for are infielders Collin Wolf and Luis Gimenez. Wolf is batting .350 with two home runs and six RBIs through seven games. Gimenez is right behind Wolf and Barefoot with a .346 average and seven RBIs.
The Pack’s only other mid-week game so far was a 5-0 win at Elon last Tuesday. First pitch against Campbell is set for 5 p.m. at Jim Perry Stadium.
