With tryouts coming to a close for this year’s NC State club baseball team, the Pack begins to look forward to its upcoming games for the fall season before conference play kicks off in the Spring.
After going 13-9 last season and finishing third in its conference, NC State will look to keep its winning streak alive as it heads into 2020.
President Collin Morris and Vice President Justin Rhew will be this year’s team captains in charge of creating lineups and coaching their team to victory.
The Wolfpack’s conference consists of East Carolina, Elon, UNC-Chapel Hill, Appalachian State and UNC-Wilmington, with the Pirates consistently sweeping the league away after a 12-2 conference record last season.
This year before NC State enters regular-season play, the team will face a few of its non-conference competitors in order to finalize its starting lineup. The schedule for the Fall season is as follows:
October 5, 2019: Doubleheader vs. Wake Forest beginning at 11 a.m.
October 19-20, 2019: NC State vs UNC-Charlotte
October 26-27, 2019: NC State at Coastal Carolina
All of the Pack’s home series games will take place at Optimist Park near Sanderson High School.
Once the fall season comes to a close and Spring approaches, the team will meet once or twice per week to practice in preparation for its upcoming series. Even though the roster is not yet finalized completely, returning players who will be making the strongest impact to the team this year include:
Jacob Faukner
The senior second baseman will be one of the strongest assets to the Pack for this upcoming year after batting a .382 with six stolen bases and 20 RBIs last season. The second baseman had his most prolific game against Appalachian State, when he went 2 for 3 with a home run, triple and a walk.
Casey Ritchie
Senior outfielder Casey Ritchie will be one of NC State’s leaders at the plate in 2020 after leading the team in batting average with a whopping .410 clip while also pacing the team in doubles with five on the season.
Jake Gibson
Junior left-handed pitcher Jake Gibson will be returning for yet another stunning season after hosting a 5-1 record with a 1.10 ERA and 32 strikeouts. The dominating pitcher will be carrying most of the team’s defensive weight after only allowing 12 total runs last season.
Once the regular season comes to a close in 2020, the option for playoffs approaches, but not every team gets the opportunity to compete in this prestigious end-of-year tournament.
“Playoffs are really hard to get into,” Rhew said. “You have to win our conference, or be an at-large bid and then win that tournament to get into it.”
With the Wolfpack possibly finding its way into playoffs this season, the nationwide tournament will be held locally in Holly Springs, N.C., beginning after the last week of school in May.
Here’s a breakdown of NC State’s conference schedule for Spring 2020:
February 21-23, 2020: NC State at UNC-CH
March 27-29, 2020: NC State vs. Elon
April 3-5, 2020: NC State at ECU
April 17-19, 2020: NC State at Appalachian State
With only one home series against Elon for the upcoming season, make sure to check out the NC State club baseball team during the fall and spring weekends at Optimist Park.
