After a rocky weekend against Notre Dame, the NC State softball team will be back in Raleigh to take on N.C. A&T in a doubleheader Friday, April 2 and a third game Saturday, April 3. The Pack will be looking to get back on track with this nonconference matchup after four consecutive ACC opponents.
NC State (14-11, 10-11 ACC) went 0-3 against Notre Dame on the road, with the fourth game of the series being canceled. Offensively, the Pack kept it close for two of the games but was shut out in the middle game of the series, 8-0.
N.C. A&T (7-17) has not played since a series against Florida A&M March 20-21. The Aggies were able to hold Florida A&M to only one win, giving A&T a 3-1 record for the weekend. N.C. A&T has struggled against teams outside its conference, with 16 of its 17 losses coming from nonconference opponents. Between struggling outside of conference games and dealing with game cancellations and postponements, this N.C. A&T team has had a rough go of it this season.
Offensively, the Aggies have three qualified players with batting averages over .300: infielder Alyxx Estrada, utility player Kendall Macauley and utility player Jai Desse. Estrada also has the highest slugging percentage (.635) and RBIs (16) of the team. Desse leads the team with 18 runs this season; however, as a team, the Aggies have only notched three home runs, an offensive strategy completely opposite of NC State’s.
The Aggie pitching staff has struggled this season, with not a single pitcher with an ERA below 5.00. S’Nyiah Stinson has the best ERA of the team at 5.57. Stinson has pitched the most out of anyone else on the pitching staff, pitching in 53.1 innings and securing a 3-6 record. Kiara Richards has the best record of 4-5. The staff as a whole has allowed 18 home runs and over eight hits per game from its opponents.
The Pack will have to look out for the Aggies’ offense. If N.C. A&T gets out ahead of NC State, there will most likely be some struggle to secure that lead; however, with the Pack’s offensive strength up against a struggling pitching staff, NC State should be able to compete well this weekend.
The weekend series will begin at Dail Softball Stadium Friday, April 2 with the first game of a doubleheader at 12 p.m. All three games this weekend will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.
