The NC State baseball team is set to take the short drive west to take on arch-rival No. 24 UNC-Chapel Hill in a three-game set March 26-28.
The Tar Heels (13-6, 8-4 ACC) are coming off a series win at Boston College and a midweek win over No. 8 East Carolina. On the other hand, the Wolfpack (5-9,1-8) is still looking for its first ACC series win of the year. A positive sign for NC State though is it ended its five-game skid with a win over UNC-Wilmington Tuesday.
As a team from top to bottom, the Tar Heels have just a .253 batting average; however, they do have some dangerous bats in their lineup.
Justice Thompson leads the team with a .343 average and has four home runs on the year. Right behind him is Angel Zarate with a .333 average and 13 RBIs. These two are the only regular starters on the team with a batting average above .300.
The big power guy in the lineup for North Carolina is Caleb Roberts. He leads the team in home runs with five and in RBIs with 15. His average at .219 might not show it, but he can change a game at any moment.
Pitching-wise on Friday night, NC State will be going up against one of the top arms in the ACC in Austin Love. He is 4-0 in five starts and carries a 2.25 ERA. In 32 innings pitched, he has given up just eight earned runs and has struck out 37 batters. In his last outing at Boston College, he went seven innings and allowed one unearned run while striking out eight to pick up the win.
The two other starters the Tar Heels will likely throw out there are Max Carlson and Max Alba, who have a 4.56 ERA and a 5.09 ERA, respectively. All three of UNC’s weekend starters are right-handed pitchers.
In 19 games, the UNC-Chapel Hill defense has committed just 11 errors which has them at a .982 fielding percentage.
If NC State wants to get a series win, it will need its bullpen to pull through in the late innings. With four scoreless innings at UNCW Tuesday, the bullpen showed signs of maturing.
Freshmen right-handed pitchers Sam Highfill and Matt Willasden have seemed to solidify starting roles on Saturdays and Sundays for the foreseeable future. That being said, the Wolfpack need a good start out of someone Friday against Love, whether it be junior-left handed pitcher Evan Justice or someone like junior-right handed pitcher Reid Johnston.
Offensively, the Wolfpack is led by junior first baseman Austin Murr, who is batting .381 on the season. Sophomore catcher Luca Tresh is also someone who has really made the most of his starting role, batting .340 and leading the team with seven home runs and 16 RBIs.
Game one is scheduled for Friday, March 26 with a 6 p.m. first pitch. All three games of the series will be streamed on ACC Network Extra.
