Currently on a six-game winning streak, the NC State baseball team will travel to No. 10 Notre Dame from April 16-18 to play the Fighting Irish in another ACC weekend series.
Notre Dame (16-6, 14-6 ACC) has been practically unstoppable in ACC play this far, winning series against Wake Forest, Clemson, Duke, No. 17 Pitt and Georgia Tech. The Fighting Irish also swept No. 21 Virginia back in mid-March and took one of two against Louisville.
There are a few key players to keep an eye out for on Notre Dame’s offense. Senior outfielder Ryan Cole leads the team at a .373 batting average and has also recorded 12 RBIs in just 51 at-bats. In last Saturday’s matchup against the Yellow Jackets, he went 2 for 3 with two RBIs and a walk.
Senior infielder Niko Kavadas is an RBI machine, leading the team with 32 RBIs as well as an impressive .333 batting average with 12 home runs. Rounding out the three most notable names is junior infielder Carter Putz, who is currently slashing .337/.402/.506 with 15 RBIs.
Throughout the weekend, the Pack is likely to see pitching from junior Aidan Tyrell, graduate student John Michael Bertrand and junior Will Mercer. Of those names, Bertrand has been the most successful, posing a 3-0 record at a 3.07 ERA and 33 strikeouts. Tyrell’s ERA is just above at 3.63 with 11 strikeouts, and Mercer’s ERA is at 6.00, giving up 27 hits in just 21 innings pitched.
NC State (15-11, 8-10 ACC) is red hot at the moment after taking its last game against Clemson, sweeping Boston College and winning its midweek matchups against Appalachian State and North Carolina A&T.
With 12 hits and 10 runs in its most recent game against A&T, the Wolfpack has now recorded double-digit hits in four of its past six games and double-digit runs in three of its last five games. The team has also had multi-home run games 11 times this season.
The Pack has seemed to find a groove on the mound with recent impressive performances from junior Reid Johnston, freshman Sam Highfill and freshman Matt Willadsen. If they can continue their strong starts to avoid using the bullpen too much, NC State has a good chance of sticking with the Fighting Irish, but this trip is a major test.
The series is set to begin on Friday at 5 p.m. with games following Saturday at 2 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m., all aired on ACC Network Extra.
