Earlier this season on April 2nd, #21 NC State (22-15) lost to #7 ECU (31-8) 4-12 in Raleigh. This evening the Wolfpack will look to get revenge against the Pirates in a game in Greenville at 6pm.
Overall, NC State holds a 71-43 advantage over East Carolina in the series, which dates back to 1957.
Last year, the Wolfpack and the Pirates split their 2-game series, ironically, losing at home, and winning in Greenville.
Replicating last years results will be no small task. The Pirates are ranked 7th in the land, and boast a 3-1 record against ranked opponents this season. One of those wins was against NC State, when the Wolfpack was ranked 19th. The other two ranked wins were at UNC when they were ranked 15th.
NC State has done well against ranked opponents, going 7-4 against teams in the Top-25, and 4-2 against teams in the Top-10.
The Pirates’ pitching staff leads the AAC and is in the Top-10 nationally in ERA (3.61), WHIP (1.18), hits allowed per nine innings (6.99) and strikeout-to-walk ratio (3.04).
ECU’s home field advantage is a real thing, going 20-2 at home thus far this season.
Senior Carter Cunningham leads the Pirates in nearly every offensive category, batting .396 with 9 Home Runs. He’s not alone though. Five of ECU’s regular starters have batting averages over .300.
It will be a homecoming for Senior Wolfpack Third Baseman Alec Makarewicz, who transferred to NC State from ECU this offseason. A-Mak is having the best season of his career, hitting 15 Home Runs while batting .349. It would be fitting for Makarewicz to win at his old stomping grounds.
NC State’s Baseball team is solidly back in the Top-25 after winning a series over rival UNC this past weekend, winning 2 of 3 at home. Last week, the Wolfpack were ranked 22nd in the Baseball America poll, but in none of the others.
NC State will play a midweek game at East Carolina tomorrow night on the road, and the Pirates rank 7th in the D1Baseball and Coaches Poll.
NC State won the first two games of the series, clinching their first series victory over rival #11 UNC since 2021, and the first one at home since 2016. The Wolfpack weren’t able to pull of the sweep this afternoon, losing the finale to the Tar Heels 3-14.
The NC State pitching staff didn’t have an answer for the UNC bats today. Starter Freshman Cooper Consiglio gave up 6 runs (5 earned) in 3.1 innings, striking out 4, and walking 4. The Wolfpack put 5 pitchers on the mound today, and every single one of them gave up runs. Sophomore Andrew Shaffner and Freshman Camden Wimbish both gave up 3 runs apiece.
Junior Jacob Cozart was the only bright spot in the Wolfpack’s offense today, hitting 2 solo Home Runs, marking only the 2nd time in his career that he has hit 2+ Home Runs in a single game.
Opposite-field jack for ‘Zart 💪 pic.twitter.com/ssPXqDAgww
— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 20, 2024
The second-career multi-homer game for No. 14 💣 pic.twitter.com/Y2mnJHGkbi
— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 20, 2024
The Wolfpack have two Top-10 series wins (Duke #9 and Clemson #2), and now another Top-15 series win (UNC #11).
Things don’t get any easier this Tuesday, playing #9 ECU on the road at 6pm. NC State should be ranked when they play the Pirates this week.
I feel like the final rotation is becoming more clear:
Dennis/Markell
Terry/Mav
Torin/Mav/Shaun
Abu/Darius
Kapita/Yurt7/Anya
I see less minutes for Darius, Anya, and Shaun. Although I would really like to see Shaun get more minutes. Darius should be ready to start by next season. Torin looks like he’ll lead team in MPG.
Team really attacked this game. Made their adjustments from last game and didn’t jack up so many long jumpers. Also helped that Mav wasn’t in the game so we didn’t have a lot of good shooters out there.
Ted Kapita. Wow man. 7 of 8 shooting, 17 pts, 8 rebounds. Hell of a 1st game. I feel like Kapita is going to squeeze the minutes from Anya and Hicks. It’s going to be tough when Yurt7 joins because there’s not going to be enough minutes for all the bigs.
Much better showing for Wolfpack. Torin was the man again. Maybe my new favorite player. Refs again were bad. 2 of the fouls on Dennis were just head scratchers? One on the blocked shot and the other on the scramble for the loose ball.
Very excited about Dorn and Kapita. It will be hard to keep him off the court if he continues to play like he did today. But having too many big guys and not enough minutes is a problem Im OK with.