#4 NC State travels to #11 Louisville this weekend

NC STATE – LOUISVILLE
Dates: Friday – Sunday, April 6-8
Location: Jim Patterson Stadium
Times: 6 p.m. (Fri.) | 1 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.)
Radio: WKNC 88.1 FM
Live Video: ACC Network Extra
Live Stats: SideArm Live Stats

STARTING PITCHERS
Friday – RHP Johnny Piedmonte (NCSU) vs. LHP Adam Wolf (UL)
Saturday – LHP Brian Brown (NCSU) vs. LHP Nick Bennett (UL)
Sunday – RHP Michael Bienlien (NCSU) vs. TBA (UL)

RALEIGH, N.C. – The fourth-ranked NC State baseball team will make its second-ever trip Jim Patterson Stadium this weekend when the Wolfpack takes on No. 11 Louisville for a three-game series.

Friday’s game is set for 6 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday’s games are slated for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

All three games will be broadcast live on the ACC Network Extra, accessible through Watch ESPN and the Watch ESPN App. Radio coverage will also be available on WKNC 88.1 FM and on GoPack.com for premium subscribers.

NC State enters the weekend with a 23-5 overall record, including a 9-3 mark in ACC play while Louisville is 19-9 and 5-7 in conference action.

The Series
The Wolfpack and Cardinals meet for the third consecutive season, as Louisville leads the all-time series, 8-2.

Last Time Versus Louisville
Louisville made the trip to Raleigh last season as the nation’s top-ranked team. NC State won the opening game of the series, 3-1, thanks to a pair of standout pitching performances from Sean Adler, who earned the win, and Joe O’Donnell, who was credited with the save.

In game two, the Wolfpack rallied with three runs in the bottom of the ninth to force extra innings, but the Cards scored in the 10th and held on for the victory. Louisville took the series finale last season, 8-1, in the most recent matchup between the programs.

Last Time at Louisville
NC State last traveled to Louisville in 2016 and did so without its head coach Elliott Avent, as he was unable to make the trip after a snakebite so Associate Head Coach Chris Hart led the team in his absence.

The Wolfpack dropped a trio of hard-fought games, as the Cards won the series.

Scouting Louisville
The Louisville Cardinals are enjoying a strong season to this point in the year, as the squad is 19-9 and ranked No. 11 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll. The Cards opened the season 14-0 before suffering their first loss.

Louisville came up short in its most recent outing at No. 9 Kentucky on Tuesday afternoon, 8-5. In their last ACC series, Florida State clinched the series with a walkoff win in game two, but the Cardinals avoided the sweep with a win in the series finale.

The squad owns a team batting average of .272 and averages 6.79 runs per game. Logan Wyatt leads the team at the plate with a team-high 34 hits complemented by a .343 batting average.

On the mound, the Cards pitching staff has compiled a 3.65 ERA with 284 strikeouts in 246.2 innings.

Wolfpack in the National, ACC Rankings
Batting Average – .310 (1st in ACC, 11th in NCAA)
Hits – 299 (2nd in ACC, 16th in NCAA)
Home Runs – 44 (1st in ACC, 6th in NCAA)
Home Runs Per Game – 1.57 (1st in ACC, 5th in NCAA)
Runs – 208 (2nd in ACC, 23rd in NCAA)
Runs Per Game – 7.4 (1st in ACC, 18th in NCAA)
On-base Percentage – .402 (1st in ACC, 17th in NCAA)
Slugging Percentage – .499 (1st in ACC, 8th in NCAA)

Walks Plus Hits Per Inning Pitched (WHIP) – 1.23 (2nd in ACC, 18th in NCAA)
Earned Run Average (ERA) – 2.98 (1st in ACC, 19th in NCAA)
Hits Allowed Per 9 Innings – 7.42 (3rd in ACC, 22nd in NCAA)

Double Plays – 28 (1st in ACC, 16th in NCAA)
Double Plays Per Game – 1.00 (1st in ACC, 17th in NCAA)

Seven in a Row for NC State
NC State has won its last seven ACC series dating back to the Virginia Tech series from last year. The Wolfpack and Duke are the only two teams that have not lost a conference series this season.

The Pack’s seven consecutive ACC series wins is the longest active streak in the conference, as the Blue Devils dropped their final conference series a year ago.

Road Warriors
NC State owns the ACC’s best road record, as the Wolfpack is 5-1. The Pack is only team in the conference that has swept a road series in ACC play, when the squad accomplished the feat at No. 2 Clemson.

Midseason All-Americans
After turning in a pair of stellar starts to the 2018 season, NC State’s Brian Brown and Brett Kinneman have been named Midseason All-American’s by D1 Baseball and Perfect Game.

The Wolfpack is one of just six teams in the nation to have two players make the Perfect Game list and the only program from the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC). In the D1 Baseball listing, only NC State and Florida have two players on the list.

Brown the Nation’s ERA Leader
Brown has enjoyed one of the nation’s best starts to the season, as he currently leads all NCAA Division I pitchers with a 0.41 earned run average (ERA). He has allowed just two earned runs in 43.2 innings pitched.

The Glenmoore, Pa., native also owns a perfect 4-0 record in seven starts this season.