No. 2 NC State Travels to Duke for Top-5 Matchup This Weekend

NC STATE – DUKE
Dates: Friday – Sunday, April 20-22
Location: Jack Coombs Field (Durham, N.C.)
Times: 6 p.m. (Fri.) | 1 p.m. (Sat. & Sun.)
Radio: WKNC 88.1 FM
Live Video: ACC Network Extra
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast

STARTING PITCHERS
Friday – RHP Reid Johnston (NCSU) vs. LHP Adam Laskey (Duke)
Saturday – LHP Brian Brown (NCSU) vs. LHP Mitch Stallings (Duke)
Sunday – RHP Michael Bienlien (NCSU) vs. TBA (Duke)

*Rankings based on this week’s Collegiate baseball top-25 poll*

RALEIGH, N.C. – The ACC leaders in the Atlantic and Coastal divisions will collide this weekend when the second-ranked NC State baseball team travels to No. 3 Duke for a three-game series.

Friday’s game is set for 6 p.m., while Saturday and Sunday’s games will begin at 1 p.m. at Jack Coombs Field on Duke’s campus.

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 29-7 overall record, including a 13-5 mark in ACC play to lead the Atlantic Division, while Duke owns a 30-8 mark and a 12-5 ledger in conference action to lead the Coastal Division.

Last Time Out
In its last outing, the Wolfpack earned an 8-3 win against eighth-ranked UNC-Chapel Hill in the ‘Duel at the DBAP’, a rare non-conference matchup between the programs. NC State struck first on a two-run homer from Patrick Bailey and put the game away with a three-run homer in the ninth inning by Evan Edwards.

Duke dropped a 9-2 decision at home against East Carolina in its most recent outing on Tuesday evening.

The Series
NC State and Duke have met 283 times in the history of the programs with the Wolfpack owning a 154-128-1 lead in the all-time series. NCSU has won seven of the last 10 meetings with the Blue Devils.

Last Time Versus Duke
The Wolfpack and Blue Devils last met during the 2016 season when NC State won the series held at Doak Field at Dail Park. The Pack recorded a 3-2 win in game one and a 12-2 victory in game two to clinch the series.

Duke edged NC State in the series finale, 2-1, to avoid the sweep. Evan Mendoza hit a walkoff single to give NCSU the 3-2 win in the first game of the series, which is the most recent walkoff win for the program.

Last Time at Duke
NC State last made the short trip over to Duke in 2014, but that series was held at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park instead of Jack Coombs Field. The Blue Devils won the first and third games of series to clinch, after the Wolfpack evened the series with a 6-2 win in game two.

Scouting Duke
The Duke Blue Devils are ranked among the top 10 of five major polls for the first time in program history with the highest at No. 3 in the Collegiate Baseball Poll. The Blue Devils won their last ACC series against Florida State, as the squad picked up their first series victory against the Seminoles since 1994.

Duke has only lost one conference series this season, falling in the rubber game of the series at Wake Forest.

Joey Loperfido leads the team at the plate with a .328 batting average to go along with 41 hits and a team-high 28 RBI. Griffin Conine paces the Blue Devils with seven home runs and the team has hit 30 for the year. As a team, Duke owns a .261 batting average and is scoring 6.26 runs per game.

Duke’s pitching staff is tied for the second-best ERA in the conference with a 3.43 clip.

Wolfpack in the National, ACC Rankings
Team
Batting Average – .304 (1st in ACC, 16th in NCAA)
Hits – 379 (2nd in ACC, 22nd in NCAA)
Home Runs – 56 (1st in ACC, 5th in NCAA)
Home Runs Per Game – 1.56 (1st in ACC, 4th in NCAA)
On-base Percentage – .404 (1st in ACC, 14th in NCAA)
Slugging Percentage – .489 (1st in ACC, 8th in NCAA)
Runs – 278 (1st in ACC, 13th in NCAA)
Scoring – 7.7 (1st in ACC, 10th in NCAA)

Walks Plus Hits Per Inning Pitched (WHIP) – 1.27 (2nd in ACC, 32nd in NCAA)
Earned Run Average – 3.44 (4th in ACC, 35th in NCAA)
Hits Allowed Per 9 Innings – 7.80 (4th in ACC, 34th in NCAA)

Individual
Brian Brown
ERA – 1.09 (1st in ACC, 4th in NCAA)

Brett Kinneman
Home Runs – 13 (1st in ACC, 5th in NCAA)
RBI – 45 (1st in ACC, 12th in NCAA)

Josh McLain
Hits – 60 (1st in ACC, 11th in NCAA)
Hits Per Game – 1.67 (1st in ACC, 6th in NCAA)

Joe O’Donnell
Saves – 7 (2nd in ACC, 33rd in NCAA)

Nine in a Row
The Wolfpack owns the ACC’s longest active series-win streak, as NC State has won nine consecutive conference series. NC State has won each of its weekend matchups dating back to the Virginia Tech series from last season.

Road Warriors
NC State owns the ACC’s best road record with a 7-2 mark in conference games. The Wolfpack, Louisville and Wake Forest are the only teams in the league that have swept a three-game conference road series.

PACKing a Punch
NC State’s two, three and four batters in the lineup have combined to hit 33 of the Wolfpack’s 56 home runs this season. Brett Kinneman leads the group and the ACC with 13 homers, while Will Wilson and Evan Edwards each have 10 long balls.

Tatum on a Tear
Since being inserted into the NC State lineup for the series finale at Louisville, freshman Terrell Tatum has compiled a .381 batting average at the plate, which is the second best on the team in the past six games.

The Collierville, Tenn., native has scored seven runs, collected five RBI and stole three bases during that span.

Big Innings
NC State has scored four of more runs in an inning 21 times this season with the most recent occurrence in game two of the doubleheader against Notre Dame. The Wolfpack scored six runs in the third inning and added four runs in the seventh en route to the victory.

The Pack’s season high for runs in an inning is eight, accomplished in the fourth inning of the Campbell game on March 3 and the seventh inning of the Air Force game on Feb. 26.

Wilson Garners Second ACC Player of the Week
Will Wilson was named the ACC Player of the Week for the second time this season on Monday, April 16. He helped lead NC State to a 3-1 record last week, compiling a .316 batting average with eight RBI, six runs and three home runs.

The sophomore shortstop recorded his second career multi-homer game in the series finale against Notre Dame to clinch the series, as the Wolfpack extended its ACC series-win streak to nine dating back to 2017.