No. 3 NC State Travels to No. 11 Florida State for Final ACC Series

NC STATE – FLORIDA STATE WEEKEND SERIES
Dates: Thursday – Saturday, May 17-19
Location: Tallahassee, Fla.
Site: Dick Howser Stadium
Times: 6:00 p.m. (Thurs. & Fri.) | 1 P.M. (Sat.)
Radio: WKNC 88.1 FM
Live Video: ACC Network Extra
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast

STARTING PITCHERS
Thursday: RHP Reid Johnston (NCSU) vs. LHP Drew Parrish (FSU)
Friday: LHP Brian Brown (NCSU) vs. RHP Andrew Karp (FSU)
Saturday: TBA (NCSU) vs. RHP Cole Sands (FSU)

RALEIGH, N.C. – The third-ranked NC State baseball team travels to Tallahassee, Fla., this weekend for its final ACC series of the season versus No. 11 Florida State. The series will be played Thursday through Saturday, which is the normal setup for the last conference series.

First pitch of Thursday and Friday’s games is slated for 6 p.m. at Dick Howser Stadium, while Saturday’s game is set to begin at 1 p.m.

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 heads into its last regular-season series on an eight-game winning streak as the squad is 39-12 overall, including an 18-9 mark in ACC play. Florida State is 37-16 on the year with a 14-12 record against conference opponents.

Last Time Out
In its last outing, NC State completed the series sweep against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons with a 10-6 win on Senior Day. The Wolfpack scored six unanswered runs in the contest to pull away and close out its home schedule with a win.

The Seminoles swept a four-game weekend series versus Mount St. Mary’s, highlighted by a 22-0 win in the series finale on Sunday.

The Series
Florida State leads the all-time series with NC State, 68-30, but the Wolfpack won last year’s series in Raleigh.

Last Time Versus Florida State
After the Seminoles won game one of the series, NC State won games two and three of the series last year in Raleigh to clinch the series. The Wolfpack edged Florida State with a 4-3 win in game two and won the series finale, 8-4.

Brett Kinneman tallied his first career multi-home run game versus the Seminoles in game one. Homers from Evan Mendoza and Brad Debo, along with a strong outing from Brian Brown led the Wolfpack to the win in game two. A strong start from Michael Bienlien and 13 hits helped NC State clinch the series in game three.

Last Time at Florida State
Inclement weather interrupted the last series between the teams in Tallahassee, as only one game of the series was played. Florida State won that game 8-5 before the remainder of the series was cancelled due to rain.

Scouting Florida State
Led by legendary head coach Mike Martin, the Florida State Seminoles have hit their stride recently as the squad has won 13 of their last 17 games. Martin recently surpassed former Texas Head Coach Augie Garrido to become the all-time winningest head coach in NCAA Division I baseball history.

The ‘Noles have compiled a 28-6 overall record in home games this season and have only lost one ACC series at Dick Howser Stadium. FSU was edged in their last conference series at Clemson, as the Tigers hit a walkoff home run in the series finale to decide the series.

Cal Raleigh leads the squad at the plate with a .326 batting average to go along with a team-best 46 RBIs. Drew Mendoza has collected the most hits on the team with 63, while Jackson Lueck supplies the power in the lineup with 14 home runs.

As a team, Florida State owns a batting average of .269 and is scoring 6.96 runs per game. On the mound, the pitching staff has compiled a 4.00 earned run average (ERA) with 537 strikeouts in 472.2 innings.

Record Watch
NC State’s 18 ACC wins this season is one shy of tying the program record of 19 set by the 2012 and 2013 squads. With the series win, the Wolfpack would break the program record with its 20th ACC win.

Chasing 40
NC State is looking to record its first 40-win season since 2013 when the Wolfpack won a program-record 50 games and advanced to the College World Series (CWS). The Wolfpack has tallied eight 40-win seasons under the leadership of head coach Elliott Avent.

Clemson is the only program in the ACC that has reached 40 wins this year.

Road Warriors
The Wolfpack has compiled a 9-3 record in ACC road games this season, which is the second-best road mark for an ACC team. Only Clemson’s 10-2 ledger in conference road games is better.

NC State has not lost a series on the road this year.

McLain Leading the Way
For the fourth consecutive week, NC State’s Josh McLain continues to lead the ACC in hits. The Hiddenite, N.C., native has tallied 81 on the year, which is six more than any other player in the conference.

His 81 hits rank 14th in the NCAA.

Eight-Game Winning Streak
During NC State’s eight-game winning streak, the Wolfpack has compiled a .304 team batting average with 66 runs scored, an average of 8.25 runs per game.

In contrast, the Pack’s pitching staff has limited opponents to just 29 runs and has compiled a team earned run average (ERA) of 3.38.

Season High in Strikeouts for the Pack Pitching Staff
NC State pitchers struck out a season-high 17 batters in last Saturday’s win against Wake Forest to clinch the series, while only issuing four walks in the contest. That mark is the fourth most in an ACC game this season.

Wilson Makes History with Third ACC Player of the Week Selection
After turning in an outstanding week, Will Wilson was named ACC Player of the Week for the third time this season on Monday.

He becomes the first player in program history to claim ACC Player of the Week three times in a single season since the inception of the accolade in 1989. The last NC State player to claim more than three ACC weekly honors was Mike Rogers in 2004, when he claimed Pitcher of the Week five times that season.

The Kings Mountain, N.C., native was also tabbed National Player of the Week by Collegiate Baseball and College Sports Madness along with National Hitter of the Week by the NCBWA.