#21 NC State convincingly defeated Ball State 10-2 in the series opener in Raleigh this evening.
Senior Sam Highfill pitched a Quality Start against the Cardinals, giving up 2 earned runs in 6 innings, while striking out 6. The Quality Start was Highfill’s 3rd of the season, and his record on the year is now 4-1.
Freshman Ryan Marohn was brilliant in relief, pitching 3 scoreless innings, giving up only 1 hit, while striking out 3. Marohn picked up his 1st Save of his collegiate career.
Senior 3rd Baseman Alec Makarewicz was the Wolfpack’s Offensive MVP, going 2 for 4, with a Grand Slam.
17 homers, 55 RBI and another GRAND SLAM for A-Mak 💣#Pack9 | @Alec_mak99 pic.twitter.com/fTBCrh5afv
— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 26, 2024
Makarewica now has 17 Home Runs and 55 RBI’s.
Sophomore Right Fielder Josh Hogue, Junior Catcher Jacob Cozart, Junior Left Fielder Chase Nixon, Freshman 2nd Baseman Luke Nixon and Sophomore Matt Heavner all had an RBI apiece.
Junior Shortstop Brandon Butterworth was the only player besides A-Mak to have multiple hits, going 2 for 4 with a Double.
Game 2 is tomorrow at 3pm.
#21 NC State is coming off of a series victory over UNC this past weekend, and a loss to #7 ECU on the road last night. Where does NC State project to land in the 2024 NCAA Tournament?
The Wolfpack have already seen the Pirates twice this season, but according to D1Baseball and Baseball America, they might not be done playing ECU. Both of them project NC State to be a #2 seed in the Greenville Regional, with D1Baseball projecting the Pirates as the #6 seed and Baseball America projecting them as the #8 seed.
NC State has plenty of baseball left to play, with series against UVA (#14), FSU (#10) and Wake Forest (#8). If the Wolfpack can handle business in 2 of those 3 series, you could make an argument for NC State hosting their own regional.
D1Baseball
Baseball America
#21 NC State lost to #7 ECU 6-10 on the road this evening in a midweek game. As a result, the Pirates have won both games against the Wolfpack in 2024.
When you record 10 hits and score 6 runs, you would hope that’s enough offense to win a baseball game.
Unfortunately the Wolfpack pitching staff was unable to contain the bats of the Pirates, allowing ECU to put 15 hits and 10 runs in the Box Score.
Kudos to Senior 3rd Baseman Alec Makarewicz for making a STATEment in his return to Clark-LeClair Stadium. A-Mak transferred to NC State from ECU this offseason. This evening Makarewicz was 2-4 with 1 RBI, 2 Runs, and 1 Walk.
A-MAK 👏 ON 👏 THE 👏 ATTACK 👏#Pack9 | @Alec_mak99 pic.twitter.com/7Lps43hXow
— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 23, 2024
A-Mak’s Home Run was a part of back-to-back-to-back Home Runs in the Top of the 3rd for the Wolfpack, with Sophomore Right Fielder Josh Hogue and Junior Catcher Jacob Cozart also hitting bombs.
Hogue Homer 💪#Pack9 | @JoshHogue5 pic.twitter.com/CMV3rCQu4B
— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 23, 2024
‘Zart completes the trifecta 🤌 pic.twitter.com/gipiWvbcFb
— #Pack9 ⚾️ (@NCStateBaseball) April 23, 2024
NC State will look to flush this loss, and get ready for a 3-game series at home this weekend against Ball State.
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.
The thing is almost of ofctge guys who transfer amount to less at the school they transfer to than what they were at state. Good luck to the twins but I think it is another case of over hyped ego getting the best of these kids.
What is going on at State? Why does no one want to come to State? If Abu goes Pro, we will have only six scholarship players on the team, and that’s counting Smith. If he is as good as project, he is one and done. Looks like we will have to have a try-out of other undergraduates at school. Maybe some of the football players can play basketball.
Does anyone know if Henderson will be able to play at State for two more years?
wulfpacker I agree that I was not that overwhelmed by their ability, but right now we don’t have anyone to replace them. Kirk, Dorn, and Henderson are unknowns at this point. Rowan has to grow up and get in better shape to be our star. Smith will only be at State one year. We will only have Chris’s kid to play the point then. Wow what a future State has in basketball. Don’t let everyone get excited about the big Turkey kid, Duke and Kentucky are after him also.
wulfpacker I predicted that the 2015-2016 would suck terribly when Lacey declared last year. Well I predict that the 2016-2017 team will suck more than this year team. We have no idea that Henderson or Dorn can play at the ACC level. We saw Kirk some. What we saw was no that promising. Abu is gone and Anya will put on another 30 lbs. We will have a hard time beat Boston College or High Point College next year. Time to get rid of Gottfried. Nothing more needs to be said except goodbye Mark.
Gottfried still has life. The biggest determinant will be who does he hire this offseason to replace Rob Moxley. Also better hope Abu doesn’t get false hope or dreams at NBA combine. If Abu leaves that could be a tough hurdle to overcome. Otherwise program will be fine without Martins. Henderson, Smith, Dorn, Rowan, Kirk. Plenty of options.
This is a classic case of kids thinking they are better than they are. Everyone thinks they should be playing 30 minutes a game. These two played 25-30 minutes a game on a team that had 5 ACC wins…doesn’t sound like they are program changers. I don’t think it is a big loss at all. Neither kid was as good as they were advertised. Didn’t play good defense and wildly inconsistent offensively.
Time to get rid of Gottfried. Too many transfers. We will never have a good program again with this coach. Wake up Yow and smell what’s happening. This is not starting to get ridiculous, it is already way to ridiculous. Get rid of Gottfried now so we can find another coach before everyone leaves.
These 2 were over promoted and over rated. Yes they played better this year but they never lived up to the hype…
Probably because the twins have Henderson, Dorn, and Rowan in front of them. They don’t seem like the type that wants to come off the bench mainly as guys to spell the starters while they get a breather, especially Caleb, who enjoys to shoot the ball ALOT. Not surprised by this at all.
This is starting to get ridiculous every year we lose transfers under Gottfried somebody please explain to me what is going on with this program.