Wolfpack to battle Duke
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RALEIGH – NC State baseball (30-16, 12-11 ACC) will make the short trip to Durham, N.C., this weekend when it meets with Tobacco Road rival Duke (20-27, 9-15 ACC) for a three-game series at Jack Coombs Field.
Due to anticipated weather in the area, Friday’s first pitch has been moved up to 12 p.m. while Saturday and Sunday’s games are slated for 1 p.m. Friday’s game will be broadcast on ACCNX while the latter two will be on Regional Sports Networks (RSN). There will be a radio broadcast for all three games on WKNC 88.1 and the Varsity Network App.
STARTING PITCHERS
Friday – RHP Logan Whitaker (NCSU) vs. RHP Marcus Johnson (DUKE)
Saturday – RHP Matt Willadsen (NCSU) vs. LHP Jonathan Santucci (DUKE)
Sunday – TBA (NCSU) vs. TBA (NCSU)
LAST TIME OUT
NC State traveled to UNCW on Tuesday for its second matchup of the season with the Seahawks. It was a back-and-forth slugfest that had a combined 23 hits and 24 runs, but the Pack was ultimately outlasted, 13-11.
Despite scoring five runs to start the game, the Seahawks plated 10 unanswered runs across the first three innings. The Wolfpack managed to score five more runs in the fourth to tie the game, but UNCW ultimately pushed across two late runs in the eighth to come away with the victory.
SERIES HISTORY
This weekend will be the first three-game series meeting between the Pack and Blue Devils since April 20-22, 2018, which was played in Durham. NC State earned 9-2 and 2-1 wins in the first two games to clinch the series, but Duke won, 11-2, in the finale to avoid the sweep.
The last time the teams met was on May 30, 2021, for the ACC Championship title game at Truist Field in Charlotte, N.C., and the Blue Devils won, 1-0.
Friday will be the 289th meeting between the squads, with the first meeting dating back to 1897, as the Pack leads the all-time series, 161-127-1.
REWRITING THE RECORD BOOKS
In Tuesday’s game at UNCW, Tommy White hit his 21st home run of the season to rank T6th all-time at NC State for the most home runs in a single season. It marks the most home runs hit by a Pack player since 1994.
White is closing in on several records, as he is one away from the ACC freshman home run record (22 – Florida State’s Matt Diaz, 1998), four from the NC State single season record (25 – Tracy Woodson and Turtle Zaun) and five from the NCAA freshman home run record (26 – Georgia Southern’s Todd Greene, 1990).
LEADING THE WAY
On Tuesday at UNCW Devonte Brown led off with a home run, marking the fifth time this season he has left the yard when leading off the Wolfpack offense.
Eleven of his 12 homers have come in the leadoff spot of the Pack’s batting order and seven of them have come when leading off an inning.
ON DECK
May 17 · vs. UNCG · 6 PM