ACC play opens for the Birds today, with a double header today starting at 3pm. Tomorrow's game was moved up, and Sunday is the finale at 11am. The Wolfpack come into the series ranked 14th in the country by D1 baseball and a 9-2 record. They haven't played stellar competition, the best being VCU, who they took 2 of 3 from at home to open the season, and a series win over Hawaii was prob the next best. A sweep of Townsand and a midweek pummeling of Queens representing over half of their wins.
The Pack are in an interesting spot, once again snubbed as a tourney team last year, they return a lot of their Pitching staff, but lost some key offensive players, and was thought to be a bit of a "weakness" entering the year.. Gino Groover was a high draft pick, and Carter Trice, Trevor Candelario, Kalehee Harrison all moved on. SS Payton Green xferred to Ga Tech, and for the second straight year, they had a super star freshman leave for SEC school, this time losing SH leading hitter Cannon Peebles to Tennessee. Don't be fooled however, the offense is not bereft of talent, as they have some hitters off to a tremendous start.
So. LHH Eli Serrano had a huge freshman year and stuck around and is now their CF after playing 1B almost all of last year. Jr C Jacob Cozart is an AA type player who has already hit 5 HRs and carries an OPS of over 1.300. ECU Alec Makarewicz is a switch hitter who has really given their O a power boost, he too, has 5hrs to go with a whopping 24 rbi in 11 games. Fresh DH Drew Lanphere and So. Josh Houge are two more lefty hitters with an OPS over 1.000, and Wichita xfer Garrett Pennington is another 1K ops club member, giving balance to the lineup from the right side. If that doesn't sound treacherous enough, there are two more lefties, brothers Chase and Luke Nixon, sons of Trot, who are off to good starts too.
The lineup is punishing, and you know you've heard me talk about lefty heavy lineups and how I think that can be a tough matchup for West sometimes, who gets the start in game 1. Game 2 AJ is listed as the starter, and Game 3 is TBD. A big part of how today plays out (i.e. Tyler Mudd pitching or not) will determine who starts on Sunday. The lefty pitchers will be key this weekend. We haven't seen Charlie Coon since opening weekend, and I almost forgot about him, I do wonder if he is hurt.
On the mound, I mentioned the Pack return their entire weekend staff. Game 1 starter will be Logan Whitaker, a RHP who we've seen for a couple seasons now. He pitched into the 6th last yr, with a Travis Honeyman 3 hr being the big blow in a Birds 4-1 win. He has a great changeup but has been just "ok" results wise this year. Game 2 SP will be Sam Highfill, who has seemingly been at NC State forever 's a 5th yr and Whitaker a 6th year SR). He pitched a great game vs the Birds as a Frosh, but last year had a rough year coming back from a back injury and was a RP for most of the year He's back to his 92-94 now with his good slider. He moved his arm slot down a bit, and its helped generate 14Ks in 14 ip so far, but he's also walked 10 and hit 2 more, so a patience approach will help today. Sunday's SP is Dom Fritton, who came into the year as one of the conference's best pitchers after a stellar Fr year, but has had some early struggles with his command, too. 17Ks in 12 IP shows the stuff, but also 8 BBs 3 HBP and 6.39 era is quite the surprise. That being said, this might be some of the best stuff you'll see, esp from the left side, and his early numbers don't mean much to me, he'll be a handful. Fr Ryahn Mahon has started 3 games for them and has pitched really well. Another lefty will premium stuff, will prob be their ace RP this weekend. Another stalwart who was key to their '21 Ohama run Matt Willasden must be hurt, bc he has yet to pitch this year.
ACC is a brutal slate this year, anytime you can avoid a road sweep is key IMO. Give me one this weekend on the road, and I'll be content!
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