NC State baseball makes leap in rankings after sweep over No. 2 Clemson
It was a chance to make a statement with No. 2 Clemson in town for a three-game series. NC State did more than that this past weekend. The Wolfpack swept the Tigers with ease, vaulting to first place in the ACC standings.
Now, the Pack has made a leap through the national rankings.
NC State checked in at No. 13 in D1Baseball’s top-25, up 12 spots from No. 25, while it entered Baseball America’s poll at No. 18 on Monday morning.
The Wolfpack downed the Tigers 14-4, 8-3 and 4-1 as it was never truly threatened to drop a game during the series as the team extended its winning streak to seven games.
Its hitting set the tone behind right fielder Brayden Fraasman’s 9-for-13 — including 5-for-5 in game one — weekend with two homers and seven RBI. Catcher Alex Sosa added a pair of home runs of his own, with three doubles to help pace the offense.
And its pitching? That was solid, too. NC State used just six arms throughout the entire weekend as its starters were efficient and its top bullpen arms were dominant to keep Clemson’s offense in check.
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The Pack’s starters combined to throw 18 innings with just seven runs allowed and 19 strikeouts, paced by sophomore lefty Ryan Marohn’s eight-inning gem on Sunday. Its relievers, meanwhile, tossed eight innings of one-run baseball, paced by sophomore righty Jacob Dudan’s 12 straight sliders to strike out the side in the series finale.
Combine the hitting and pitching together, and Wolfpack coach Elliott Avent was more than pleased with how his team performed.
“This is the best we’ve played all year for three games in a row,” Avent said. “It’s hard to play three games in a row. It’s not the physical thing, it’s the mental thing. … There’s not a lot of room for mistakes, and for three days in a row, we played as complete of games that we’ve played all year.”
NC State hosts UNCW on Tuesday (6 p.m., ACCNX) for its final home midweek game before hitting the road to visit red-hot Miami, who has won eight ACC games in a row.
Full D1Baseball Top 25:
| Ranking | Team | Overall record | Record last week | Previous ranking |
| 1 | Texas | 37-5 | 4-0 | 1 |
| 2 | LSU | 36-9 | 2-2 | 7 |
| 3 | Clemson | 36-10 | 1-3 | 2 |
| 4 | UNC | 33-10 | 2-1 | 8 |
| 5 | Florida State | 31-9 | 2-2 | 4 |
| 6 | Oregon | 30-12 | 3-1 | 10 |
| 7 | Oregon State | 32-10 | 2-3 | 3 |
| 8 | UC Irvine | 32-9 | 4-0 | 12 |
| 9 | Georgia | 35-11 | 2-2 | 10 |
| 10 | Auburn | 30-14 | 3-1 | 11 |
| 11 | Arkansas | 37-9 | 3-2 | 5 |
| 12 | Tennessee | 35-9 | 2-2 | 6 |
| 13 | NC State | 30-12 | 3-0 | 25 |
| 14 | UCLA | 32-11 | 3-1 | 15 |
| 15 | Vanderbilt | 31-13 | 1-3 | 13 |
| 16 | West Virginia | 37-5 | 3-1 | 17 |
| 17 | Louisville | 30-13 | 2-2 | 19 |
| 18 | Alabama | 35-10 | 4-0 | 18 |
| 19 | Coastal Carolina | 33-11 | 3-1 | 21 |
| 20 | Troy | 31-13 | 3-1 | 20 |
| 21 | Oklahoma | 30-13 | 1-3 | 14 |
| 22 | Southern Miss | 31-13 | 4-0 | 22 |
| 23 | Ole Miss | 31-13 | 3-1 | 23 |
| 24 | Arizona | 30-13 | 2-2 | 16 |
| 25 | Kansas | 35-10 | 4-0 | NR |
