NC State baseball weekend preview: Another ranked ACC foe

NC State baseball is set to play its third consecutive weekend conference series against a ranked opponent.

The Pack started league action losing both games of a shortened set against No. 3 Notre Dame in Raleigh. Last weekend, NC State traveled to No. 8 Florida State and went 1-2, losing the third game (and second of a doubleheader) in 17 innings.

NC State (12-8 overall, 1-4 in ACC) is back at Doak Field in Raleigh this weekend for a three-game series with No. 12 Georgia Tech (16-6, 4-2).

Game 1 is scheduled for a 7 p.m. start on Friday, March 25. Game 2 is Saturday at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ACC Network. The conclusion is Sunday at 1 p.m. The first and final contests can be seen online on ACC Network Extra.

Here’s a look at the weekend ahead for NC State baseball.

NC State Baseball Midweek Review

Sunday was presumably a late-night return from Tallahassee, Fla., following a doubleheader that included a marathon final game that took five hours and 45 minutes to finish and ended at 9:48 p.m.

Two days later, NC State baseball was back on the diamond.

A pair of homers — a leadoff solo blast from sophomore first baseman LuJames Groover III and a three-run shot in the third from redshirt sophomore shortstop Josh Hood — helped NC State jump out to a 5-0 lead on visiting North Carolina A&T through four innings.

That was all the offense the Pack could muster, but the pitching made it hold up. Sophomore righty Garrett Payne went 5.1 innings in his first start of the year, allowing four hits and three earned runs. Super senior lefty Canaan Silver finished off the final 3.2 innings, not allowing a run and just two hits while fanning four.

Looking At Georgia Tech

In the preseason coaches’ poll for the ACC, Georgia Tech was picked by eight of the 14 league managers to win the Coastal Division.

The Yellow Jackets have not disappointed much this year. Georgia Tech started ACC play by sweeping Virginia Tech in Atlanta, then last weekend won two of three at home against Wake Forest. This will be the first time this season the Jackets have hit the road for a full three-game set.

Georgia Tech has a potent lineup that conforms to modern baseball tendencies: working counts, drawing walks and hitting homers while taking strikeouts as a tradeoff. GT is tied for third in the ACC in home runs hit thus far this year (41) and team batting average (.326) and is third in runs scored (214). The Jackets’ batters are also third in the ACC in walks with 127 but conversely have struck out the third-most in the league (206).

Weekend Pitching

It is an unknown going into the weekend.

NC State baseball third-year sophomore righty Sam Highfill, typically the Friday starter, was originally bumped to Sunday against Florida State but ultimately ended up missing his turn in the rotation. Neither NC State nor Georgia Tech has yet announced its pitching plans for this weekend.

One safe bet, assuming good health, is that third-year righty Matt Willadsen will start somewhere this weekend for the Pack. He has enjoyed back-to-back strong outings, and in the process has improved his earned run average (ERA) to 3.95. Willadsen has surrendered 24 hits in 27.1 innings while walking 14 and leading NC State with 31 strikeouts.

Highfill’s status will play a role in the rest of the weekend’s plans. Super senior lefty David Harrison has been hit hard in his two previous appearances, allowing 11 hits and 13 earned runs over 3.0 innings and ballooning his ERA to 8.53.

Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore Logan Whitaker, who arrived at NC State in 2019 but had yet to throw a pitch until this season due to injuries, has been a revelation. Whitaker started in Highfill’s place at Florida State and allowed one hit and two walks while striking out four in 3.1 scoreless innings. That came five days after a midweek start at Elon in which Whitaker went 4.2 hitless innings and fanned five.

For the season, Whitaker has allowed eight hits and seven walks with 17 strikeouts in 16.1 innings and owns a 1.10 ERA, perhaps putting him in line for a larger role.

Meanwhile, Georgia Tech has its own pitching staff issues. The Jackets rank 12th out of 14 ACC teams with a 5.66 staff ERA. Teams are hitting .266 off Georgia Tech, also 12th in the conference.

Chance Huff has been the Friday starter, but he was hit hard in his first two starts against league competition, allowing 12 hits and nine earned runs in 10.1 innings.

Traditional Saturday starter Zach Maxwell has lasted past the third inning just once in five starts and has a 6.35 ERA. Marquis Grissom Jr. has typically started Sundays, but, like Maxwell, Grissom has thrown limited innings. He has yet to make it past the fourth and has a 4.24 ERA.

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