NC State baseball weekend preview: Last non-conference tune-up

NC State baseball is 9-0 to start the season but also coming off the biggest scare of the year thus far. The Pack rallied to beat Radford, 9-7, on Wednesday. That was the fifth straight game at Doak Field in Raleigh.

This weekend will complete an eight-game homestand for NC State baseball with a three-game set against NJIT. First pitch Friday is at 3 p.m., weather permitting, followed by 2 p.m. Saturday and 1 p.m. Sunday.

Here is a preview of this weekend’s action against NJIT.

NC State Baseball In The Polls

Perfect Game: 17th (up from 21st)

Collegiate Baseball: 19th (up from 30th)

USA Today Sports baseball coaches: 20th (up from 22nd)

NCBWA: 20th (up from 22nd)

D1Baseball.com: 21st (no change)

Baseball America: 24th (up from 25th)

Midweek Recap

NC State had little problem with Longwood on Tuesday, securing a 14-0 win after the game was ended following the seventh inning do to run rules.

However, Wednesday vs. Radford proved to be a different story. Despite coming to NC State on a five-game losing streak, with four of those defeats coming by at least 7 runs, Radford jumped on the Pack with 3 first inning runs and held a surprising 7-2 lead going into the bottom of the seventh.

A 3-run homer by sophomore shortstop Payton Green jumpstarted a 7-run inning for the Wolfpack that proved to be the difference.

NC State Baseball Weekend Rotation

NC State baseball coach Elliott Avent is going with the same rotation he has used in his first two series of the year.

Redshirt junior righty Logan Whitaker has thrown 10.1 innings in a pair of Friday starts, surrendering 10 hits and 3 earned runs without issuing a walk and fanning six.

Junior righthander Matt Willadsen will go Saturday. In 2 starts, Willadsen has given up just 6 hits and 2 walks over 12.0 innings while allowing a pair of earned runs and striking out a team-high 14.

Sunday starter is freshman lefty Dominic Fritton. He has tossed 10.2 innings over 2 starts, allowing 6 hits and just 1 earned run for a microscopic 0.84 earned run average (ERA). He’s walked three and fanned eight.

Scouting NJIT

NJIT is based in Newark, N.J., but the baseball team might as well have been taking online cases while basing itself in the state of North Carolina since mid-February.

The season began at Davidson, where NJIT won 2 of 3. Then came 4 games vs. Purdue in Holly Springs, N.C. The two teams split a pair of double headers last weekend, giving NJIT a 4-3 record coming into NC State.

The Highlanders went 26-27 a year ago, including 15-15 in the America East Conference and were eliminated one game shy of playing for the league title in the tournament for the second year in a row. NJIT was picked preseason to finish fifth in the seven-team America East.

Saturday starter and junior lefty Aidan Kidd is off to a sterling start, giving up just 1 earned run and 3 hits over 10.0 innings while walking four and striking out 18. He leads a staff that has the best team ERA in the America East thus far on the young season at 3.86.

NJIT also has displayed some power, hitting a conference high 12 homers and a league-best .498 slugging percentage.