NC State moves up in national poll, holds steady in another entering final ACC weekend
NC State needed to find a way to build momentum this past week after it struggled to find the win column in the three games before. A midweek win at UNCW coupled with a series split at then-No. 4 North Carolina seemed to do the trick.
The 2-1 showing helped the Wolfpack remain in a similar position in the national polls going into the final week of the regular season as the team was ranked No. 13 by D1Baseball and No. 22 by Baseball America on Monday morning.
NC State moved up three spots in D1Baseball’s poll, while it held steady in Baseball America’s rankings.
To open the week, the Wolfpack was able to avenge a midweek loss at home to UNCW with a 14-4 road win Tuesday evening. The Pack’s bats woke up after scoring five total runs at Miami in the two games prior, paced by sophomore second baseman Luke Nixon’s three-run homer.
Although NC State followed that showing with an 8-1 loss to open the series at UNC, it rebounded well with an 8-5 victory on Friday night at Boshamer Stadium. The Pack controlled the game for nearly the entirety of it before the Tar Heels knotted the game at 5 in the eighth. But that lasted just one frame as the Pack added three in the ninth to level the series.
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Sunday’s rubber match was canceled following a more than four-hour rain delay that left UNC’s home field with poor conditions in the outfield to play.
Now, NC State is in second place heading into the final ACC series of the season as Stanford arrives in Raleigh, beginning on Thursday.
The Pack has a half-game lead on the Tar Heels, while it is just behind Florida State. NC State has a chance to win the regular season title, but it needs to win at least two games this week with Florida State either winning one (Pack needs to win just two) or two games against UNC (Pack needs to sweep Stanford).
Here’s a look at the complete D1Baseball Top 25:
| Ranking | Team | Overall Record | Record last week | Previous ranking |
| 1 | LSU | 40-12 | 2-1 | 3 |
| 2 | Florida State | 36-11 | 3-1 | 2 |
| 3 | Texas | 40-10 | 2-2 | 1 |
| 4 | UNC | 37-11 | 2-1 | 4 |
| 5 | Oregon | 38-13 | 5-0 | 5 |
| 6 | Auburn | 36-15 | 3-0 | 8 |
| 7 | Oregon State | 37-12-1 | 3-0 | 10 |
| 8 | Arkansas | 41-11 | 1-2 | 7 |
| 9 | Vanderbilt | 36-16 | 2-2 | 11 |
| 10 | Georgia | 40-13 | 1-2 | 6 |
| 11 | Coastal Carolina | 41-11 | 4-0 | 14 |
| 12 | UC Irvine | 38-11 | 4-0 | 13 |
| 13 | NC State | 32-16 | 2-1 | 16 |
| 14 | UCLA | 37-14 | 3-1 | 18 |
| 15 | Clemson | 38-15 | 1-3 | 9 |
| 16 | West Virginia | 40-10 | 1-3 | 12 |
| 17 | Tennessee | 39-13 | 2-2 | 15 |
| 18 | Alabama | 39-13 | 3-1 | 23 |
| 19 | Southern Miss | 38-13 | 3-0 | 21 |
| 20 | Duke | 35-16 | 3-1 | NR |
| 21 | Louisville | 34-17 | 2-2 | 20 |
| 22 | Troy | 37-16 | 3-2 | 19 |
| 23 | Florida | 35-18 | 2-2 | NR |
| 24 | Dallas Baptist | 36-13 | 3-0 | NR |
| 25 | Northeastern | 41-9 | 4-0 | NR |
