NC State Newsstand: Updating Wolfpack baseball’s NCAA Tournament projections
Welcome to the postseason. NC State baseball kicks off its ACC Tournament slate Wednesday night in Charlotte, and the Wolfpack is surging towards hosting a regional next weekend.
The red and white is slated to host in three different NCAA Tournament projections by media outlets around the country, bolstering the Pack’s chances of a few more home games this spring.
D1Baseball slotted NC State has the No. 11 national seed, hosting UC Irvine, UNC Wilmington and Grand Canyon on the opening weekend. That regional was paired with No. 6 Clemson, who was scheduled to host Louisiana, South Carolina and Army.
If NC State were to play Clemson again, the Pack would carry a sense of confidence into the matchup. The Wolfpack took two of three at Clemson earlier this year, a key piece of the team’s late-season push.
Baseball America, meanwhile, made NC State the No. 9 national seed, hosting South Carolina, UNC Greensboro and Fairfield. That regional was paired with No. 8 national seed Georgia, along with Duke, UCF and Florida A&M.
Should NC State see UNC Greensboro again, that would create another family matchup between Wolfpack catcher Jacob Cozart and his brother Caleb. The Spartans won the lone regular season meeting between the two squads.
On3’s bracket projection had the Pack as the No. 15 national seed, along with South Carolina, Troy and Saint Louis. That regional was paired with No. 2 overall seed Kentucky, who was slated to host Illinois, Xavier and Penn.
NC State’s postseason schedule begins with Virginia Tech on Wednesday night before the Pack plays Duke on Thursday night. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. on the ACC Network.
Tweets of the day
Take a look at NC State baseball’s hype video for the ACC Tournament.
On3’s Andy Staples has the Wolfpack inside his post-spring top 25
NC State’s Amelia Rajecki is cruising in the NCAA Singles Tournament.
Quote of the day
NC State men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts had to rebuild his roster every year when he coached at Hargrave Military Academy for 10 seasons. That experience has paid off in the transfer portal.
“A lot of times we didn’t build our roster and finish our roster until late June,” Keatts said of his time at Hargrave. “Some coaches may get a little bit nervous about it. Just be patient because it’s not going to happen all of a sudden. You wish it could, but it doesn’t happen right away.”
Today’s top headlines
How Kevin Keatts’ prep coaching background helped in the transfer portal
The Wolfpacker 3-2-1: NC State official visit recruiting intel
