NC State Newsstand: Wolfpack baseball rises in rankings after top-15 series wins over Clemson, UNC
NC State baseball’s last two weekend series wins over then-No. 2 Clemson and then-No. 11 North Carolina has the Wolfpack back inside two national rankings this week.
The Wolfpack, which took two of three from both the Tigers and Tar Heels in the last two weeks, checked in at No. 17 in Baseball America’s weekly poll (up from No. 22 last week), while the red and white entered D1 Baseball’s edition at No. 21.
Its pair of big-time series wins is what helped get the Wolfpack back in the national spotlight.
“NC State rode the momentum it built from its series win at Clemson into this weekend and picked up another big-time series win against rival North Carolina,” Baseball America wrote in its rankings. “In Thursday’s series opener, the Wolfpack weathered a Tar Heel comeback and won in walk-off fashion thanks to a Brandon Butterworth solo blast. On Friday, the Pack mounted a comeback of their own and scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to clinch the series. Butterworth was again the hero, as after he laced an RBI single he came around to score the go-ahead run on a passed ball. After a marquee midweek tilt against No. 8 East Carolina, NC State this weekend hosts Ball State.”
NC State owns series wins over No. 4/5 Clemson, No. 5/6 Duke and No. 12/15 North Carolina. The Pack still has ACC weekends at No. 6/10 Florida State and No. 11/14 Virginia, and home against No. 8/10 Wake Forest to close the season.
The red and white is back in action at No. 7 East Carolina on Tuesday night in Greenville, N.C. First pitch is set for 6 p.m.
Tweets of the day
NC State had a pair of wrestlers land on the USA National Team after the Olympic Trials.
Wolfpack men’s golf’s season came to an end with an eighth-place finish at the ACC Tournament.
Former NC State wrestling assistant Donnie Vinson was named the head coach at Buffalo.
Quote of the day
NC State is battling injuries at the moment, but its young players have stepped up in the meantime.
“They fight, they play with a lot of heart,” NC State coach Elliott Avent said. “We’ve got a lot of young guys that are doing everything they can. We’ve got a couple guys on the corners — [Garrett] Pennington and [Alec] Makarewicz — that give it everything they got. They’re both playing banged up and they’re kind of the rock of this team. They stabilize everything about this team with their professionalism and how they show up every day and how they go about their business. So you’ve got that stability and you’ve got a lot of young guys that are playing really hard and really well right now.”
Today’s top headlines
Shorthanded NC State wins pair of top-15 series in a row, still working to get healthy
How NC State’s wrestlers did at U.S. Olympic Trials
NC State Newsstand: Former Wolfpack QB Roman Gabriel dies at 83
