North Carolina State University Athletics
Baseball Begins Regular Season Ending Series Against Liberty
5/12/2000 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
NC State has won four of six meetings with the Flames in a series that dates back to a 14-1 Wolfpack victory in 1987. This weekend's games are the first between the two clubs since 1990.
The Pack hasn't played since last Sunday. Liberty defeated Clemson 6-4 on Thursday night.
Freshman righthander Daniel Caldwell (1-2, 5.96) will get the start for NC State on Friday night (7 p.m.). In seven appearances since April 18, three of which were starts, Caldwell has posted a 3.47 ERA. In his last start on May 5, Caldwell was a tough-luck 3-0 loser at Maryland. The son of former Wolfpack great Mike Caldwell settled down after allowing all three runs in the opening inning.
In the regular season finale on Saturday (7 p.m.), Dan D'Amato (5-6, 5.16) will take the hill for Elliot Avent's Wolfpack. In his last six appearances, the sophomore lefthander has struggled; posting an 0-3 record with a 9.51 ERA. During that time he has allowed 25 earned runs on 43 hits in 23 and 2/3 innings.
The Wolfpack will begin postseason play next week when it travels to Fort Mill, South Carolina for the annual Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament. As of right now, the Pack would be a No. 7 seed in the tournament and would open play against No. 2 Clemson. However, that is subject to change pending the outcome of this weekend's games.
Virginia (9-12 ACC), which is currently in sixth place, will entertain Clemson in a key three-game series on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Should the Cavaliers lose two of the three games, they would finish in a tie with NC State. If that happens, the Wolfpack would win the tiebreaker for sixth place because it took two out of three from UVA earlier in the season.
