North Carolina State University Athletics
Photo by: Mollie Mitchell
#Pack9 Opens Road Swing at UNCG
3/6/2023 3:45:00 PM | Baseball
Wolfpack Faces its First In-State Opponent of 2023 on Tuesday
RALEIGH – The No. 19 NC State baseball team travels to UNCG on Tuesday for its first in-state matchup of the 2023 season. The Wolfpack's road midweek matchup at UNCG Baseball Stadium is set for 3 p.m.
Tuesday's game will be streamed live on ESPN+. A free audio stream will be available on the Varsity Network App. The game will also be available on the radio on WKNC 88.1 with Andrew Sanders on the call.
NC State holds a 31-9 record against the Spartans, winning four of the past five meetings in the series. The Wolfpack went 2-0 against UNCG this past season, earning a 13-5 win on the road before recording a 20-2 home victory in seven innings on May 17.
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday – LHP P.J. Labriola (NCSU) vs. RHP Caleb Cozart (UNCG)
LAST TIME ON THE DIAMOND
NC State moved to 12-0 for the first time since 2020 after completing a three-game sweep of NJIT this past weekend, winning the first two games in dominant fashion before rallying late on Sunday to make it three straight weekend sweeps to open the season. The Pack outscored NJIT 30-4 over the first two games before scoring five runs over the final three innings to complete the late comeback on Sunday.
COMEBACK PACK
NC State has trailed after the second inning in just three games this season -- against Wagner on Feb. 18, against Radford on Wednesday and against NJIT on Sunday. The Wolfpack has rallied to win all three of those games, twice with multi-run team at-bats in the seventh inning and once behind Sunday's walk-off homer from Payton Green.
AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE
Twelve games into its 2023 season, NC State enters the week as one of five undefeated teams in the NCAA Division I ranks. The Wolfpack is joined by two ACC schools on the list -- Alabama, Troy, Wake Forest (ACC) and Virginia (ACC).
SCOUTING UNCG
NC State was not the only team to post a perfect 5-0 record this past week as UNCG went 5-for-5 in the win column with a midweek sweep over Elon before winning all three games over Rutgers at home at UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Spartans earned two of their three victories over the Scarlet Knights by just a single run. UNCG also mirrored the Wolfpack Sunday with a one-run walk-off victory when GC Jarman hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to center field in the 10th inning to complete the sweep. At the plate, three batters with 30 or more at-bats are batting over .300, including Kennedy Jones, who leads the Spartans with 22 total bases and 12 runs scored and is tied for a team-high in hits (15) and home runs (two).
AVENT'S CHASE TO 1,000 & 1,200
NC State baseball head coach Elliott Avent has reached many milestones throughout his collegiate coaching career, entering the 2023 season with a 1,186-784 overall record and a 962-571 record at NC State. With 12 straight wins to open the season, Avent (1,198-784; 974-571) sits just two wins away from career victory No. 1,200 and 26 victories away from NC State career win No. 1,000.
With career win No. 1,200, Avent would become the 29th coach in NCAA history to surpass 1,200 career victories.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
NC State ranks first nationally in total doubles hit (39) so far this season. The Pack also ranks second nationally in doubles per game (3.25). Eleven Wolfpack batters have recorded multiple doubles this season, highlighted by Trevor Candelaria's team-high six doubles on the year.
POWER SURGE
With 14 more home runs during week three, NC State ranks seventh nationally with 28 home runs through just 12 games. The Wolfpack hit more home runs this past week over a five-game span than 190 Division I team have hit this entire season.
In Saturday's 21-2 win over NJIT, the Pack needed only eight team at-bats to slug a season-high six homers in a single game. The last time NC State hit six or more home runs in a game was when the #Pack9 hit seven homers in a 21-0 win over Towson on May 9, 2010. The Wolfpack also scored in every inning for the first time since March 16, 2010, when the Pack scored in all nine innings in a 24-6 road victory at NC Central.
RECORD AGAINST IN-STATE OPPONENTS
The Wolfpack finished with a 13-9 record against in-state opponents in 2022, including a 9-2 record against in-state nonconference opponents. NC State earned in-state midweek victories over High Point, UNCG, Elon, North Carolina A&T, East Carolina and UNCW.
Since taking over the NC State baseball program in 1997, head coach Elliott Avent has led the Pack to a 345-171 (.669) record against in-state opponents.
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
NC State brought out the brooms five times in 2022 with five three-game series' sweeps — three against nonconference opponents (Evansville, Quinnipiac and Radford) and two against conference foes (Georgia Tech and Boston College).
With back-to-back-to-back weekend sweeps to open this season, NC State has recorded 73 weekend sweeps (three-game or four-game series against the same opponent) since Avent's first season in 1997. The Pack has tallied 35 sweeps since the completion of the 2012 season and 63 sweeps since the completion of the 2002 campaign.
The most three-game/four-game sweeps an Avent-coached Wolfpack team has recorded in a single season has been five, which has been accomplished in 2022, 2019, 2013, 2010, 2006 and his first season with the Pack in 1997.
UP NEXT
NC State will open ACC play at Miami this weekend. This weekend's three-game series at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Florida, begins Friday at 7 p.m. Friday's broadcast will be on ACC Network, while Saturday and Sunday's games will be on ACC Network Extra.
#Pack9 | @NCStateBaseball
Tuesday's game will be streamed live on ESPN+. A free audio stream will be available on the Varsity Network App. The game will also be available on the radio on WKNC 88.1 with Andrew Sanders on the call.
NC State holds a 31-9 record against the Spartans, winning four of the past five meetings in the series. The Wolfpack went 2-0 against UNCG this past season, earning a 13-5 win on the road before recording a 20-2 home victory in seven innings on May 17.
PROJECTED STARTING PITCHERS
Tuesday – LHP P.J. Labriola (NCSU) vs. RHP Caleb Cozart (UNCG)
LAST TIME ON THE DIAMOND
NC State moved to 12-0 for the first time since 2020 after completing a three-game sweep of NJIT this past weekend, winning the first two games in dominant fashion before rallying late on Sunday to make it three straight weekend sweeps to open the season. The Pack outscored NJIT 30-4 over the first two games before scoring five runs over the final three innings to complete the late comeback on Sunday.
COMEBACK PACK
NC State has trailed after the second inning in just three games this season -- against Wagner on Feb. 18, against Radford on Wednesday and against NJIT on Sunday. The Wolfpack has rallied to win all three of those games, twice with multi-run team at-bats in the seventh inning and once behind Sunday's walk-off homer from Payton Green.
AND THEN THERE WERE FIVE
Twelve games into its 2023 season, NC State enters the week as one of five undefeated teams in the NCAA Division I ranks. The Wolfpack is joined by two ACC schools on the list -- Alabama, Troy, Wake Forest (ACC) and Virginia (ACC).
SCOUTING UNCG
NC State was not the only team to post a perfect 5-0 record this past week as UNCG went 5-for-5 in the win column with a midweek sweep over Elon before winning all three games over Rutgers at home at UNCG Baseball Stadium. The Spartans earned two of their three victories over the Scarlet Knights by just a single run. UNCG also mirrored the Wolfpack Sunday with a one-run walk-off victory when GC Jarman hit a game-winning sacrifice fly to center field in the 10th inning to complete the sweep. At the plate, three batters with 30 or more at-bats are batting over .300, including Kennedy Jones, who leads the Spartans with 22 total bases and 12 runs scored and is tied for a team-high in hits (15) and home runs (two).
AVENT'S CHASE TO 1,000 & 1,200
NC State baseball head coach Elliott Avent has reached many milestones throughout his collegiate coaching career, entering the 2023 season with a 1,186-784 overall record and a 962-571 record at NC State. With 12 straight wins to open the season, Avent (1,198-784; 974-571) sits just two wins away from career victory No. 1,200 and 26 victories away from NC State career win No. 1,000.
With career win No. 1,200, Avent would become the 29th coach in NCAA history to surpass 1,200 career victories.
DOUBLE TROUBLE
NC State ranks first nationally in total doubles hit (39) so far this season. The Pack also ranks second nationally in doubles per game (3.25). Eleven Wolfpack batters have recorded multiple doubles this season, highlighted by Trevor Candelaria's team-high six doubles on the year.
POWER SURGE
With 14 more home runs during week three, NC State ranks seventh nationally with 28 home runs through just 12 games. The Wolfpack hit more home runs this past week over a five-game span than 190 Division I team have hit this entire season.
In Saturday's 21-2 win over NJIT, the Pack needed only eight team at-bats to slug a season-high six homers in a single game. The last time NC State hit six or more home runs in a game was when the #Pack9 hit seven homers in a 21-0 win over Towson on May 9, 2010. The Wolfpack also scored in every inning for the first time since March 16, 2010, when the Pack scored in all nine innings in a 24-6 road victory at NC Central.
RECORD AGAINST IN-STATE OPPONENTS
The Wolfpack finished with a 13-9 record against in-state opponents in 2022, including a 9-2 record against in-state nonconference opponents. NC State earned in-state midweek victories over High Point, UNCG, Elon, North Carolina A&T, East Carolina and UNCW.
Since taking over the NC State baseball program in 1997, head coach Elliott Avent has led the Pack to a 345-171 (.669) record against in-state opponents.
BRING OUT THE BROOMS
NC State brought out the brooms five times in 2022 with five three-game series' sweeps — three against nonconference opponents (Evansville, Quinnipiac and Radford) and two against conference foes (Georgia Tech and Boston College).
With back-to-back-to-back weekend sweeps to open this season, NC State has recorded 73 weekend sweeps (three-game or four-game series against the same opponent) since Avent's first season in 1997. The Pack has tallied 35 sweeps since the completion of the 2012 season and 63 sweeps since the completion of the 2002 campaign.
The most three-game/four-game sweeps an Avent-coached Wolfpack team has recorded in a single season has been five, which has been accomplished in 2022, 2019, 2013, 2010, 2006 and his first season with the Pack in 1997.
UP NEXT
NC State will open ACC play at Miami this weekend. This weekend's three-game series at Alex Rodriguez Park in Coral Gables, Florida, begins Friday at 7 p.m. Friday's broadcast will be on ACC Network, while Saturday and Sunday's games will be on ACC Network Extra.
#Pack9 | @NCStateBaseball
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