Wolfpack Opens Series at #2 Clemson on Friday

Friday, April 12

Clemson, S.C.

6 p.m.

NC State

Clemson

4/11/2024 7:16:00 PM | Baseball

Watch Listen Live Stats NC State Game Notes Clemson Game Notes

CLEMSON, S.C. – The NC State baseball team opens an ACC road series at No. 2 Clemson on Friday night at Clemson's Doug Kingsmore Stadium. This weekend's series against the Tigers will run Friday through Sunday with first pitch times set for 6 p.m., 8 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.

Friday and Sunday's games will be streamed live on ACC Network Extra. Saturday's contest will be televised on ACC Network.

A free audio stream will be available on the Varsity Network App for all three contests. All three games will also be available on the radio on WKNC 88.1 with Andrew Sanders on the call.

THE MATCHUP: SERIES AGAINST CLEMSON
NC State holds an 88-123-1 record in the all-time series against Clemson. More notes from the series against the Tigers are listed below:

• In the most recent series played at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, NC State won the final two games of the weekend to take the series against the Tigers from April 1-3, 2022. After dropping game one 14-3 on Friday, the Wolfpack rallied with a deficit on Saturday and Sunday to post a 5-2 victory and a 9-7 victory, respectively, to take the series.
• The last time NC State faced off against a second-ranked Clemson team was on the road in March 2018. The Wolfpack stunned the Tigers with a three-game sweep at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, allowing only five runs over three games to complete the weekend sweep.
• NC State has won four of its past five series played at Clemson dating back to the 2012 season.
• Clemson swept NC State in the most recent series meeting between the two programs this past season. The series sweep started a hot streak for the Tigers that saw them win 23 of their next 24 games, including the ACC Tournament title.

SCOUTING CLEMSON
Clemson (28-4, 10-2 ACC) enters this weekend's series with the top league winning percentage (.833) in the Atlantic Coast Conference, winning all four of its ACC series to open the season. The Tigers have lost just two home games the entire season and are 3-0 against ACC opponents in Clemson after completing a sweep over Florida State in March. Clemson ranks inside the top 20 in the nation in WHIP (1.31, 20th), home runs per game (1.91, 14th), hits allowed per nine innings (7.83, 17th) and ERA (4.07, 18th). The Tigers also dropped their midweek matchup to an in-state opponent, falling 9-5 at home to USC Upstate.

A-MAK AMBIDEXTROUS
Switch-hitting third baseman Alec Makarewicz has shown off his pop throughout the Wolfpack's 2024 campaign, ranking first on the roster with 13 homers. Makarewicz has homered from both the right side of the plate and the left side of the plate twice this season, accomplishing the feat for the second time in Tuesday's midweek matchup at UNCW. His first time homering from both sides was in the Wolfpack's win at Hawaii on Feb. 23.

MARCH MADNESS
NC State has had a flair for the dramatic so far this season, recording all five of its walk-off victories in the month of March. Five of NC State's 16 home wins have come via the walk-off. A list of NC State's five walk-off wins are below:

• March 1 (W, 6-5 vs. Towson): Drew Lanphere delivers a walk-off RBI single to score Noah Soles in the bottom of the ninth.
• March 8 (W, 5-4 vs. Boston College): Garrett Pennington drops in a walk-off single with two outs in the 11th inning for the Wolfpack's first ACC win of the year. Again, Noah Soles scores the game-winning run.
• March 23 (W, 9-8 vs. No. 9 Duke): Eli Serrano III's two-out, two-run homer completes a dramatic ninth-inning comeback as NC State erases a five-run deficit to clinch the series over the Blue Devils.
• March 29 (W, 7-6 vs. Notre Dame): Luke Nixon's career night ends with a walk-off single in the bottom of the ninth, clinching a series victory for NC State.
• March 30 (W, 7-6 vs. Notre Dame): Garrett Pennington crushes NC State's second walk-off homer in as many weeks with a two-out, three-run blast to complete the sweep over the Fighting Irish.

SWING AWAY
One pitch. One swing. 1-0 Wolfpack. Brandon Butterworth led of Sunday's game at Louisville with a homer on the first offering from Cardinals' starter Carson Liggett. Butterworth's leadoff homer marked the first time an NC State batter homered on the first pitch of the game since Devonte Brown on April 24, 2022, at Louisville. Butterworth's leadoff homer also marked the first leadoff homer in the top of the first for NC State since Brown on May 10, 2022, at UNCW.

HEATING UP
Garrett Pennington has heated up over the past three weeks, launching eight of his 10 home runs since the Wolfpack's midweek win over No. 13 Coastal Carolina on March 19. Pennington homered three times in the Wolfpack's series at Louisville, capping off the weekend with his third multi-homer game of the year with two long balls in the series finale. Pennington has recorded a two-homer performance in each of the Wolfpack's past three ACC series. Eight of his 10 home runs this season have come in ACC play. He leads the Pack in almost every offensive category in league play, highlighted by a team-high eight homers, 27 RBI, 53 total bases, six doubles and 16 runs scored against ACC opponents.

PENNY IN THE CLUTCH
Graduate transfer Garrett Pennington has already provided the Wolfpack with a few clutch moments in his first season in an NC State uniform. Pennington's walk-off single helped the Wolfpack open ACC play with a 5-4 victory in 11 innings over Boston College on March 8. Eleven days later, Pennington came up clutch once again with a go-ahead RBI double in the bottom of the eighth as the Pack notched a 9-8 comeback victory over Coastal Carolina. And once again on March 30, Pennington came up clutch with his second walk-off hit of the season, launching a two-out, three-run homer to flip a 6-4 deficit into a 7-6 win for NC State.