If you gave me a thousand options for the score of the Clemson baseball and Georgia midweek game, I’m not sure I would have said 3-0. I likely would have said Clemson would win, but wow what an effort from Talan Bell and the bullpen. Notably Reed Garris and Lucas Mahlstedt.
A “Clemson” win, meaning that even when the bats are not firing at all cylinders, they just seem to find ways to win. When Collin Priest was gunned down at the plate in a much argued decision on social media, one would believe the momentum would have swung to Georgia. It never did. What a great game, and I wish we would see more of that rivalry through the year going forward.
Winning midweek games is important. If you look around the country, a lot of top teams drop games to teams maybe they shouldn’t on paper. Clemson has maintained that consistency in the midweeks, winning 11 of their 12 midweek games. The only loss coming to a top 15 club in Coastal Carolina. The Tigers will have a chance to avenge that loss in two weeks.
The stretch run is here. Four more ACC series and only one midweek game remain on the regular season docket. 13 games in total.
The Tigers will take the trip up I-85 to Raleigh starting on Thursday to play a three game set with the Wolfpack of North Carolina State.
The series starts Thursday night at Doak Field at Dail Park in Raleigh, North Carolina. Thursday’s game is at 7PM, followed by Friday’s game at 6PM before closing it out on Saturday at 1PM.
North Carolina State comes into the series at 27-12, 12-6 in the Atlantic Coast Conference and ranked as highly as #25 by D1 Baseball and USA Today Coaches Poll.
Clemson and the Wolfpack have played 218 times all time, including many in the ACC Tournament and Championship games. The Tigers lead the all-time series 125-92-1.
Here is your preview of Clemson’s road ACC series against the NC State Wolfpack.
Clemson Briefly:
Clemson enters the midweek with 36 wins and 7 losses. 13-5 in the ACC.
The Tigers are hitting .277 as a team through 43 games (157th nationally).
As a team, the Tigers have 68 doubles (T-174th), 7 triples (T-155th) and 49 home runs (T-79th).
On the mound, the Tigers pitching staff touts a 4.32 ERA (32nd nationally). The staff has struck out 415 batters over 375 innings for an average of 10 per 9 innings (27th) and walked 159 through 43 games which is still 3.8 per 9 innings.
Opponents are hitting a paltry .225 against the Tigers pitching staff.
Here is a look at the North Carolina State Wolfpack:
North Carolina State Wolfpack
North Carolina State Wolfpack
Head Coach – Elliott Avent (29th Season)
2025 Record: 27-12 (12-6 ACC)
Wins: Fordham (x3), Canisius (x3), UNC-Greensboro (x2), Campbell, Wright State (x3), NC A&T, Virginia Tech (x2), Davidson, Pitt (x2), Duke, Virginia (x2), East Carolina, Louisville (x2), Cal (x3)
Losses: Liberty, Ohio State, Alabama, Coastal Carolina, Richmond, Virginia Tech, Pitt, USC-Upstate, Duke (x2), Virginia, Louisville
Here are the probable starting lineup, plus some extras for NC State and their 2025 stats:
Position Players
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2025 Stats |
| Ty Head (14) | Freshman | CF | .265; 6 2B, 3 HR, 26 RBI; 5-5 SB |
| Chris McHugh (18) | Sophomore | 1B | .368; 7 2B, 7 HR, 44 RBI |
| Josh Hogue (22) | Junior | LF | .296; 14 2B, 8 HR, 31 RBI; 3-5 SB |
| Justin DeCriscio (8) | Senior | SS | .298; 10 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 31 RBI |
| Alex Sosa (13) | Sophomore | C | .281; 10 2B, 7 HR, 28 RBI |
| Brayden Fraasman (2) | Junior | RF | .278; 8 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 36 RBI; 3-4 SB |
| Luke Nixon (0) | Sophomore | 2B | .295; 11 2B, 2 3B, 3 HR, 32 RBI; 13-15 SB |
| Ryan Jaros (10) | Sophomore | DH | .321; 4 2B, 3 HR, 12 RBI |
| Matt Heavner (6) | Junior | 3B | .235; 3 HR, 24 RBI |
| Another DH Possibility | |||
| Drew Lanphere (15) | RS Sophomore | DH | .232; 2 2B, HR, 12 RBI |
Offensively, the Wolfpack are led by Sophomore 1st Baseman Chris McHugh. Hitting a team leading .368 with an OPS over 1.000 (1.091 to be exact), and has 7 home runs and also leads the team in RBIs with 44. Senior shortstop Justin DeCriscio is tied for the team lead in homeruns with Junior Outfielder Josh Hogue. Both have 8 on the season.
Sophomore 2nd Baseman Luke Nixon leads the team in stolen bases going 13 of 15 on the season. NC State does not run a lot, having stolen just 27 of 35 bases through 39 games.
NC State is hitting .286 as a team (109th nationally). They have hit 79 doubles (T-86th), 4 triples (T-252nd) and 54 home runs as a team (T-48th).
Announced Starters for North Carolina State:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2025 Stats |
| Dominic Fritton (51) | Junior | LHP | 5-3; 3.21 ERA; 10 App, 56 IP, 71 K, 24 BB; OppBA: .254 |
| Heath Andrews (19) | Sophomore | RHP | 3-2; 5.81 ERA; 10 App, 48 IP, 38 K, 18 BB; OppBA: .259 |
| Ryan Marohn (20) | Sophomore | LHP | 5-2; 3.75 ERA; 10 App, 57.2 IP, 69 K, 16 BB; OppBA: .255 |
The North Carolina State pitching staff has a 4.98 staff ERA (79th nationally), having struck out 360 opponent hitters for an average of 11 per 9 innings (23rd) while walking 135 or 3.8 per 9 innings.
The staff has given up 43 home runs as a staff through 39 games. Opponents are hitting .261 against the Wolfpack pitching staff.
The Wolfpack will throw out there their ace, Junior lefty Dominic Fritton on Thursday night. They have announced Sophomore right hander Heath Andrews on Friday night and another lefty to close it out on Saturday. Sophomore Ryan Marohn will get the ball for the Pack in the series finale.
Clemson has announced Aidan Knaak will get the ball on Thursday night. Drew Titsworth will get his second consecutive game 2 start of a weekend series on Friday night. And as of right now, Clemson has not announced a game 3 starter.
Summary
This series is always hotly contested. Elliott Avent is one of the best baseball coaches in the country who has been doing it for a long time. The NC State program is always fighting for conference supremacy in the ACC.
The Pack started the season a little slow. Having some pre-season hype going into the season may have gotten to this young team early. They seemingly have righted the ship and have just broken back into the Top 25 with a sweep at Cal last weekend in Berkeley. The Wolfpack have only lost one ACC series (Duke) all season long.
This is a really good NC State team and this will be a fun series all weekend long.
The two teams have six common opponents so far this season: Davidson, USC-Upstate, Liberty Louisville, Coastal Carolina, and Cal. Clemson is 11-2 in those games while NC State is 6-4 against the same opponents.
As always…
Go Tigers!
***Statistics Graphics credit: Marty Coleman***
