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NC State Baseball

NCAA TOURNAMENT: Wolfpack Headed to Columbia

May 29, 2023
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NC State (35-19, 13-16 ACC) has been selected to the 2023 NCAA College World Series Tournament and will play in the Columbia Regional as the No. 3 seed.

The Wolfpack will be paired against No. 2-seed Campbell (44-13, 22-5 Big South) as tournament play begins Friday at 1 p.m. from Founders Park. Regional host South Carolina (39-19, 16-13 SEC) will open against four-seed Central Connecticut State (36-12, 25-5 NEC). The Columbia Regional is matched against the Gainesville Regional which contains Florida, Connecticut, Texas Tech, and Florida A&M.

One of the more explosive teams in the Southeastern Conference, South Carolina currently sits within the top 10 teams in the country in home runs hit with 110, but the Gamecocks dropped nine of its last 11 regular-season games after starting the season 30-4 overall. South Carolina defeated Georgia in the SEC Tournament before suffering back-to-back losses to LSU and Texas A&M. NC State holds a 35-22 all-time record over South Carolina, but the Gamecocks have the latest victory in Charlotte on April 2, 2019, dowing the Wolfpack, 10-8.

Entering postseason play with many outlets projected they would host, the Camels secured their second straight Big South Championship with back-to-back wins over USC Upstate who took two out of three from Campbell in the final weekend of the regular season. The Wolfpack last faced the Camels on March 2, 2022 when Campbell took the win in Buies Creek, 7-4.

Central Connecticut State heads into the tournament as the automatic qualifier from the Northeastern Conference after winning five games in four days with the final two victories coming against Wagner by a combined margin of 20 runs. Should the teams meet, NC State will face the Blue Devils for the first time in school history.

Stay tuned to Inside Pack Sports for more information as the Wolfpack’s postseason continues.

NCAA TOURNAMENT: Wolfpack Headed to Columbia (GAME THREAD)

77,055 Views | 871 Replies | Last: 9 mo ago by Packsd14me
Colonel Armstrong
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Awesome defense today, best defense we've played all season
Formerly King Leary
SportManagementEngineer
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packman34 said:

What time do we play tomorrow? Noon or 7pm game?
6pm
Twitter: @JJwith2Jays
M_A
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Frankly was pretty unimpressed by that Campbell team. Did not look like a "snubbed" 1 seed

State looked great though
FourOaksWolf
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Wolfpacklife said:



Huge!!


Men on a Mission. Let's go.
WilmingtonPackman777
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Big performance.
Stud pitching. Campbell is a really good team.
Whitetailpack
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Great win! Glad I was able to make it down and watch it live!
PKAwolfpacker
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So we start Willadsen or Highfill tomorrow. Who do we have available in relief? I would think that you want to save Fritton as long as you can, right?
Alex Gee
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Staff
PKAwolfpacker said:

So we start Willadsen or Highfill tomorrow. Who do we have available in relief? I would think that you want to save Fritton as long as you can, right?


I would almost bet my mortgage it's Willadsen piggy backed by Fritton tomorrow. Sam to pitch the game to either win the regional or stay alive.
Wolfer79
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pack2010
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Alex Gee said:

PKAwolfpacker said:

So we start Willadsen or Highfill tomorrow. Who do we have available in relief? I would think that you want to save Fritton as long as you can, right?


I would almost bet my mortgage it's Willadsen piggy backed by Fritton tomorrow. Sam to pitch the game to either win the regional or stay alive.

yup. go willadsen and fritton tomorrow, if the game is close. if not, throw whoever and save the pen if needed
DrummerboyWolf
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Good win for the guys. Some timely hitting by Peebles and Nixon after the error to give us a couple of runs. Groover with two bombs and Candelaria with one also and 4-4.

Pitching was very good and that is how you win. I missed about 3 innings in the middle because of work but was listening on the radio. Did not see Geno's second homer or the play he got the error on. Sanders said that had he made a good throw he would have had the guy. Britton and Lawson came up big. Britton picking off the Campbell guy and then Lawson coming in with the bases loaded and throwing 3 straight strikes.

Defense was really good. Great plays by Soles, Nixon, and Candelaria in the outfield. Campbell did not hit too many really hard balls and as they say good pitching will always beat good hitting. All three guys pitched well.

Two things I do have to complain about. The first is in the second inning, Nixon gets walked on 5 pitches, the next two batters, Serrano and Harrison(I think) both swung at the first pitch and made an easy out. Early in the game we have got make their ace work a little harder. We did that in one of the innings where we made him pitch about 15 extra pitches and it paid off. I don't want to take away the hitter's aggressiveness, but situational baseball is never a bad thing. Make him throw strikes.

The second one is fairly minor but it could have hurt. The error by Payton Green is inexcusable. He tried to get cute instead of charging the ball and got a bad hop. Had he charged it he gets the easy second hop right into his glove and had he booted that one, I would just say it's baseball. It did not cost us any runs, but it made Lawson throw extra pitches when he did not have to.

The umpire's strike zone left a lot to be desired, but it did not favor either team. He was consistent, not consistently good, but he was consistent.

Good win and hopefully we can keep it going tomorrow. Pitching is always important and I hope Willadsen or Highfill can give us good length and keep us in the game.
Being an N. C. State Fan Builds Great Character
ClePack
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Just a hell of a pitching performance from the guys, all of them, when we needed them the most. Whitaker really battled today. I don't want to get ahead of myself, but we could really win this regional. One game at a time.
BigLefty24
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Alex Gee said:

PKAwolfpacker said:

So we start Willadsen or Highfill tomorrow. Who do we have available in relief? I would think that you want to save Fritton as long as you can, right?


I would almost bet my mortgage it's Willadsen piggy backed by Fritton tomorrow. Sam to pitch the game to either win the regional or stay alive.


It's the most important game in the regional. Puts you in the finals needing to be beat twice by a team that's had to run through its pitching to get there.

For that reason, you start the dude that gives you the best chance to win.. And that's Willadsen IMO.
@BigLefty24

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DrummerboyWolf
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M_A said:

Frankly was pretty unimpressed by that Campbell team. Did not look like a "snubbed" 1 seed

State looked great though
Good pitching will do that to any team and we had really good pitching today. If some of those balls that we made great plays on in the outfield fall for hits, then it's could be drastically different.
Being an N. C. State Fan Builds Great Character
wilmwolf
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CloudPack said:

Damn what a great win! Love to see the cocks take one to the chin now!
Just a guy on the sunshine squad.
DecaturWolf
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Whitetailpack said:

Great win! Glad I was able to make it down and watch it live!
Maybe you could have offered the ACCN crew a ride.
Posted for years as ColoradoWolf and Rick from Littleton. On Twitter as @espwapoujacmel
Wufhart
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M_A said:

Frankly was pretty unimpressed by that Campbell team. Did not look like a "snubbed" 1 seed

State looked great though


I think some clutch defense by Soles and Nixon and clutch strikeout with bases loaded- resulting in 12 lob made them look that way. Still a tough team they just ran into a tougher one today. Hopefully we can take care of business tomorrow night and relax a little.
DJncsu13
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Big W today. Groover set the tone early and TC was awesome. Look forward to tomorrow! Go Pack!
"For the strength of the Pack is the Wolf, and the strength of the Wolf is the Pack"
Follow me on twitter: @d_johnson13/@PackUniforms
DrummerboyWolf
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wilmwolf80 said:

CloudPack said:

Damn what a great win! Love to see the cocks take one to the chin now!

On a similar note... back in the 70's the Marching Band sat in the West stands. The only end zone seats were on the hill in what was then Carter Stadium. The cheerleaders would be in front of the band and they had a guy on the microphone for the cheers and other things. If we needed the crowd to get loud the mic guy would always yell "IS THE PACK UP?" The students and the band would go crazy.

1976, my sophomore year, we are playing at South Carolina and the band is going. We leave Friday about noon and start rolling into downtown Columbia at about 5 o'clock. Lots of students and Gamecock fans around the area. One of my fellow drummers opens the window on the bus and yells out "IS THE COCK UP." Needless to say the band members who heard it were pretty much ROTFLMAO! A great line like the one above.
Being an N. C. State Fan Builds Great Character
matracey
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SportManagementEngineer said:

Alright which one of y'all is in the red 22 jersey with the wolf hat


That's my man Greg Haas. Same guy that broke his leg rushing the field after the 2021 football game vs UNC
CLTWolf
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wilmwolf80 said:

Hey CLT, take a bottle of water to the police officer over by the Pack dugout. Ole boy looks like he's struggling.
Lulz

Our seats were right there by that fella, he was standing behind us.

Those seats by the dugout are the absolute best.
*Wolfpack Baseball - 2021 *NCAA COLLEGE WORLD SERIES CHAMPS!
*Congrats to the 10 win 2021 Wolfpack football team!
Colonel Armstrong
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matracey said:

SportManagementEngineer said:

Alright which one of y'all is in the red 22 jersey with the wolf hat


That's my man Greg Haas. Same guy that broke his leg rushing the field after the 2021 football game vs UNC


That guy is a legend
Formerly King Leary
SportManagementEngineer
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Hopefully usc is using up all of their runs tonight. Certainly not using up any bullpen arms.
Twitter: @JJwith2Jays
LegacyPack4
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Thinking about heading to the game tomorrow. Anyone know where the majority of Pack fans are sitting?
BUCKETTOFCOLDWATER
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SC wins 19-1. LFG
Whitetailpack
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LegacyPack4 said:

Thinking about heading to the game tomorrow. Anyone know where the majority of Pack fans are sitting?


3rd base side as they will be visitors.
ge_traveler
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Rider beats Coastal 11-10 in 10 innings
FLWolf
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UNC loses - all good in the world
Wolfer79
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Winners Bracket
North Carolina State vs. South Carolina ESPN+, 6 p.m.
Wolfer79
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Wolfer79
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Glasswolf
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Payton Wilson on what he thought of Carter Finley: Drunk Crazy Crowded

Wolfer79
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MAWolfpack
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Any idea when "TV games" will be posted? Yesterday there were games on ESPNU, ESPN2, SEC Network, ACC Network, etc.....all still show as ESPN+ as of now, but I'm sure the TV networks will pick up some games.
Wolfer79
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