The NC State baseball team begins its ACC Tournament on Thursday night at 7 p.m. at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park against the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.

Because of the format of the tournament and Wake Forest’s 7-4 win over Florida State on Tuesday, the winner of this game will advance to the semifinals where they’ll face either Georgia Tech or Duke. NC State will also face Florida State on Friday in a game that will not matter as it relates to this tournament.

Earlier in the season the Pack traveled to Winston-Salem and lost two of three games in the second (of three) series losses for the Wolfpack this season. The teams split the first two games with Wake Forest winning game one, 7-3, while the Pack took game two, 4-3. In the rubber match, the Deacons rallied from a 7-0 deficit and won 9-8.

That third game has been a turning point of sorts for the Wolfpack. Since then, State is 10-5 and has allowed 3.26 runs per game.

Tonight’s game is scheduled to start at 7 p.m. from Durham Bulls Athletic Park and will be broadcast on RSN.

Starting Pitchers

Neither team has announced starters, but look for Jason Parker to get the ball for the Wolfpack and Ryan Cusick for the Deacons.

Parker and Cusick actually started the rubber match against each other back in April. Parker went 4.1 innings and allowed five runs on seven hits. He struck out seven.

Cusick gave up seven runs in five innings, but only two of them were earned. He gave up two runs in the first inning and five in the second before settling down and keeping Wake in the game,  which gave them a chance to come back.

Players To Watch

NC STATE 

Reliever Nick Swiney
Nick Swiney has been the bullpen ace for the Wolfpack in the second half of the season. It has been a tail of two seasons for Swiney who had a 9.58 ERA on April 13th.

Since the game at UNCW on April 16th, Swiney has a 2.06 ERA in 26 innings. His ERA over the whole season is still 5.40, but don’t let that fool you; he has been spectacular in the second half. Swiney has 75 strikeouts in 46.2 innings. Lately, he and Parker have been somewhat of a tandem and it has worked brilliantly.

Expect Swiney to be first out of the pen. He pitched three and ⅓ shutout innings against Wake Forest in the 4-3 win.

Outfielder Johnny Butler
Keep an eye on leadoff hitter Jonny Butler.

Butler is only hitting .272, but he has 39 walks to only 41 strikeouts. Butler went 7-for-17 against UNC, including a four-hit game in game two.

Hitting in front of Will Wilson means two things. One, he gets pitches to hit. Two, he has to get on.

He’s been doing just that all season.

WAKE FOREST

First Baseman Bobby Seymour
Recently named the ACC’s Player of the Year, Seymour had a dominant sophomore campaign.

He is batting .378 with a ridiculous 92 RBIs.  He has a 1.011 OPS and totaled 88 hits with 19 doubles and nine home runs.

The 6-foot-4, 250-pounder is unreal with runners in scoring position, so the Wolfpack pitching staff must be careful dealing with him in those situations.