It was not long ago where it was questionable if NC State baseball could get into the NCAA Tournament, but its sustained stretch of winning play, victorious in 19 of its last 24 games to improve its record to 23-14 overall and 14-13 in the ACC, has the Pack firmly positioned well going into the final two weekends of regular season play.

Baseball America’s updated mock field of 64 has NC State rising to a No. 2 seed and playing in Nashville in a region hosted by No. 3 overall seed Vanderbilt and also including Ball State and Southeast Missouri State.

Being in a region hosted by the Commodores would not be ideal. Vanderbilt, presuming good health, is built for a strong postseason thanks to its 1-2 combination of right-handed pitchers Jack Leiter and Kumar Rocker, the No. 1 and 3 players respectively in MLB.com’s rankings of the top draft prospects this year.

Over at D1Baseball.com, NC State remains a three seed in what would be a region with a strong local flavor: hosted by No. 13 seed East Carolina in Greenville and also including South Carolina and Wofford. The last time the NCAA Tournament was held, NC State was in Greenville and was eliminated by the Pirates after suffering a surprising opening loss to Campbell.

One notable aspect for the D1Baseball.com bracket, NC State was not among the last five teams in, a group that consisted of Georgia, Kentucky, Tulane, Oklahoma State and Maryland. Baseball America had three other ACC teams much more firmly on the bubble than NC State. Virginia was one of the last four teams in and Clemson and North Carolina were two of the first four out.

By beating UNC Wilmington on Tuesday, NC State will have avoided any bad losses this year, going 5-0 in quad three/four games combined during the regular season. The final two weekend series represent more opportunities than pitfalls.

That starts Friday when the Pack, whose RPI is No. 37, travels to No. 16 Pittsburgh, boasting an RPI of No. 28, according to WarrenNolan.com.

Baseball America has Pittsburgh seeded 15th overall and grabbing one of the last regional hosting assignments in its mock field. That’s the exact same position that D1Baseball.com has the Panthers.

It is a surprising position that the Panthers find themselves in, as Pittsburgh was picked to finish last in the Coastal Division in the preseason poll. Instead, the Panthers, 22-13 overall, are 16-11 in the ACC, battling Georgia Tech (18-12) for the top spot in the division.

Ironically a similar story has played out in the Atlantic, with Notre Dame cruising to a potential title at 22-10 in the league after being selected to finish last in the division. Louisville is second at 16-10.

Pittsburgh started ACC play making a statement, sweeping a three-game series against then-No. 9 Florida State in Tallahassee. In its third series of conference play, Pitt took two of three at No. 7 Georgia Tech, who had swept NC State to open league action. The Panthers can also boast taking two of three at the aforementioned NCAA Tournament bubble team Virginia and sweeping No. 15 Miami at home.

It has not been entirely smooth sailing. Pittsburgh was swept at home by Virginia Tech, whom NC State took three straight from in Blacksburg, Va., in April, and it lost an early series at Duke, who is 10-17 in the ACC. Similarly to NC State, Pitt was beaten two out of three by Notre Dame, although the Panthers played them at home vs. on the road for the Pack.

Pittsburgh just returned from a 17-day COVID-19 induced layoff and is 2-2 since returning, losing at West Virginia and taking two of three at home to Boston College.

The Panthers are led by a nice 1-2 punch at the top of its weekend rotation. Junior righty Mitch Myers leads the way with a 2.72 earned run average in nine ACC starts, surrendering just 50 hits and a .226 batting average against in 59.1 innings pitched.

Saturday starter Matt Gilbertson, a junior righty, is 5-3 in nine conference starts with a 3.65 ERA and leads them with 61.2 innings pitched. They also have a reliable closer in senior Jordan McCrum, who has five saves while allowing just 13 hits and a .194 batting average against in 13 league appearances, striking out 22 batters in 19.1 innings.

Behind the pitchers is a defense that ranks third in the ACC in fielding percentage in conference-only games, but at the plate Pittsburgh is more middle of the pack in the league. It is ninth as a squad in both batting average (.269) and on-base percentage (.366) while 11th in slugging (.423).

Sophomore third baseman Sky Duff (.432) and junior outfielder Jordan Anderson (.453) are both getting on base at an over .400 clip in league play, while senior outfielder Nico Popa joins them in hitting above .300 and has added eight overall homers this year and a team-best 12 stolen bases. Fifth-year senior second baseman David Yanni provides additional power with 11 homers this year.

If the ACC Baseball Tournament, which will be May 25-30 in Charlotte, were held today, the Pack would be the seven seed. That would land NC State in Pool B with second-seeded Georgia Tech (by virtue of the Yellow Jackets standing in the Coastal Division despite Louisville having the second best league record) and 11th seeded Virginia.

The ACC Championship is formatted by the top 12 teams in the league being placed into four three-team pools. Pool A features seeds one, eight and 12. Pool C is seeds three, six and 10. Pool D has seeds four, five and nine.

After round-robin plays determines the winners of each pool, the first semifinal on Saturday, May 29 will feature the victors from Pool A and D, while the second includes Pool B and C. The title game is noon on ESPN2 on May 30.

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