NC State baseball is returning home for its final series of the regular season, hosting Florida State for a three-game set that begins Thursday, a day ahead of the typical weekend series schedules, with a 6:30 first pitch.

It will have been just about a full month since NC State has hosted an ACC weekend series in Doak Field at Dail Park, but the way the Pack has been playing away from home, some may wonder if that is a good thing.

After its three-game sweep at No. 16 Pittsburgh, the Pack is an astounding 15-3 on the road compared to an even .500 (11-11) at home. Junior outfielder/designated hitter Terrell Tatum said that he doesn’t really have a good explanation for why NC State has been that successful playing in other teams’ stadiums, but fellow junior and outfielder Jonny Butler believes the explanation can be found in the scheduling.

“I think we just had all of our homes games at the beginning of the year and that’s when we were struggling, and it feels like now all of our games are away,” Butler said.

Since the Duke series in Durham was canceled due to COVID-19 related issues at NC State, the Pack’s first nine games in conference play turned out to be at Doak. That’s when the Pack was standing with a 1-8 record in the league.

Now NC State is guaranteed a winning record in the conference, entering its set with the Seminoles with a 17-13 mark. Five of the seven series have been on the road, and NC State swept three of them: the Panthers, UNC and Boston College. It also took two of three at Wake Forest and fell in two of three at Notre Dame.

But the last series NC State played at home was also a sweep, of then-No. 15 Virginia Tech.

NC State’s overall record has improved to 26-14 and seemingly any doubts of its postseason hopes have been erased. D1Baseball.com, in its updated mock field of 64, upgraded NC State to a No. 2 seed in a region hosted by No. 4 overall seed Tennessee. Maryland and Wofford rounded out their Knoxville bracket.

For Baseball America, its projected NCAA Tournament sends NC State, seeded second, to Fort Worth, Texas with No. 5 overall seed TCU along with Dallas Baptist and Oral Roberts. That may send a shiver down the backs of many Wolfpack baseball fans, who could recall the infamous collapse of an 8-2 lead for the Wolfpack with four outs left for TCU in what ended up being a 9-8 win for the Horned Frogs in 10 innings.

A five-run eighth inning for TCU was aided by four walks, three errors and a balk.

This weekend features two of the hottest teams in the country. D1Baseball.com has FSU as a two seed in a region hosted by Louisiana Tech, the overall No. 16 seed. Theoretically, that means the Noles were the first team left out as a one seed and the top two seed, but geographic considerations could also be considered.

Baseball America has Florida State as a two seed in No. 14 overall seed Florida’s Gainesville region.

Florida State has won four straight ACC series, including two of three at Notre Dame, who has already clinched the top overall seed in the league tournament. The Noles also won two of three at Coastal Division-leading Georgia Tech during that stretch. Although not to the degree of NC State, FSU has been strong on the road, going 10-6.

This weekend is a matchup of Florida State’s excellent pitching vs. NC State’s potent lineup. The Noles lead the ACC in conference-only stats in earned run average (3.39) and strikeouts (369) and have allowed the fewest hits (244) and home runs (24) while giving up the lowest batting average at .222.

Redshirt freshman lefty Parker Messick highlights the staff with a 5-1 record in 11 league starts and an ACC-best 2.19 ERA in conference games. He's allowed only 46 hits in 65.2 innings while striking out an impressive 97 batters.

NC State on the other hand is third in the ACC in batting average (.280), first in homers (36) and second in hits (316).

At the plate, Florida State profiles similar to the current trends in MLB: emphasis on power and walks but not necessarily contact. Its .240 batting average in league play is 13th out of 14 teams and similarly, their 376 strikeouts are the most in the conference. However, they are second in homers (46), first in walks (184) and third in runs scored (209).

Redshirt sophomore catcher Matheu Nelson (13) and redshirt sophomore Elijah Campbell (10) are two of the six players in the ACC to have double-digit home runs on the season.

If the ACC Baseball Tournament, which will be May 25-30 in Charlotte, were held today, the Pack would be the four seed. That would land NC State as the top seed in Pool D with fifth-seeded Louisville and whoever emerges in a three-way tiebreaker for Clemson, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

Being the top seed is important because it is a tiebreaker if everyone goes 1-1 in pool play.

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 play 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 at noon on ESPN2 on May 30.

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