NC State has hosted a regional twice in the past three years. Its hope to make it three in four may hinge, at a minimum, over what happens in a three-game series starting Thursday night at archrival UNC.
Most current projections for the field of 64 have the Pack as a two seed on the road to start the NCAA Tournament. Kendall Rogers of D1Baseball.com noted that without a series win in Chapel Hill, any chance of hosting a regional could be doomed.
D1Baseball.com updated their mock brackets Wednesday. It sent the Pack as a two seed to Greenville, N.C., for a regional hosted by East Carolina, which it rated the No. 9 overall seed in the field. The winner of that regional would be paired up with the winner of the Texas Tech-led regional in Lubbock, Tex., in the supers.
To further highlight Rogers’ tweet, UNC was a regional host, but barely. It had the No. 15 overall seed, just making the 16-team cutline for hosting.
Baseball America also updated its mock brackets Wednesday, and it sent NC State west, all the way to San Bernardino, Calif., to play in a region hosted by No. 14 overall seed UC Santa Barbara. The winner of that regional would be paired with the winner of the Fayetteville, Ark., region hosted by No. 3 overall seed Arkansas.
Like D1Baseball.com, UNC is clinging to one of the final regions. It was the No. 16 overall seed in the field.
The updated RPI rankings formulated by the NCAA through games Wednesday has NC State rated No. 24. The Pack is 39-14 overall and 16-11 in the ACC. UNC is 37-15 and also 16-11, and its RPI is No. 19.
NC State’s resume is boasted by a three-game sweep at Miami, who is ranked No. 16 in the RPI, and taking two of three at home against Clemson (No. 38) and Virginia (No. 45). Overall the Pack is 7-5 versus the top 50 in the RPI (3-3 vs. top 25), but it is 11-9 against teams 51-100.
For comparison, UNC is 3-4 against the top 25 and 9-9 overall versus the top 100, but it has a stellar 16-4 mark against teams 51-100. The Heels blemish is losing two of three to Pittsburgh (RPI No. 197).
Thursday and Friday games start at 6:00 while Saturday is a 4:30 first pitch and televised on ESPNU.
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