RALEIGH – As always, head coach Elliott Avent has put forth another tough schedule for the 2020 baseball season, as announced on Tuesday afternoon.
The schedule features 23 games against 2019 NCAA Tournament opponents, including three-game series at Florida State and Louisville, who both advanced to the College World Series last season. The Wolfpack’s slate additionally features 13 opponents and a combined 31 games against teams that finished the 2019 season among the top 100 of the NCAA RPI.
NC State’s nonconference schedule is highlighted by games against Iowa, Minnesota and Purdue Feb. 28-March 1 at the US Bank Stadium, home of the Minnesota Vikings. The weekend in Minneapolis is a part of the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. The Pack will also play a pair of games at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, N.C., home of the Charlotte Knights, AAA affiliate of the Chicago White Sox, against Charlotte and South Carolina March 18 and 24, respectively.
Thirty games of the Wolfpack’s slate will be against conference opponents. Its home conference schedule features Boston College (March 13-15), Wake Forest (March 20-22), Duke (April 3-5), North Carolina (April 17-19) and Notre Dame (May 14-16).
The squad will open conference action at Virginia March 6-8, and the rest of its road series includes Florida State (March 27-29), Georgia Tech (April 10-12), Clemson (April 24-26) and Louisville (May 8-10).
Avent attributes the challenging schedule as a product of playing in one of the most elite conferences in the country, coupled with a number of competitive schools in the state of North Carolina.
“Our players have an opportunity with this tough schedule to challenge themselves, and constantly work to get better and grow in the mental aspect of our great game,” said Avent.
“We have a very good recruiting class to add to a good number of returners from last year’s team that advanced to NCAA Regional play for the ninth time in the last 10 years. Our players, as always, are looking forward to playing in front of our very passionate and loyal Wolfpack fans.”
The 2020 ACC Championship will be held May 19-24 at BB&T Ballpark in Charlotte, N.C., while the NCAA Regional and Super Regional will be held May 29-June 1 and June 5-8, respectively, at selected campus sites (TBD). The 2020 College World Series will run June 13-23/24 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Neb.
