No. 20 Wolfpack Travels to Tallahassee for Series at No. 7 Florida State – NC State University Athletics

RALEIGH, N.C. – The No. 20 NC State baseball team travels to Tallahassee for a ranked ACC series at No. 7 Florida State. This weekend’s series against the Seminoles will run Friday through Sunday with first pitch times set for 6 p.m., 7 p.m. and 1 p.m., respectively.
 
Saturday’s contest will be televised on ACC Network. Friday and Sunday’s games will stream live on ACC Network Extra. A free audio stream will be available on the Varsity Network App for all three contests. All three games will also be available on the radio on WKNC 88.1 with Andrew Sanders on the call.
 
THE MATCHUP: SERIES AGAINST FLORIDA STATE
NC State holds a 39-76 record in the series against Florida State. More notes from the series against the Seminoles are listed below:
 
• NC State completed its first-ever three-game sweep over Florida State in the most recent series meeting, taking all three games over the Seminoles this past season in Raleigh from April 14-16. The Wolfpack opened the series with a commanding 14-3 win before posting back-to-back one-run wins to finish off the sweep. The final victory of the weekend came in the 10th inning in walk-off fashion.
• The Wolfpack’s last trip to Tallahassee came from March 19-20, 2022. After dropping the first game, NC State evened the series at a game apiece with a 15-4 win in the first game of a doubleheader on March 20. The Pack then dropped a marathon contest in the second game of the doubleheader, falling 6-5 in 17 innings. The 5:45 contest came to a close on a Jaime Ferrer walk-off home run.
• NC State has won four of its past six series against Florida State dating back to the 2017 season.
 
SCOUTING THE SEMINOLES
No. 7 Florida State (34-9, 13-8 ACC) opened the season on a 19-game winning streak, jumping from unranked in the D1Baseball Preseason Poll to No. 7 before its first loss at No. 3 Clemson on March 23. The Seminoles have won five of their seven ACC series this season, highlighted by a road series victory at No. 6 Duke this past weekend. Florida State holds an impressive 23-2 record in Tallahassee, dropping only one weekend matchup all season with a Friday setback against Louisville on March 29. Florida State ranks first among all ACC teams in slugging percentage (.569), shutouts (4), strikeout-to-walk ratio (2.49) and strikeouts per nine innings (11.7). Seven Florida State batters (30 games played minimum) are hitting .300 or better, highlighted by Cam Smith (.399) and James Tibbs III (.393). Tibbs III leads Florida State with 66 RBI, 18 homers, 135 total bases, a .828 slugging percentage and 30 walks. Seminole ace Jamie Arnold holds an 8-1 record with a 99-to-16 strikeout-to-walk ratio, entering this weekend’s series with a 1.79 ERA.
 
EIGHT IS GREAT
Jacob Cozart has been white hot since the Wolfpack’s series-opening victory over North Carolina on April 18, batting a team-high .419 with eight home runs in his past eight games. Cozart has tallied two of the three multi-homer games of his career during his recent hot streak, homering twice against North Carolina on April 20 and twice on Tuesday against UNCW. He has quickly jumped into second place on the Wolfpack roster with 14 homers. Over the past eight games, Cozart also leads the Pack with 17 RBI, 39 total bases, 15 runs scored, 13 hits and a 1.258 slugging percentage.
 
A FAMILY CONNECTION
J.T. Jarrett, who is in his first year on the NC State baseball coaching staff, will face off against his father Link Jarrett for the first time since graduating from NC State in 2022. Link, who is in his second season as head coach at Florida State, last coached against his son when J.T. was a senior at NC State in 2022. Link was completing his final season as the head coach at Notre Dame and won a pair of games at Doak Field at Dail Park.
 
A SUCCESSFUL SUNDAY: VICTORY OVER CANCER GAME
NC State completed a three-game series sweep over Ball State with an 11-3 win on Sunday afternoon at Doak Field at Dail Park. The Wolfpack also celebrated its inaugural Victory Over Cancer Game, inviting local families affected by pediatric cancer to Sunday’s game while raising over $50,860 to support pediatric cancer research. Fans can still donate to Sunday’s cause at v.org/turner.
 
NC State players and its coaching staff honored Sunday’s inaugural event with gold uniforms, which is the awareness ribbon color for pediatric cancer. The Wolfpack also welcomed local families onto the field pregame to interact with Pack9 players and staff. The family of Pack Pro Trea Turner, who was integral to Sunday’s event, was also in attendance for Sunday’s victory at Doak Field.
 
TOUGH SLATE
NC State has exceled so far during its gauntlet of a finish to ACC play with all of its final five ACC series coming against top 15 teams in this week’s D1Baseball Top 25. The Wolfpack has recorded three straight series victories over then-No. 2 Clemson, then-No. 11 North Carolina and Ball State. NC State concludes its ACC schedule with series at No. 7 Florida State and No. 11 Virginia before hosting No. 13 Wake Forest to finish the regular season.
 
NC State’s strength of schedule checks in at No. 10 nationally, according to warrennolan.com. The Wolfpack also has seven wins over Quadrant I opponents.
 
PACK ON NATIONAL TV
Seven NC State baseball games have been selected for national broadcasts. All seven of the Wolfpack’s nationally televised contests will be on ACC Network. A full list of the Pack’s games on national TV for the 2024 season is listed below. NC State is 4-0 in games broadcasted on ACC Network this season, highlighted by three walk-off victories against Duke, Notre Dame and North Carolina.
 
March 23 vs. Duke | ACCN (W, 9-8)
March 29 vs. Notre Dame | ACCN (W, 7-6)
April 13 at Clemson | ACCN (W, 4-0)
April 18 vs. North Carolina | ACCN (W, 9-8)
May 4 at Florida State | 7 p.m. | ACC Network
May 10 at Virginia | 7 p.m. | ACC Network
May 17 vs. Wake Forest | 7 p.m. | ACC Network
 
VETERAN EXPERIENCE
Alec Makarewicz ranks first among ALL active college baseball players (Division I-III) with 245 career games played. The veteran third baseman played in 203 career games at East Carolina before starting all 42 games of NC State’s season so far. Makarewicz has played in five more college contests than the next closest player, Drew Holderbach from App State with 240 career games.