North Carolina State University Athletics
Thursday, May 14
Raleigh, NC
7 p.m.
NC State
vs
UNC
NC State and UNC Prepare for In-State Showdown in Regular Season Finale
5/13/2026 4:51:00 PM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. – The final regular-season series of 2026 is set to take place at the Doak, as it's an in-state rivalry between NC State and No. 2 UNC. The series begins on Thursday, May 14th at 7 p.m. on ACC Network, followed by game two on Friday May, 15th at 7 p.m. on ACC Network.
Saturday, May 16th, at 2 p.m. is Senior Day and the series finale. NC State will honor seven seniors: Dalton Bargo, Brayden Fraasman, Drew Lanphere, Wyatt Perifer, Danny Heintz, Julien Peissel, and Landon Carr.
Tickets are still available HERE. Fans should stick around after the game Thursday night for a post-game fireworks show.
UNC will be the fourth-ranked team the Wolfpack will have faced in 2026, but just the second in its home ballpark. NC State beat then #16 Coastal Carolina on March 3rd, 6-4, and opened the series against #11 Florida State with another 6-4 victory, then dropped the next two games. #3 Georgia Tech swept the Wolfpack.
The series with the Tar Heels dates to the Wolfpack's first season in 1940. North Carolina leads the all-time series 177-142-1. NC State is 3-6 in the last 10 matchups after splitting last season in Chapel Hill. The last time this series was played in Raleigh, NC State took two of three.
Head coach Elliott Avent, who is in his 30th season at the helm of NC State baseball, is 40-37 overall against the UNC and 22-16 when playing at the Doak. Avent heads into the final series of the season, the 21st-winningest head coach in all of D1 baseball and winning over 1,300 career wins, while being the only active head coach to win 1,100 games at one school.
The Pack is top 25 in batting average and third in the ACC, with a higher team batting average than North Carolina, Miami, Boston College, and Wake Forest.
This season, NC State has had nine run-rule victories and has won 10 games by 10 or more runs, including a 27-run outburst against Richmond. Pack only one of 16 teams to score at least 27 runs in a game this season.
Earlier this week, freshman Rett Johnson was invited to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp. Johnson has a hit in 24 straight games entering the weekend. He is hitting .404 on the season, which is second in the ACC and 10th in the nation, and the second-highest by a freshman. He is looking to be the first Pack player to hit over .400 since 2005, when Aaron Bates did so.
In the series against Stanford, Ty Head surpassed his walk total from last season and now has 51 walks on the season. He leads the ACC and is eighth in the nation in the category. He now moves into third all-time for most walks in a single season, matching Tom Sergio (1997) and Evan Edwards (2019). He is one away from second and Jacob Cozart and 13 away from matching Pratt Maynard with 64 for most walks in a single season.
Head leads the team with 13 home runs and 25 stolen bases. NC State is 13 away from matching the program record of 110 stolen bases in a season, which it set in 2013. That team was led by Trea Turner, who had 30, the second-highest in program history.
NC State will continue to look to build its tournament resume, as it currently has an RPI of 41. The Pack has four wins over opponents in the top 25 and five in the top 30.
When the Wolfpack pitching staff was healthy, NC State pitching held Georgia Tech's offense, which leads the country in multiple categories, at bay for most of the series. The Yellow Jackets were held to their second-lowest scoring output of the season against ACC opponents, and only ranked North Carolina held them to fewer runs in a three-game series.
The series against the Eagles saw all three weekend starters—Ryan Marohn, Jacob Dudan, and Heath Andrews—go seven innings, marking the first time since 2021 that a weekend rotation has all gone at least seven innings. Just under six percent of starts in Division I this year have been seven or more innings.
Marohn and Dudan have been out for over a month. Dudan last pitched against Notre Dame, and Marohn appeared last in the series against Duke. In games, the two were scheduled to start; the Wolfpack is 5-5 and 8-8 overall since Marohn's last pitch.
Saturday, May 16th, at 2 p.m. is Senior Day and the series finale. NC State will honor seven seniors: Dalton Bargo, Brayden Fraasman, Drew Lanphere, Wyatt Perifer, Danny Heintz, Julien Peissel, and Landon Carr.
Tickets are still available HERE. Fans should stick around after the game Thursday night for a post-game fireworks show.
UNC will be the fourth-ranked team the Wolfpack will have faced in 2026, but just the second in its home ballpark. NC State beat then #16 Coastal Carolina on March 3rd, 6-4, and opened the series against #11 Florida State with another 6-4 victory, then dropped the next two games. #3 Georgia Tech swept the Wolfpack.
The series with the Tar Heels dates to the Wolfpack's first season in 1940. North Carolina leads the all-time series 177-142-1. NC State is 3-6 in the last 10 matchups after splitting last season in Chapel Hill. The last time this series was played in Raleigh, NC State took two of three.
Head coach Elliott Avent, who is in his 30th season at the helm of NC State baseball, is 40-37 overall against the UNC and 22-16 when playing at the Doak. Avent heads into the final series of the season, the 21st-winningest head coach in all of D1 baseball and winning over 1,300 career wins, while being the only active head coach to win 1,100 games at one school.
The Pack is top 25 in batting average and third in the ACC, with a higher team batting average than North Carolina, Miami, Boston College, and Wake Forest.
This season, NC State has had nine run-rule victories and has won 10 games by 10 or more runs, including a 27-run outburst against Richmond. Pack only one of 16 teams to score at least 27 runs in a game this season.
Earlier this week, freshman Rett Johnson was invited to the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team Training Camp. Johnson has a hit in 24 straight games entering the weekend. He is hitting .404 on the season, which is second in the ACC and 10th in the nation, and the second-highest by a freshman. He is looking to be the first Pack player to hit over .400 since 2005, when Aaron Bates did so.
In the series against Stanford, Ty Head surpassed his walk total from last season and now has 51 walks on the season. He leads the ACC and is eighth in the nation in the category. He now moves into third all-time for most walks in a single season, matching Tom Sergio (1997) and Evan Edwards (2019). He is one away from second and Jacob Cozart and 13 away from matching Pratt Maynard with 64 for most walks in a single season.
Head leads the team with 13 home runs and 25 stolen bases. NC State is 13 away from matching the program record of 110 stolen bases in a season, which it set in 2013. That team was led by Trea Turner, who had 30, the second-highest in program history.
NC State will continue to look to build its tournament resume, as it currently has an RPI of 41. The Pack has four wins over opponents in the top 25 and five in the top 30.
When the Wolfpack pitching staff was healthy, NC State pitching held Georgia Tech's offense, which leads the country in multiple categories, at bay for most of the series. The Yellow Jackets were held to their second-lowest scoring output of the season against ACC opponents, and only ranked North Carolina held them to fewer runs in a three-game series.
The series against the Eagles saw all three weekend starters—Ryan Marohn, Jacob Dudan, and Heath Andrews—go seven innings, marking the first time since 2021 that a weekend rotation has all gone at least seven innings. Just under six percent of starts in Division I this year have been seven or more innings.
Marohn and Dudan have been out for over a month. Dudan last pitched against Notre Dame, and Marohn appeared last in the series against Duke. In games, the two were scheduled to start; the Wolfpack is 5-5 and 8-8 overall since Marohn's last pitch.
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