Final Regular Season Road Test Takes NC State to Stanford

Friday, May 8

Stanford, CA

9:05 p.m.

NC State

Stanford

Final Regular Season Road Test Takes NC State to Stanford

5/8/2026 6:00:00 AM | Baseball

Game Notes

RALEIGH, N.C. – The final ACC road series sees NC State travel out west to take on Stanford beginning Friday, May 8^th at 9:05 p.m. This will be the first-ever road trip to Palo Alto and just the third trip to California.

This will be the seventh all-time meeting between the two programs, with the Wolfpack at 2-4 in the series. Last season, Stanford took two of three from the Wolfpack in the final series of the season.

The only other times the Pack and Cardinal have met have been in the postseason, first in 2006 in the Austin Regional, and then again in 2021 in the College World Series, which saw NC State victorious for the first time in the series.

NC State will look to carry the momentum from its first series win over Miami since 2019 into the final stretch of the season. The Wolfpack did not play a midweek game as the scheduled game with North Carolina A&T was canceled.

Head coach Elliott Avent picked up his 1,100^th and 1,101^st wins as head coach at NC State. Avent is the only active head coach to reach the mark at a single school and just the 20^th Division I. Earlier this year, Avent surpassed the 1,300 career wins mark, becoming just the 24^th Division I coach to achieve the feat.

Probable Starting Pitchers
Friday: LHP Cooper Consiglio vs. LHP Andrew Shaw
Saturday: TBA vs. RHP Toran O'Harran
Sunday: TBA vs. RHP Nick Dugan

Cooper Consiglio is set to make his first Friday start of his career at NC State. Consiglio is coming off a career outing in a win against Miami, where he went six strong innings, striking out a career best nine Hurricanes, allowing just two runs on three hits.

Sherman Johnson's offense has been a big jolt for the Wolfpack recently. Over his last five games, Johnson has recorded five extra- base hits (3 2B, 3B, HR), 11 RBI, including a grand slam against Miami to seal the Wolfpack series win.

On Tuesday, Christian Serrano was named Perfect Game Freshman of the week. After only playing in 15 games sparingly as a sub, Serrano has started the last four games at shortstop following an injury to Mikey Ryan. In those four games, Serrano is hitting .500 with eight hits and four RBIs. Serrano hit his first collegiate home run in game two of the series with the Hurricanes.

The highest batting average in the country for a freshman belongs to Wolfpack outfielder Rett Johnson. Johnson is hitting .420 on the season and is on a 21-game hitting streak, which is the longest by a Wolfpack player this season.

Sophomore righthander Anderson Nance (3-1) turned in a career performance in relief to help lead NC State to its first series win over Miami, which had come into Raleigh winning six straight series, including five straight ACC series as the Eden, N.C., native set a career high in both innings pitched (5.2) and strikeouts (9), while throwing 113 pitches marking the first time Nance has crossed the 100 pitch mark. Nance came on in the fourth inning with the Pack trailing following Miami's use of a five-run inning to take the lead. Nance would keep the Wolfpack in the game, allowing just two runs and pitching out of two bases-loaded jams.

The first jam came with the outs in the top of the eighth in a one-run game after the Pack had just taken an 8-7 lead in the bottom of the seventh. With former Pack player and the dangerous Alex Sosa at the plate, Nance got him to ground out on the very first pitch. In the ninth, with a five-run lead for the Wolfpack, the Hurricanes loaded the bases with nobody out. Nance didn't show fatigue late, touching 97 mph in the ninth and getting back-to-back strikeouts for the first two outs before sealing the victory with a ground ball.

Luke Nixon made his presence felt for the Wolfpack this week, helping lead NC State to a 3-1 week, which included a season series sweep of East Carolina, and a series win over Miami. Nixon hit a team-best .500 with eight hits, of which half went for extra bases, including two home runs. Nixon scored seven runs and had a Wolfpack high nine RBIs, a 1.000 SLG, and a .600 OB%. He also added four walks, was 1-1 in stolen bases, and didn't make an error.

Nixon now has a career-best eight home runs for the season following his first career multi-home-run game. His seventh was a game-tying three-run shot to make it a 5-5 game in game three against the Hurricanes, and his second of the rubber match with Miami brought the Pack back within one and shifted the momentum as the Pack went on to secure the comeback victory.
Ty Head is one walk away from matching his total from last season of 48, which is the sixth most in a season by a Wolfpack player. Only five players have ever had more than 50 walks in a season.

1. 64 Pratt Maynard 2010
2. 52 Jacob Cozart 2024
3. 51 Tom Sergio 1997
51 Evan Edwards 2019
5. 50 Devonte Brown 2022

Head also leads the team in home runs and stolen bases. With 25 stolen bases on the season, he is looking to match Trea Turner with 30, which would be the second most in program history. Turner also holds the record with 57.