The 2024 NCAA Baseball Tournament is set and with that comes the Regional matchups. NC State will host their seventh Regional in program history after being awarded the tenth overall seed in the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack welcome in two very tough opponents in South Carolina and James Madison, but will have to get through Bryant first. Here’s a brief overview of each team along with a prediction for who will advance to the Super Regionals.
#1 North Carolina State Wolfpack
The Wolfpack enter the Regional with a 33-20 record and an 18-11 record in the ACC. They have a 25-7 at home as well. While they lost 20 games this season, their schedule in the middle of the season became very rigorous in both conference and midweek non-conference games. This is yet another Regional host that has experience making a deep postseason run, and look to start another one this weekend.
Players to Watch | Season Stats
Alec Makarewicz – .376 BA, 83 H, 20 2B, 19 HR, 71 RBI, .724 SLG
Garrett Pennington – .345 BA, 77 H, 23 2B, 14 HR, 59 RBI, .637 SLG
#2 South Carolina Gamecocks
South Carolina joins the rest of the other ten SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament that are among the most battle tested teams in Division I. The Gamecocks are 36-23 this season with a 13-17 SEC record. On paper they may not look like the most threatening team, but they should not be taken lightly. They’ve been preparing all season to get to this point.
Players to Watch | Season Stats
Cole Messina – .330 BA, 71 H, 20 HR, 69 RBI
Ethan Petry – .302 BA, 64 H, 21 HR, 53 RBI
#3 James Madison Dukes
JMU is coming off of a very competitive season in the Sun Belt. A 34-23 record was good enough to be one of four teams selected from the conference into the NCAA tournament. Outside of their conference schedule, the Dukes played competitive opponents like Arkansas and Niagara. This is another example of one of the more prepared and battle tested mid-majors coming into this Regional round.
Players to Watch | Season Stats
Fenwick Trimble – .371 BA, 1.093 OPS, 85 H, 14 HR, 61 RBI, 16 SB
Mike Mancini – .326 BA, .965 OPS, 72 H, 11 HR, 29 SB
#4 Bryant Bulldogs
Bryant comes out of the America East with a conference tournament title and a 36-19 overall record. The Bulldogs have their work cut out for them in the Raleigh Regional as they’re not one of the teams in the field who have played any considerably tough competition over the course of the season.
Players to Watch | Season Stats
Zac Zyons – .377 BA, .477 OBP, .611 SLG, 61 H, 8 HR, 33 RBI
Predicted Winner #1 NC State
NC State has played great competition all year and is well prepared for the Regional. With the home field advantage and a considerably easier matchup against Bryant, they have a better chance to advance to the Supers here.