Meet the Hokies… NC State’s first ACC opponent of 2025
Who’s the Pack playing?
Opponent: Virginia Tech
Mascot: bird^2 | School Location: Blacksburg, VA | Conference: ACC
2025 Record: 12-5 (1-2, T-12th) | 2025 RPI Rank: 109
2024 Record: 32-22 (14-16, 5th Coastal) | 2024 RPI Rank: 68
2023 Record: 30-23 (12-17, 5th Coastal) | 2023 RPI Rank: 50
When? Where? How do I watch?
Location: Doak Field at Dail Park (Raleigh, NC)
Game Time(s): Fri, Mar 14 @ 6:00pm | Sat, Mar 15 @ 3:00pm | Sun, Mar 16 @ 1:00pm
TV: Friday (ACCNX), Saturday (ACCNX), Sunday (ACCNX)
Live Stats: Stat Broadcast (Friday | Saturday | Sunday)
Tell me about this team
As you’d expect of a John Szefc team, this Hokies lineup can mash. As a group, they are hitting .314/.432/.539, 50 2B, 21 HR, 14.5 BB%, 15.0 K%, 22-31 SB, which is pretty dang impressive. It also tells me that a team that hits that consistently well should probably cool it a bit on trying to steal bases, but I’m content if they want to run into a few extra outs this weekend.
Granted, Virginia Tech hasn’t played the most daunting schedule yet, so we’re about to find out if they’re real or not. In their toughest four games (at East Carolina, home series vs Georgia Tech), the Hokies managed just 18 total runs on 25 total hits, with 21 walks to 38 strikeouts. The truth for this lineup probably lies somewhere between their season numbers and their combined performance against the Pirates and Yellow Jackets.
Pitching has been strong so far with a 3.64 ERA over 146.0 IP, sporting a 12.8 BB% and 30.8 K%. It’s that strikeout rate that’s most impressive, although the walk numbers are a cause for a bit of concern.
The Hokies have a solid 1-2 punch at the top of the rotation. Brett Renfrow was expected to have a big year, but the team appears to have struck gold with freshman lefty Jake Marciano. If they can figure out the third starter, there are enough bullpen arms to make this thing work, but that also only works if the lineup can do their part against ACC competition.
There aren’t many – if any – breaks in the ACC slate for the Hokies, so if the team expects to get back to an NCAA Regional, they’ll have to make noise when and where they can.
Pitching Matchups
Friday: LHP Dominic Fritton (JR) — RHP Brett Renfrow (SO)
Saturday: RHP Heath Andrews (SO) — LHP Jake Marciano (FR)
Sunday: LHP Ryan Marohn (SO) — TBD
Key Players:
Offense
CF/RF Sam Tackett (rSR) – .500/.561/.893, 4 2B, 6 HR, 12.1 BB%, 19.7 K%, 6-6 SB. Part-time player for the Hokies over his first two years before struggling in his first taste at regular playing time last year. Not struggling now. Cutting down on the strikeouts has allowed him to tap into his power, and he’s already exceeded his career HR total coming into the year (5) with his 6 dingers. Solid defensive player, too.
2B/CF Jared Davis (JR) – .364/.440/.530, 5 2B, 2 HR, 9.3 BB%, 12.0 K%, 10-13 SB. JUCO transfer and a superb athlete, especially likes to push the issue on the bases (was 37-of-42 in stolen bases last year in JUCO ball). Is 8-for-8 in stolen bases in the last 6 games.
DH/C David McCann (SO) – .298/.409/.614, 7 2B, 3 HR, 11.3 BB%, 14.1 K%, 1-2 SB. Fantastic hitter who has power to all fields. The lefty hitting, 6’0, 185 lbs backup catcher’s bat will play.
3B David Lewis (SR) – .283/.384/.550, 5 2B, 3 HR, 15.1 BB%, 27.4 K%, 0-0 SB. Transfer from DII North Greenville after playing his freshman year at Clemson. Hit .379/.471/.787, 33 2B, 42 HR, 13.2 BB%, 14.8 K%, 6-7 SB over the last two years at North Greenville. Obvious big time power from the right-handed, 6’2, 220 lbs frame.
LF Ben Watson (rSR) – .186/.324/.305, 4 2B, 1 HR, 11.3 BB%, 9.9 K%, 1-2 SB. It’s been a rough start thanks to some incredibly poor luck (.178 BABIP), but he hit .419/.466/.595, 21 2B, 4 HR, 8.1 BB%, 9.7 K%, 3-3 SB last year, leading the ACC in batting average. The underlying numbers say he’ll rebound upwards to the mean.
Pitching
RHP Brett Renfrow (SO) – 1-1, 1.40 ERA, 19.1 IP, 13.3 BB%, 31.3 K%. Has been outstanding as he’s been building up his stamina this year. Walks have been the only you could really point at as an issue, but even so, it’s hard to question his control with 0 WP and just 1 HBP on the year. Spent time with the USA Baseball Collegiate National Team last summer. Sits in the mid 90’s to go with a breaking ball this is sort of a hybrid slider/curve, and also has a changeup.
LHP Jake Marciano (FR) – 3-0, 2.45 ERA, 18.1 IP, 9.6 BB%, 34.2 K%. Big time projectable arm, he’s taken to the college game faster than expected. Currently an upper-80s/low-90s fastball.
RHP Preston Crowl (SO) – 1-0, 1.35 ERA, 13.1 IP, 14.0 BB%, 26.3 K%. A much bigger part of the bullpen this year after tossing 17.0 IP last year. Has gone multiple innings in all 7 of his outings so far this year. Three pitch mix featuring a low-90s fastball, a splitter, and a slider.
RHP Grant Manning (rSR) – 1-1, 11.57 ERA, 11.2 IP, 8.5 BB%, 37.3 K%. Sixth-year senior who spent his first four collegiate seasons at DIII Chapman. He’s been hit hard this year, although he’s also been striking out a ton of dudes. Low-to-mid 90s fastball out of his 6’6 frame to go with a pair of breaking balls.
RHP Logan Eisenreich (FR) – 1-0, 2.08 ERA, 8.2 IP, 16.7 BB%, 33.3 K%. The freshman righty put together a pair of good starts but hasn’t been seen since February 24th. Not sure if he’s hurt or not, but if he can return, he’d be an obvious candidate for the Sunday starter spot. He did have Tommy John Surgery which cost him his senior year of high school, so hopefully he’s okay.
RHP Luke Craytor (JR) – 0-1, 2 SV, 4.26 ERA, 6.1 IP, 23.3 BB%, 33.3 K%. A 6’5, 220 lbs transfer from Lafayette where he really wasn’t all that great (1-8, 2 SV, 6.99 ERA, 84.3 IP, 12.0 BB%, 19.4 K%), so a bit surprising to see him having such success early, apparently as the Hokies closer.
RHP Cameron LeJeune (rSR) – 0-0, 1 SV, 0.00 ERA, 4.0 IP, 6.7 BB%, 13.3 K%. Transfer from McNeese State where he posted a line over the last two years of 9-3, 6 SV, 4.34 ERA, 101.2 IP, 7.2 BB%, 16.4 K%. The 6’4 righty has a low 90’s fastball and relies heavily on his slider.
Quick! Fun Facts!
Despite being in a bordering state, Virginia Tech rather surprisingly only has two players on their roster from the state of North Carolina: JR INF Garrett Michel (Denver, NC) and JR LHP Andrew Sentlinger (Charlotte, NC). Sentlinger is the pitcher in the lead photo to this preview.
Hokies SR OF Treyson Hughes was a teammate last year at Ole Miss with NC State SO INF/OF Trenton Lyons.
Virginia Tech has had a player selected in the first four rounds of the MLB Draft in four of the last five years. They had three former players play at the MLB level in 2024: LHP Joe Mantiply (Diamondbacks), OF Kerry Carpenter (Tigers), RHP Zach Brzykcy (Nationals).
NC State holds the all-time advantage between the two schools with a 50-24-2 mark.
The Key To A Series Win For State
Just keep doing what you’ve been doing the last five nine games: pitchers pounding the strike zone and hitters having quality ABs.
Prediction
State’s coming into this one with the better momentum, and the game’s in Raleigh.
Outcome: NC State takes two of three.