BC BASEBALL Opens ACC Play at No. 22 NC State

THE FACTS

MATCHUP: Boston College (5-6, 0-0 ACC) at No. 22 NC State (11-2, 0-0 ACC)
WHERE: Doak Field at Dali Park in Raleigh, N.C.
WHEN: Friday, March 9 at 3 p.m. | Saturday, March 10 at 2 p.m. | Sunday, March 11 at 1 p.m.
RECORD vs. NC STATE: NC State leads the all-time series, 23-14

HOW TO FOLLOW
ACC Network Extra: Friday | Saturday | Sunday
Live Stats
Audio
Twitter:  @BCBirdball

THE MATCHUP

Pitching Matchups
FRIDAY: RHP Jacob Stevens (2-1, 3.28 ERA) vs. LHP Brian Brown (3-0, 0.50 ERA)
SATURDAY: LHP Dan Metzdorf (0-1, 8.71 ERA) vs. RHP Johnny Piedmonte (2-0, 3.38 ERA)
SUNDAY: RHP Brian Rapp (1-1, 4.70 ERA) vs. TBA

Scouting the Wolfpack

• The 22^nd-ranked Wolfpack enter Atlantic Coast Conference play 11-2, 10-2 at home.
• The Pack is coming off a 4-1 victory at Campbell, the only time it has played away from The Doak this season.
• Brett Kinneman leads State with a .455 batting average, 25 hits, eight home runs and 25 RBIs. He is second in the ACC for his batting clip and first in hits, home runs, RBIs, total bases (56) and slugging percentage (1.018).
• In his last start against Bowling Green on March 3, Friday night arm LHP Brian Brown threw five scoreless innings, allowed just five hits and three walks while striking out seven. His 0.50 ERA is second in the ACC and his .153 opponent batting average is seventh. In last year’s meeting against BC, he allowed four hits, one run, three walks and struck out 11 over a 6.2-inning start.
• Saturday starter RHP Johnny Piedmonte has allowed 12 hits, six runs, four walks and struck out 13 over 16.0 innings this season. He collected the win for the Pack in the ACC Tournament matchup between the two teams in 2017, going five innings, allowing just six hits with a run, two walks, and three Ks. He threw last Saturday in the 21-4 over Campbell, going three innings, allowing four hits, three runs and two walks with one K.

THE SERIES

• Boston College is 14-23 all-time against the Wolfpack but has won eight of the last 11 meetings. The Eagles have also won four the last six meetings in Raleigh.
• Last season, BC swept the regular-season meeting, playing one game on April 21 and two on April 22 after the Friday contest was rained out. The Eagles started with an 8-3 victory at Fenway Park in the first-ever ACC contest played in the historic venue as the Eagles’ Sixth Annual ALS Awareness Game. They went on to win the doubleheader the next day with a couple of one-run victories (2-1, 1-0).
• The last time the two squads met was in the 2017 ACC Tournament when the Pack came away with a 6-1 victory.
• The Pack started the all-time series with 11 straight wins before BC won the next five games.
• BC is 3-12 when NC State is nationally ranked. It took two-of-three in 2016 when the Pack was eighth in the country.
• Seniors Jake Palomaki and Mitch Bigras have played a team-high nine games against State. Palomaki is batting .242 with eight hits, eight runs, and six walks, while Bigras has a .241 clip with seven hits, two doubles and a triple.
• The Eagles starting rotation in 2018 is the same last year. Juniors RHP Jacob Stevens and LHP Dan Metzdorf and senior RHP Brian Rapp all collected wins in the sweep a year ago.
• Metzdorf threw a career-high eight innings and allowed just one run in the second game and Rapp pitched a complete-game shutout, going nine for the first time in his career. Only five Pack runners reached base on the day on three singles and two walks.
• Junior Jake Alu led the Eagles at the plate in the three-game series, going 6-for-10 with two doubles. Sophomore Brian Dempsey had four hits while classmate Jacob Yish, Michael Strem, and junior Gian Martellini all logged two RBIs.
• The Eagles were perfect in the field on the weekend, as they did not tally an error in 113 chances.

WHAT’S GOING ON WITH THE EAGLES

• The Eagles are 2-3 on its spring break road trip in the Carolinas. They started the weekend at the USA Baseball Complex in Cary, N.C., going 1-2. They earned an 11-3 victory over Niagara but lost the next two, 9-8, to Bryant on a walk-off and 11-1 to Army on Sunday.
• BC recorded its first shutout of the season with an 8-0 victory at UNC Asheville on Tuesday. Sophomore RHP Matt Gill, redshirt freshman LHP Joey Walsh, and junior RHP Sean Hughes combined to allow just five hits while striking out nine in the win.
• The Eagles then took on Wofford at Fluor Field, home of the Greenville Drive, on Wednesday. They held a 10-4 lead after five, but the Terriers scored eight in the sixth off four different BC pitchers to walk away with a 12-10 victory.
• Dempsey has a hit in nine of the Eagles’ 11 games this season, now tallying at least one in 23 of the last 31 games played, dating back to last season. His .421 batting average is sixth in the ACC.
• Freshman Chris Galland extended his career-long hit streak to seven games with a 3-for-4 day against Wofford on Wednesday, which is the longest of the season for the Eagles. In his six career starts, he is 14-for-23 with 11 runs, eight RBIs, and seven stolen bases. He has only struck out once in 24 at bats. He is first the NCAA with a .583 batting clip and tied for second in the ACC with seven stolen bases.
• Palomaki has reached base safely 300 times in his BC career, tying for seventh all-time. His .429 career on-base percentage is sixth, the 44 career stolen bases are fourth and his 17 sacrifice hits is tied for ninth. He has a .396 batting average, seventh in the conference, while his six doubles are tied for first, his 19 hits are tied for fifth and his 30 total bases are seventh.
• Alu launched his first career grand slam with a career-high four RBIs against Wofford on March 7.
• Martellini has a hit in seven of BC’s 11 games with three multi-hit games. He also leads the ACC with six caught stealing and been part of two strikeout-throwout double plays.
• Rapp has hit double-digit strikeouts twice this season. He threw six no-hit innings with a career-high 10 strikeouts at Santa Clara (Feb. 18) and logged 10 Ks against Army (March 4) in a 5.1-inning start. With 24 strikeouts so far in 2018, he is tied for seventh in the ACC.
• Junior RHP Thomas Lane has started the season strong. In six appearances, he has a 0.82 ERA with seven Ks. He leads the ACC with a .086 opponent batting average and his 0.82 ERA is fourth in the ACC.
• Sophomore Jack Cunningham has a hit in seven of the Eagles’ first nine games and is on a career-high, six-game hit streak.
• Stevens has two starts without allowing a run – the season-opening win at Santa Clara (Feb. 16) where he threw five and struck out eight and the victory over Niagara (March 2) when he tied a career-high seven innings pitched, allowed just one hit and struck out nine. His 3.85 career ERA is ninth in BC record books.