Latest projections put NC State comfortably in NCAA baseball tournament

NC State did what was needed over the weekend, taking the series from a struggling Wake Forest team, which basically ensured that the Wolfpack wouldn’t lose any positioning on the NCAA tournament bubble.

We can relax a little bit about State’s NCAA tourney situation; the team would be well-advised not to tank these last few weeks, but it has worked itself back from outside-looking-in to pretty safely in at this point. Though there is some disagreement from the NCAA tournament field projections about how safe State may be.

Baseball America has NC State all the way up to a No. 2 seed (in Mississippi State’s regional), so in other words, BA doesn’t think the Pack is on the bubble at all. At minimum, Baseball America has NC State clear of the 11 at-large No. 3 seeds it has in the field. That feels like an optimistic assessment to me.

D1Baseball still projects NC State as a No. 3 seed (in ECU’s regional) but has NC State clear of at least the last five at-large teams, so there’s some cushion here as well.

The Wolfpack has this weekend off but could make up ground in the ACC Atlantic standings anyway, as the teams directly above it, FSU and Clemson, are on the road for series against Notre Dame and Georgia Tech, respectively. State will return to the field against UNCW on Tuesday (weather permitting!), followed by a weekend series at Coastal-leading Pitt.