NC State No 9 seed in ACC tournament; opens against No. 5 Duke on Tuesday

NC State finished off a sweep of Pittsburgh on Saturday, which secured the No. 9 seed in the ACC tournament. The Wolfpack is in a pool with No. 4 Miami and No. 5 Duke; State and Duke will meet at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Unless you are the top seed in your pool, the only path through is by going 2-0. If everybody goes 1-1, the top seed advances. So NC State-Duke is already an elimination game.

The Tuesday start presents obvious problems from a pitching standpoint, since Elliott Avent didn’t hold anyone back in the Pitt series. I’m guessing Logan Whitaker will be good to go on four days’ rest but did throw 113 pitches on Thursday, which might impact his endurance.

The Pack won’t play again until Thursday and should have just about everybody available at that point. Whether or not that game matters in the outcome of the pool, though, depends entirely on Tuesday night.