College baseball returns on Valentine’s Day :: WRALSportsFan.com
College baseball returns for the 2025 season – and the three Triangle ACC teams have a chance to put heart eyes on your face with home openers on Valentine’s Day, at least, that’s according to DI Baseball’s presason rankings.
The college baseball publication puts North Carolina, Duke and NC State within striking distance of the College World Series, ranking the Tar Heels at No. 6, the Blue Devils at No. 11 and the Wolfpack at No. 13 to start the season.
UNC and NC State both made it to Omaha last year, while Duke won the ACC Tournament, but failed to advance out of the Norman Regional in Oklahoma.
Here’s how day one went for these three squads.
NC State 11, Fordam 1 (8 innings) / NC State 12, Fordam 2 (7 innings)
The Wolfpack started out its season with a pair of wins in a Friday afternoon doubleheader against Fordam, run-ruling the Ramsm in both contests. The last time NC State played an opening day doubleheader was in 2021, winning both games against Davidson.
Sunday’s game was rescheduled to Friday to avoid potential inclement weather in the forecast.
Sophomore Chris McHugh, a transfer from VCU, had quite a debut, going 4/5 with three RBIs, a home run and three walks.
NC State finishes the series on Saturday at 2 p.m.
UNC 5, Texas Tech 1 / UNC 8, Texas Tech 3
The Tar Heels also played an opening day doubleheader and also finished with two wins. Defense was the name of the game for Carolina against Texas Tech.
Sophomore Jason Decaro pitched five innings in game one, allowing just one hit while throwing six strikeouts.
Liberty transfer Kane Kepley made an eye-pooping play in center field in the bottom of the sixth inning, robbing a sure fire Red Raider home run. The junior started 101 games for the Flames, adding 50 RBIs and 10 home runs.
Game 2 was much closer, a 1-1 tie going into the bottom of the fourth inning. Hunter Stokely’s double to center field brought two runners home to give Carolina a two-run lead.
Tied 3-3 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, UNC added three more runs, pulling away 8-3 the final.
Freshman pitcher Walker McDuffie pitched 3.2 innings out of the bullpen, allowing 1 hit and striking out five.
UNC finishes the series at noon on Saturday against Texas Tech.
Cincinnati 8, Duke 3
It wasn’t the start the Blue Devils were looking for, falling to the Bearcats at home 8-3. Duke trailed 5-3 after seven innings, but allowed three runs in the top of the eighth inning, two of which came on a home run.
All three of Duke’s scores came on solo shots from Ben Miller, Andrew Yu and Tyler Albright.
“I just tip my hat to Cincinnati. They outplayed us in all three phases. They came in tonight better prepared than we were. They executed on the mound, played sound defense, and did a great job of taking advantage of some free offense,” head coach Chris Pollard said after the game.
Duke plays Cincinnati again on Saturday at 3 p.m. and Sunday at 1 p.m.
Source: wralsportsfan.com