NC State’s 2027 baseball schedule is out, and the first thing that stands out is how much Chris Hart will be asked to manage right away.
The Wolfpack released the full slate Thursday, giving fans their first complete look at Hart’s debut season after he took over following Elliott Avent’s retirement last spring. Hart arrives after 22 seasons on Avent’s staff, and he inherits a team that went 32-22 overall and 14-16 in ACC play last season before bowing out in the Auburn Regional.
The season opens at home on Friday, Feb. 19, with a three-game set against Northern Kentucky at Doak Field at Dail Park. That series will be the first meeting between the programs. NC State then gets a heavy early dose of Raleigh time, with four of its first five weeks in town.
Wright State comes to Raleigh next, and that matchup carries a familiar face. Raiders head coach and former Wolfpack player Alex Sogard will be back in Raleigh Feb.
26-28. NC State also brought in two players from Sogard’s program this offseason through the transfer portal: infielder Hunter Warren and starting pitcher Chet Lax.
The schedule does dip into the road fairly early. NC State opens its away slate Feb. 23 with a midweek game at Coastal Carolina in Myrtle Beach, the Wolfpack’s first trip there since 2023.
There’s also another trip to the Caribbean on the books. For the second straight season, NC State is headed to the Bahamas for the Atlantis Collegiate Baseball Series, where it will face Michigan in a four-game series March 5-7. The Wolfpack and Wolverines will play a doubleheader on Saturday, March 6.
Before ACC play starts, the nonconference stretch includes a few more notable stops and visitors. La Salle comes to the schedule March 12-14, marking the first meeting between the schools since 2013 and only the fifth all-time. Early March also includes home games against Queens on March 2 and Radford on March 10, while East Carolina is on the calendar for March 16 in Greenville.
The league grind begins March 19-21 with a road series at Virginia. NC State follows that with a midweek trip to Greensboro to play North Carolina A&T on March 23. The Wolfpack are 26-0 all-time against the Aggies, and last season’s game in Raleigh was canceled.
Hart’s first ACC home series arrives immediately after that, when Wake Forest visits March 26-28 to begin an eight-game homestand. The Wolfpack’s other home league series are Georgia Tech, Pittsburgh, California and Florida State, with the regular-season finale at Doak Field set for May 14-16 against Florida State.
The road side of the ACC schedule is no kinder. NC State has to go to Notre Dame April 9-11, Boston College April 23-25, Louisville May 7-9 and Clemson May 20-22. That closing series at Clemson will send the Wolfpack into the postseason away from home for the first time since 2019.
Another layer to the schedule is the amount of in-state traffic in midweek games. East Carolina returns to Raleigh on March 30 after the teams met in the fall, and the Wolfpack have won three straight against the Pirates. Liberty visits Raleigh on April 6, Elon makes its first trip to Raleigh in four years on April 13, and Campbell and NC State will meet for the sixth straight season on April 27.
The date that may grab the most attention, though, is Tuesday, April 20. That’s when NC State and North Carolina will meet at Wilson Ballpark in Wilson, N.C.
The neutral-site game is a one-off rather than a weekend series, and it comes with both Tar Heels and Duke left off the Wolfpack’s ACC rotation this season. North Carolina is coming off a run to the College World Series finals, while NC State beat the Tar Heels 7-4 this fall at Durham Bulls Athletic Park.
The season will roll into the ACC Baseball Championship from May 25-30 at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham. The tournament will use a 16-team bracket, with seeds 5-8 getting first-round byes and seeds 1-4 getting double-byes. From there, NCAA Regional and Super Regional play leads to the Men’s College World Series in Omaha, Neb., set for June 18-28.
NC State’s release said all game times are subject to change.
In Other News...
NC State Now Faces One Test After A Stunning Program Shakeup
A difficult road loss to Stanford has left NC State trying to regroup after a major staff overhaul, one that has changed the feel of the program in a hurry. With the Wolfpack moving into preparation for its upcoming home game against California, the message from inside the building has been about tightening up the details that have slipped away, especially when it comes to closing out games.
Tight end Preston Douglas said the focus now is on finishing plays, drives and games, a familiar football refrain that has taken on extra weight in Raleigh this week. The next step is about more than just getting back on the field, though, because the Wolfpack is also sorting through a new structure on defense and trying to turn a turbulent stretch into something steadier before the schedule moves on. [Read more 🡒]
NC State Just Sent A Strong Message About Its Next Coach
NC States coaching search took a more public turn this week when Chancellor Kevin Howell and athletic director Boo Corrigan laid out the direction of the program in a letter to fans after Dave Doerens firing. The note was aimed at setting expectations as the Wolfpack begin the process of finding their next football coach, and it was clear the university wants this move to feel like more than a routine reset.
The letter also signaled how serious the school intends to be about the hire, pointing to financial investment in the program and a search group built with some recognizable football voices in the mix. Howell and Corrigan framed the job as one that has to keep NC State in the hunt at the top of the ACC, and the message to supporters was that the next coach will be expected to arrive with championship-level ambitions already in place. [Read more 🡒]
Florida States ACC Push Now Rests On One Huge QB Question
Quarterback play continues to shape the ACC race, and Week 8 offered another reminder of how quickly one position can swing a teams entire outlook. The latest conference round-up put a spotlight on the quarterbacks who are driving results, with recent games, stat lines and upcoming Week 9 matchups all feeding into a ranked look at the leagues most impactful passers.
For NC State, the most immediate context is the sting of another close conference loss, one that added to the pressure around a season already full of questions. The Wolfpack have now become part of the wider ACC conversation not just because of what happened on the field, but because of what their next stretch means for a program trying to steady itself while the leagues top teams keep chasing separation. [Read more 🡒]