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RALEIGH, N.C. -- NC State Athletics announced an expansive project to renovate Doak Field back in 2022 on the heels of a strong run to Omaha the season prior. With the momentum riding high for the Pack9, plans for a $15 million project would include new locker rooms, upgrades for fans with new seating and several other huge changes on the horizon.

Before the 2023 season, NC State finished the first phase of the project that included a new playing surface, updated scoreboard, moving the bullpens and LED lighting. The second phase was set to take place this past offseason, but then there was a problem ... well, sort of.

NC State fans raised too much money.

Instead of budgeting for a $15 million project, the athletics program revised the plan for $20 million with the extra funds raised from the Wolfpack fanbase. A new revised plan was brought to the UNC System Board of Governors that was finally approved on Thursday afternoon, according to Brian Murphy of WRAL.

"UNC System Board of Governors today gave approval for $20M renovation and addition to NC State's Doak Field," Murphy wrote on Twitter/X. "Up form original $15M plan unveiled in 2022 and previously approved by BoG."

With the Wolfpack finally getting approval to start the next phase, the expectation is that the second portion of renovations will commence immediately after the 2024 season concludes. Those improvements will be to the competitive team performance spaces, including a new locker room, team lounges, a pitching lab, improved batting cages, upgraded weight room and more.

Along with the original plans laid out for the Doak Field facelift, there will be new additions planned for the final two phases. Pack Pride has confirmed there will also be an additional improvements made to the stadium through the extra influx of money to the project, which are expected to be announced later.

"NC State Baseball has achieved at a very high level for many years," Director of Athletics Boo Corrigan said in 2022. "We need to continue to build on that traditional success that will ensure the future of this program. It is situated in a great location and has been a part of our campus experience for generations. We envision upgrades that will put Doak Field at Dail Park among the premier facilities in college baseball and we are excited to begin this process."

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Students at Duke and U.N.C., both basketball powerhouses, have long labeled North Carolina State their “little brother.” But little brother — and sister — are off to the Final Four.

By Eduardo Medina

Photographs by Veasey Conway

Reporting from Raleigh, N.C.

April 4, 2024

For decades, Sammy’s Tap & Grill, a sports bar for fans of North Carolina State University, had a glaring problem: The school’s basketball teams did not win all that much. David Harris, one of the owners, would concoct creative specials in hopes of drawing customers on game days, but it didn’t matter. Few ever came.

“All of that has changed now,” Mr. Harris, 59, said the other day, his smile, like those of his patrons, seemingly permanent. “Can you believe it?”

The N.C. State women’s and men’s basketball teams are both in the Final Four. It is a sentence few in Raleigh believed they ever would utter. And to listen to them say it aloud this week was to hear the exhausted, sometimes tearful glee of an overjoyed fan base still in shock.

Their neighbors, after all, are basketball royalty. Duke University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, each about 25 miles away, have won multiple national championships, and the North Carolina women’s team won it all in 1994. The two programs have one of the fiercest rivalries in college basketball.

Michael Jordan, arguably the greatest men’s player of all time, played for U.N.C. Duke can lay claim to Mike Krzyzewski, who won more games than any men’s coach in N.C.A.A. history.

Then there is N.C. State.

Students at Duke, which is in Durham, and U.N.C. have long labeled N.C. State their “little brother” — an uncompetitive, weaker sibling in the Atlantic Coast Conference.

Sometimes, the trash talk feels like it extends beyond sports. Duke is a premier private university, and U.N.C. is the state’s public flagship, its oldest educational jewel and itself a top school. N.C. State is known for its robust agricultural and engineering curriculums, but it does not have the national allure of the other two.

Yet in the men’s tournament, the No. 1-seeded U.N.C., lost to Alabama in the Sweet 16. And Duke, a No. 4 seed, fell last weekend to none other than N.C. State.

“Now they can’t talk,” Tyler Sherman, a freshman at N.C. State, said of both teams as he decided between a gray and a red Final Four T-shirt at the university’s store on Tuesday.

Still, it has been an arduous journey for the Wolfpack. In the 1950s, the N.C. State men’s team was considered the best in the A.C.C., and for the next three decades, the rivalry between N.C. State and U.N.C. was the biggest in North Carolina, said Tim Peeler, who wrote a book on the team that won N.C. State’s last national title, in 1983.

A big setback occurred in 1989, when the N.C.A.A. placed the school’s basketball team on probation for two years and barred it from the 1990 tournament for violations that included the misuse of complimentary tickets and sneakers provided to the players.

Around that time, ESPN was taking off, and the U.N.C.-Duke rivalry was growing in intensity in the state partly because of their high-profile coaches, Mr. Peeler said.

The women’s team at N.C. State has been strong in recent years, but it had not made it this far since 1998. As for the men’s team, fans will admit they have had more than a few subpar seasons. They were, at best, mediocre during this year’s regular season, finishing 17-14. On campus, there were whispers that the head coach, Kevin Keatts, would be fired.

To even qualify for the N.C.A.A. Tournament, the men’s team had to win the A.C.C. Tournament, a feat that involved five straight wins for a team that had lost its last four regular-season games. It has kept winning ever since, beating Duke on Sunday and leaving fans thunderstruck.

“Crazy,” said Norman Downer, an N.C. State alumnus who graduated in 2014.

“Surreal,” said Trey Austin, 21, a sophomore, one of the hundreds of students proudly sporting a red A.C.C. championship shirt on campus this week.

“I’ve waited all my life,” said Bradley Turner, 26, of Raleigh, who spent more than $400 in recent days on Wolfpack merchandise.

This was a jubilance they had never experienced. It felt electric and fleeting, they said, like catching fireflies in a jar. The Wolfpack had arrived at their moment, wearing shirts and holding signs that underscored the surprise of their ascent: “I believe.” “Why not us?”

On Tuesday, hundreds gathered on campus to send off the women’s team. Tubas and trumpets roared. Some in the crowd had dyed locks of their hair red. As the players walked to their bus, fans chanted the names of their heroes.

“I love you Saniya!” one woman screamed, referring to guard Saniya Rivers.

They had heard from friends who went to Duke or U.N.C. about the long lines at games, the camping out for tickets, the prime time TV broadcasts. They had heard from alumni about the ’70s and ’80s, how N.C. State had been the team to beat then, and how it had started the tradition of cutting down the net as a souvenir of victory.

On the “basketball history” wall at Amedeo’s Italian Restaurant, where the celebrated former N.C. State men’s coach Jim Valvano used to dine regularly, every image and artifact dates at least to the 1980s. Championship sweaters from ’83 now go for around $75 at vintage markets.

Dereck Whittenburg, a guard for the team that won the 1983 title, said in an interview that he had seen it all in college basketball. But this current run, he said, felt “truly incredible.”

(One sports statistician put the men’s team’s chances of winning nine straight elimination games to make the Final Four at 10,314 to 1.)

“It’s a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” Mr. Whittenburg, 63, said.

Gov. Roy Cooper of North Carolina, who graduated from U.N.C. and vividly remembers Mr. Whittenburg’s plays from decades ago, said in an interview that he was pulling for both Wolfpack teams. The women’s team, a No. 3 seed, will face South Carolina on Friday; the men will face Purdue on Saturday.

“It’s really hard to find anyone in North Carolina right now, regardless of who your team is, who is not for North Carolina State,” Mr. Cooper said.

Even Duke fans on campus this week, still smarting from their defeat on Sunday, admitted that they were rooting for the underdogs.

“It’s kind of cool that they’re having their comeback,” Tom Gigrich, a junior at Duke, said of N.C. State. “Obviously the loss sucks. But at least U.N.C. didn’t beat us. And honestly, I hope the best for them.”

A No. 11 seed in the men’s tournament, N.C. State is now the country’s Cinderella team, led by DJ Burns Jr., a 6-foot-9 center who has won Raleigh’s heart with his balletic moves and cheerful demeanor.

On Tuesday evening in Raleigh, roughly 1,000 people lined up outside an Applebee’s for a meet-and-greet with Burns and guard DJ Horne, N.C. State’s leading scorer.

Outside the restaurant, boys and girls scrawled “Wolfpack!” in red chalk on the sidewalk and stared into the restaurant’s windows, trying to catch a glimpse. People carried basketballs to be signed. Lily Mulhall, a freshman at N.C. State, said she brought a hubcap to get autographed because — well, it was a long story, but she considered it lucky.

Only a small number of fans managed to get inside and meet the players. Few appeared to care.

What mattered was that they were here, smiling at the ridiculousness of the crowd size as the sun set.

Word spread that the players would be exiting soon through the restaurant’s back door. Some fans had already gathered around it. One had climbed a tree for a better look. They raised their phones, preparing to snap and record so that they could one day remember.

A boy asked his father if they could stay a little longer and get a peek of the players. The father said it was fine.

Raleigh had already waited 40 years for scenes like this. What was 10 more minutes?

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RALEIGH, N.C. -- NC State has landed one of the top wing players in the transfer portal in Georgetown transfer Dontrez Styles. The Kinston, N.C. native will return to the ACC after spending two years with UNC-Chapel Hill prior to his one year with the Hoyas during the 2023-24 season.

During that one season, the 6-foot-6, 212-pound guard produced 12.8 points and 5.8 rebounds, finishing second on the team in both categories. He was also an efficient shooter, hitting on 43 percent of his shots and 37 percent of his 3-pointers while also getting to the free-throw line 107 times and hitting 78 percent of his shots from the charity stripe.

That came after garnering just 322 minutes in two full years with UNC and scoring below 2.0 points per game under Hubert Davis after being recruited by Roy Williams. Spending time away from the Hoop State put things into perspective for the Kinston native.

"I really learned a lot about myself going out there and playing a lot of minutes," Styles said. "I thank coach [Ed] Cooley and the whole coaching staff for helping me build my game. So it was it was great really learning that I can play with anybody in the country."

As his game originally blossomed in Kinston, Styles was a high-priority target for Kevin Keatts along with guards Terquavion Smith and Breon Pass in the 2021 class. The Wolfpack hosted him on several visits, including the 2019 Primetime With the Pack game alongside Smith, M.J. Rice, Cam Hayes and several others.

When Styles entered the portal last season, NC State was one of the first programs to contact him before he ultimately landed with Georgetown. This time around, the Wolfpack was once again one of the first to reach out and Styles said State remains a team he had high interest in heading into his final year.

"Oh yes sir, for sure. For sure," Styles said when asked if he's still interested in NC State. "I have a great relationship with coach Keatts going back to high school. They're a really good coaching staff and had a great year. Them making it to the Final Four was great. We're gonna see where it goes, but I'm very interested in NC State."

Styles didn't waste much time, committing to the Wolfpack and becoming another major get for Keatts heading into the 2024-25 season. Now the Pack has an impressive all-around player at the wing spot and just a few more holes to fill this offseason.

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RALEIGH, N.C. -- NC State pulled out another dramatic win over No. 11 UNC Friday night, clinching the series with a 5-4 come-from-behind victory at Doak Field.

The Wolfpack (22-14, 12-8 ACC) rattled off four runs in the eighth inning after trailing for much of the evening. The Tar Heels (29-10, 14-6 ACC) mustered most of its offense early on with three home runs, but the Pack9 saved the best for last.

"We don't know what it is about it but we get going late," said Garrett Pennington. "Maybe not at the beginning but we get going late. We know we're never out of a fight. We’ve got a little bit of fight in us. Toward the end of the game, we’ve got a lot of fight in us."

Back-to-back singles by Josh Hogue and Alec Makarewicz sparked the Pack's eighth-inning rally before Brandon Butterworth -- less than 24 hours removed from a monumental walk-off home run in the series opener -- dashed home on a passed ball to score the go-ahead run.

CHAOS! Pack leads heading to the ninth!! pic.twitter.com/ifQl0t2oG2

— #Pack9 ?? (@NCStateBaseball) April 20, 2024

Jacob Dudan stepped onto the mound in the ninth tasked with protecting that 5-4 lead and he delivered.

Aided by a pair of flashy plays at second by fellow freshman Luke Nixon, Dudan clinched the series and his fifth save of the season by striking out star Tar Heel slugger Vance Honeycutt.

Electric night at #TheDoak ?? pic.twitter.com/h1DvIA3C9j

— #Pack9 ?? (@NCStateBaseball) April 20, 2024

"When I went in there it was immediate adrenaline," Dudan said. "Everyone on their feet. I can't explain it. Once I got two outs with Honeycutt and two strikes on him, I heard everyone get up on their feet, start clapping and screaming. I got the strikeout.

”I can't explain it. I've never been that excited in my life to get one strikeout."

Jaxon Lucas also played a key role in securing the win. The freshman reliever preceded Dudan in an extremely high-pressure scenario: Tar Heels stood on first and second with nobody out when Lucas entered the game in the seventh. Against the heart of the Carolina lineup, Lucas struck out Honeycutt, forced Casey Cook to fly out and shook off a Parks Harber walk to induce an inning-ending groundout against Alberto Osuna. Instead of allowing UNC to pull away, Lucas' pivotal seventh kept the Pack in striking distance.

"His last outings have been really good," said Elliott Avent. "As a matter of fact, he got the game ball tonight. I think everybody agreed in that room. He stopped things when things needed to be stopped. To give us a chance for Dudan to come in and do what he did, to give Luke Nixon the chance to make those two great plays in the ninth inning defensively, he was the one that settled it down."

Thanks to some clutch relief pitching and that pivotal eighth-inning rally, the Pack has a chance to break out the brooms in tomorrow's series finale. NC State last swept UNC in Chapel Hill prior to that magical run during the 2021 season and hasn't swept the Tar Heels at home since 2011.

Of course, this is the ACC. Sweeps are hard to come by no matter who you're playing. But with a series win in the books against the No. 11 team in the country after winning a series on the road against No. 2 Clemson last weekend, the Wolfpack rides plenty of momentum going into the home stretch of the regular season.

First pitch for tomorrow's series finale is set for 3 p.m. at the Doak.

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RALEIGH, N.C. -- NC State plays a crucial rivalry series this week, hosting No. 11 UNC in Doak Field for a Thursday-Friday-Saturday series.

The Wolfpack (20-14, 10-8 ACC) and Tar Heels (29-8, 14-4 ACC) both enter the series looking to reenter the win column after midweek losses. The red and white dropped a 12-inning battle with Campbell Tuesday while the Heels saw their 27-game home streak snapped in a 5-4 10-inning loss to No. 19 Coastal Carolina. With the ACC Tournament just over a month away, the Wolfpack hopes to seize the moment against a talented Tobacco Road foe.

UNC's potent lineup of power bats drives a lot of its success this season. The Tar Heels lead the ACC in home runs in conference play and rank third in slugging percentage, trailing second place Virginia Tech by a razor-thin three-point margin. Parks Harber leads the charge for that power surge, leading individual ACC batters with 10 homers in conference play. Harber's slashing a eye-popping .343/.410/.814 in ACC play, making him the main threat to do damage against NC State.

Vance Honeycutt also sits on the forefront of talented Tar Heel names, but the likely first rounder in the upcoming MLB Draft has struggled against ACC competition. Compared to his .303/.417/.655 slash line on the season, Honeycutt slashes .243/.341/.541 in conference play. His 26 strikeouts outpace his 18 hits in the ACC, fueling that dropoff. As is generally the formula against power bats like the Heels, generating swings and misses goes a long way towards success.

Sam Highfill takes the mound as Thursday's starter and the first man tasked with getting those swings and misses followed by Dominic Fritton on Friday. Last time Highfill threw at the Doak he logged a career high 10 strikeouts in a win against Notre Dame. Fritton enters the series hoping to build on his six strikeouts in 5.2 scoreless innings to beat then-No. 2 Clemson last weekend. The Wolfpack has not announced a Saturday starter as of Thursday morning, but whoever starts the series finale will hope to replicate that formula of swings and misses to great effect.

Highfill, Fritton and the notorious T.B.D. need longevity as well as quality on the bump in a quick turnaround against the Heels. A late rally to force Campbell into extras forced the Pack unexpectedly to burn a significant portion of its bullpen just two days before the series opener against its main rival. Five different Wolfpack relievers threw at least 20 pitches against the Fighting Camels, including major arms like Jacob Dudan and Derrick Smith. For NC State to hold off UNC in the latter innings, it needs lengthy outings from its starters to give the bullpen its best chance to finish things off.

Conversely, the Tar Heels trot out a probable rotation of Jason DeCaro, Shea Sprague and Aidan Haugh against the Pack9 bats. Kicking its bad habit of leaving runners on base will go a long way towards NC State keeping pace against UNC's pitching. The Wolfpack stranded 19 runners in that midweek loss to Campbell, the apex of a problem that's plagued the Pack most of the season. Entering a crucial stretch of the season, NC State needs to capitalize on its opportunities to find success against the Tar Heels.

On the bright side, those scoring opportunities are present thanks to more consistent production up and down the red and white lineup. Outside the usual suspects of Garrett Pennington and Alec Makarewicz, Eli Serrano enters the series swinging a hot bat. He's 6 for 17 at the plate with a home run and five RBIs in his last four games with some highlight-reel defense to boot. A-Mak, for his part, also keeps up his excellent production heading into the weekend. He's batting .500 in his last five games, going 11 for 22 with three home runs in and eight RBIs.

Entering the weekend with a deeper offense and a rotation on the rise, NC State hopes to turn around some recent struggles against the rival Heels. A fateful series sweep which sparked the Pack's 2021 College World Series run marks the last series win against UNC, but the Pack9 is a meager 1-7 against the Tar Heels since then. At a critical point in its 2024 campaign, NC State looks to turn back the clock a few years for a very important ACC series win.

First pitch in Thursday's series opener is set for 7 p.m. at Doak Field.

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