Looking towards tomorrow

No, that's not a poetic way of saying next basketball season. Tomorrow, (weather permitting) the NCSU baseball season begins! I was looking over the schedule and noticed a few things. Our first 49 games are either in the Carolinas or Virginia. Talk about a nice way to start the season! No road trip longer than a few hours each way. 33 of those 49 will be in Raleigh. 6 will be on neutral fields. So that leaves a mere 10 of those initial 49 games as true road games. Wow! Our 4th game is against Louisville who should be solidly in the top 25 by then. So, yeah, a statement game. Wed April 9th we host Coastal Carolina, who should again be a Top 25 team. I think they finished in the Top 20 last summer. After that we have one game against ECU who is a Top 40 team. UNC will be contending for a spotin the CWS this season, yet again. FSU, Clemson, and Miami are second tier (nationally) teams, one of them should make Omaha. All have the potential to make it to the Championship series. Virginia and GT wrap up the "locks" for the ACC this year. To recap: UNC, FSU, Clemson, Miami, UVa, and GT will all be playing this postseason. Western, Eastern, and Coastal Carolinas all have a chance to make some noise. NC STATE has an unbelievably kind schedule this year. At the end of those initial 49 games, I predict we should be 34-15. That will be needed because we end the season with a 3 game series at FSU and then travel back to Florida right after that for the ACC Tournament. This could be the best ACC baseball Tournament since J.D. Drew was at FSU. This is evidenced by the fact that the ACC led all Division I conferences with 11 total preseason All-American selections. The ACC also had the most representatives on the first team than any other conference. Final preseason prediction: 37-19 reg season, out in NCAA Regionals. Sorry, but we don't have the pitching we've had in recent years. We do have a legit ace in Eric Surkamp, but that's about it.