Ethan Hyman/Raleigh News & Observer/Tribune News Service via Getty Images Bring on the Vols. NC State has added a high-profile opponent to its 2024 schedule. The Wolfpack will meet Tennessee in Charlotte for the Duke’s Mayo Classic game, which will be played on Sept. 7 of that year. Tennessee essentially replaces BYU on the 2024 schedule; State canceled a home-and-home with the Cougars that was to begin that season. Between this past Mayo Bowl and that debacle against South Carolina, Charlotte has not been terribly kind to the Wolfpack lately. And the last time State and Tennessee met—at the Georgia Dome in 2012—the Vols had their way with the Wolfpack. But this time’s gonna be different! NC State figures to be the underdog in the ‘24 matchup, unless Tennessee’s current trajectory happens to tank in the near term. The Volunteers are coming off an 11-2 campaign in 2022 that included a win over Alabama. (And a 17-point win over Clemson in the Orange Bowl.) The Pack opens the 2024 season at home against Western Carolina on Aug. 31, and also has a home game against Louisiana Tech that had been set for Sept. 7 but will have to be moved. That still leaves one more non-conference game to be added—one that will be a home game, and almost surely against a Group-of-Five opponent.

Photo by William Howard/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images The Diamond Heels picked up a win before the weather wreaked havoc on the weekend. After dropping their opening ACC series of the season, North Carolina bounced back during the mid-week, picking up some wins over Charlotte and High Point. That put them on a good footing ahead of a road trip for their conference matchup against Pitt. The series looked to be a very winnable on, with the Panthers sporting an under .500 record so far on the young season. Unfortunately, the weather had other plans. Friday/Saturday: UNC 17, Pitt 7 The weekend got off to the perfect start with a blowout win on Friday. The Panthers took an early lead by a first inning home run from CJ Funk. However, the Tar Heels answered back early and often after that. Carolina took a 3-1 lead in the second thanks to homers from Alberto Osuna and Johnny Castagnozzi. They added four more runs in the third with Mac Horvath and Tomas Frick each hitting a two-run homer. Pitt then rallied with four runs on their own in the bottom of the third, but UNC’s offense just kept on rolling. The Tar Heels scored eight total runs over the course of the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings, breaking the game open. Horvath with his second 2-homer game of the season!Carolina 9, Pitt 5 | B4 https://t.co/02pmfYuG1S pic.twitter.com/jNl1XXq08K— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) March 17, 2023 As that was happening, the weather started to interfere. After the fourth inning, the game went into a delay and wound up getting postponed to the following day. On Saturday, UNC’s offense kept chugging along, but they managed to leave Pitt in the dust thanks to a good pitching performance. Connor Bovair came in for the fifth inning when the game restarted and ended up putting in a heck of a display. He threw five no-hit innings, allowing just one walk while striking out eight batters. He was dominant, but did get some help at one point thanks to an impressive catch from Vance Honeycutt. Hello #SCTop10, we'd like to report a robbery in Pittsburgh https://t.co/VGx9srG2r2 pic.twitter.com/fVD7N5DGzi— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) March 18, 2023 In the end, UNC put up a bunch of runs and won the game by a football score of 17-7. Eight of the nine starters in the Tar Heels’ lineup recorded at least one hit, with Horvath, Casey Cook, and Colby Wilkerson each having three-hit games. Wilkerson and Horvath drove in five and four runs respectively, with Wilkerson falling just a double short of hitting for the cycle. However late in the game, the weather started to act up again. Yes that is snow here in the bottom of the ninth. pic.twitter.com/nEKZ2SHQI6— Carolina Baseball (@DiamondHeels) March 18, 2023 Saturday and Sunday: Games Cancelled That led to the second and third game of the series getting cancelled due to the weather. It’s unfortunate because considering the way the first game played out, it seems like it would’ve been a decent chance at some more victories. Despite all that, thanks to the mid-week wins and the single one they got over the Panthers, the Tar Heels did move in the right direction in the polls. In D1Baseball.com’s rankings, Carolina moved up three spots from #18 to #15. In the USA Today Coaches Poll, they went from #20 to #16. This week, the Heels are set to host North Carolina A&T in a mid-week game before they welcome Duke to town for a three-game set.

Photo by John Reid/NCAA Photos via Getty Images NC State announced Tuesday that it is discontinuing its rifle program at the end of the 2022-23 academic year, shuttering a sport is has sponsored since 1958. That decision probably has little to do with performance, since the program has been pretty good over the years and had an athlete compete in the Olympics not that long ago. In the final accounting, the, uh, accounting likely did the dictating. Rifle isn’t an ACC-sponsored sport, and there are fewer than two dozen NCAA rifle programs in existence. Additionally, because it’s a coed sport, cutting these scholarships likely has no impact on the school’s Title IX compliance. These were all probably contributing factors behind the decision. In the school’s release, Boo Corrigan said “it is no longer feasible” to “provide a top-level Division-I experience” for the program, which is just another way of saying “we’d rather invest these resources elsewhere.” That sucks for everyone involved with the program, obviously, though at least the school will be honoring all scholarships for their duration. Doing otherwise would have been cruel, especially since every single member of the team is from out of state.

When it was all said and done, the NC State fans represented in 2022-23, ranking 20th amongst Division-1 teams in Men’s Basketball attendance. The Wolfpack ranked 4th in the ACC, behind UNC, Syracuse, and Virginia. The post NC State Ranked in Top-25 in Men’s Basketball Attendance in 2022-23 appeared first on Pack Insider.