How NC State baseball’s new clubhouse, facility is set to impact the program

Trea Turner remembers the gray building down the right field line at Doak Field. The one-color structure, capped by a metal roof, housed NC State’s two hitting cages during his three-year career with the Wolfpack.  For a player that was obsessed with improving his game, eager to make it to the Big Leagues one day, the humble edifice was his setting to “grind.” But with it not being up to par with other programs around the state, Turner often had to find a time in the day that one was available for him to work on his craft inside the batter’s box.  Although it wasn’t the perfect set up, it more than paid off. Turner, who was an integral part of the Wolfpack’s run to the College World Series in 2013, went on to become a 2014 first-round pick by the San Diego Padres. Fast forward to now, and he’s a three-time All Star with a World Series ring playing in his 12th MLB season.  And, at the same time, NC State’s player development facility is much improved. The Wolfpack, after years of planning and construction, opened its new $20-million clubhouse, equipped with state-of-the-art hitting cages and a pitching lab in the past few weeks inside a pristine brick structure on the very ground its predecessor sat.  For Turner, whose name adorns the new hitting cages, this project was a long time coming. “I’m really glad that happened,” Turner told TheWolfpacker.com. “The program’s been so good for so long, but our facilities were pretty far behind some of the other schools, not only in our conference but even at some smaller levels.” That, however, has changed. NC State has a building that is on par — or better — with what is around college baseball. It’s a luxury the program, which has made two trips to Omaha in the last five years, waited to get its hands on.  And the Wolfpack couldn’t be more pleased with it.