Trea Turner has been supporting his college team throughout the NCAA Tournament. That’ll continue this weekend.

WASHINGTON — Trea Turner met his wife, Kristen, at N.C. State. He was on the baseball team, and she was a gymnast. Since then, they’ve donated money to improve the school’s athletic facilities and become supporters of the V Foundation for Cancer Research, which was created in honor of longtime basketball coach Jim Valvano.

That said, it should come as no surprise that they’ve been following the men’s and women’s basketball teams closely over the past few weeks. This was easier to do in spring training. Most of the men’s games were at night, which didn’t overlap with Turner’s schedule. But now, with more Phillies games at night, it gets a little tricky.

“We’ve gotten lucky,” Turner said. “We’ve gotten a chance, I think, to watch every single game, for the most part. [Kristen] can’t believe it. She thought we were going to lose time and time again, kind of like everybody — it feels like it was unexpected. But they’ve earned it.”

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N.C. State’s men’s and women’s teams have reached the Final Four of this year’s NCAA Tournament. The women will take on undefeated South Carolina — and Philadelphia native Dawn Staley — on Friday night. The men will face Purdue on Saturday night.

“The women have been really good for a while now,” Turner said. “The men’s team has always been decent, but watching them play is fun. I think they have a really fun team and are playing well. If you truly watch the team — I know everyone is focusing on [DJ] Burns — but everyone around him is playing really good basketball.”

The men’s run, in particular, is reminiscent of Valvano’s 1983 team. Both teams had to win the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament to make the NCAA Tournament, and both reached the Final Four, to the surprise of many (the 1983 team ended up winning the national title).

N.C. State is an 11 seed. Defeating Purdue and either Alabama or Connecticut will be a tough task, but so was beating Houston and Hakeem Olajuwon in 1983.

“The game has definitely changed a lot, but they had to go through some good teams back then, but the run is very similar,” Turner said. “Everybody kind of counted them out, and they kind of came together at the right time and played really good basketball. I think that’s just sports in general. You have so much talent and you get the right team at the right time playing really well, and everything just clicks.

“I think Jim Valvano’s saying, ‘Never give up,’ all of those things that are associated with N.C. State, I feel like they ring true with this team.”

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Starter Taijuan Walker (right shoulder soreness) will throw batting practice Saturday at Nationals Park. … On Saturday, reliever Dylan Covey will pitch off a mound for the first time since he was placed on the 15-day injured list with a right shoulder strain. Covey and reliever Luis Ortiz (left ankle sprain) are in Clearwater, Fla. … Reliever Orion Kerkering (right forearm strain) had his rehab assignment transferred to single-A Clearwater on Friday. He will pitch one inning on Friday night, and then the Phillies will re-evaluate. He could be available as soon as Tuesday. ... During Friday’s game, the Phillies announced that they’ve acquired minor league infielder José Rodríguez from the White Sox for cash considerations. Rodriguez, 22, was optioned to double-A Reading. He has yet to make his big-league debut, batting .283/.323/.446 through five minor league seasons.