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Clemson Baseball: Tigers have huge series lurking vs. Louisville this weekend

By Shawn Spencer

OMAHA, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of baseball gear before game one of the College World Series Championship between the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Virginia Cavaliers on June 23, 2014 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images)
OMAHA, NE - JUNE 23: A general view of baseball gear before game one of the College World Series Championship between the Vanderbilt Commodores and the Virginia Cavaliers on June 23, 2014 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. (Photo by Peter Aiken/Getty Images) /
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The Clemson baseball team will host the Louisville Cardinals this weekend at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The series will prove to be a huge conference test for the Tigers.

After sweeping the Virginia Tech Hokies on the road and scoring a total of 32 runs over the course of the three-game series last weekend, the Clemson baseball team couldn’t get the bats going against the No. 4-ranked Georgia Bulldogs Tuesday night in Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Tigers suffered a 5-3 loss at the hands of the Bulldogs, falling to 22-7 overall.

Brooks Crawford struggled on the mound, tossing just 3 2/3 innings and giving up four runs on four hits and two walks for the Tigers.

Clemson will get a chance to redeem itself against Georgia in Athens later this season, but for now the Tigers must rebound and refocus with another solid opponent coming to town.

The Tigers, who are ranked No. 23 in D1 Baseball’s poll, will take on the Louisville Cardinals this weekend for a three-game ACC series. The Cardinals come into the matchup ranked No. 10 in the nation by the same poll and are playing good baseball.

Louisville (23-6) is on a six-game winning streak and is currently tied with Clemson in the latest ACC Standings.

Right now, both the Cardinals and the Tigers sit at 9-3 in the ACC. That’s good enough for second in the ACC Atlantic, one game behind NC State (10-2 in the ACC).

The winner of this series will sit solely in second place with their eyes on catching the Wolfpack. This series could potentially decide a regional host site, as well, depending on how things shape out over the course of the season.

Louisville has a stellar ace in Reid Detmers (4-1 record; 0.87 ERA) and a solid pitching staff. The Tigers will need to find a way to get the bats going and put some pressure on this Cardinal pitching rotation. It certainly won’t be an easy series and, right now, I would name Louisville as the favorite, but the Tigers certainly have the talent to come away with a couple of big wins at home this weekend.

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