Clemson Baseball: On Deck – Pitt Panthers

Due to inclement weather in the forecast, the Clemson vs. Pittsburgh baseball series has been pushed forward and includes a doubleheader on Friday and a single game Saturday.

This is uncharted territory for the Clemson Tiger baseball team this weekend as they travel for their first true road series against the Pittsburgh Panthers, whom are conversely playing in their first home series of the young season.

Pitt comes into the series with a 10-10 record overall and 1-5 in the ACC.

Clemson comes into the series 16-5 record overall and 1-2 in the ACC, coming off a mid-week split with Coastal Carolina and Winthrop.  The latter was a disappointing 16-7 loss; however, the Tigers managed to launch 5 home runs.  Those home runs seemed to wake the bats up for Wednesday’s tilt as the Tigers continued their hitting on their way to a 10-2 win.

The Panthers are led by Head Coach Mike Bell who is in his 4th season with the team.  Bell came to Pitt after a rather successful stint as the pitching coach for Florida State.

Pitt comes into the series on a  two game losing streak having lost their last series on the road versus Virginia Tech.

Pitt’s wins have been against: Canisius (x2), Lipscomb (x2), Bradley, Ohio State, Campbell, High Point, Bucknell, Virginia Tech.

They have losses against: Canisius (x2), Bradley, Army, UNC (x3), Youngstown State, and Virginia Tech (x2)

The Panthers have a record that is slightly deceiving and would lead Clemson fans to think that this should be a walk in the park series.  Looking at their numbers and being reminded about how great a start they had a season ago, this is a very good baseball team.  SHOULD the Tigers take 2 of 3?  I believe so.  But it could be a long series as the Panthers can flat out hit.

The team has 34 home runs on the year and 121 runs batted in through 20 games.

Pitt is led at the plate by first-baseman Bryce Hulett.  The senior from Lake Worth, Florida is hitting .388 on the season with an OPS of 1.121 with 4 HRs.

Junior Catcher Tatem Levins adds a ton of power for the Panthers leading the team with 8 home runs and 21 RBI.  He brings a .347 average with an OPS of 1.150

The rest of the Panthers regulars consist of:

Junior – Right fielder – Kyle Hess (.311 avg; 1.062 OPS; 6 HRs)

Junior – 3rd Baseman – Sky Duff (.306; .846; 1 HR)

Junior – Center fielder – Jack Anderson (.304; 1.011; 4 HRs)

Senior – Left fielder – Ron Washington Jr. (.280; .970; 4 HRs)

Senior – 2nd Baseman – Jeffrey Wehler (.279; .776;)

Junior – Shortstop – Brock Franks (.194; .796)

On the mound, the pitching staff has been good, not great.  A good word may be “serviceable.”  Projected starters for the weekend are:

Game 1:

Senior – Right Hander – Matt Gilbertson – 3.62 ERA over 27.1 Innings with 27 Ks and 9 BBs

Game 2:

Sophomore – Right Hander – Logan Evans – 4.50 ERA over 28 Innings with 25 Ks and 6 BBs

Game 3:

Junior – Right Hander – Billy Corcoran – 4.50 ERA over 30 Innings with 19 Ks and 4 BBs

(Note: Corcoran is 6’8”)

11 pitchers have more than 5 appearances on the season and have a team ERA of 5.79 over 20 games; 169.1 Innings with 166 Ks and 78 BBs as a staff.

This should be a good series for the Tigers, and they need to come up with at least 2 wins to get on a little bit of a winning streak going into next week’s slate of games.  If the bats continue on the momentum from the last game (or two with the long ball prowess from Tuesday night vs. Coastal Carolina), it should be enough.  The pitchers will be tasked to not give up the “free 90” and limit the long ball from this heavy hitting Panthers lineup.

Series Prediction: Clemson wins 2 out of 3