Clemson baseball: On deck – Notre Dame Fighting Irish

What a huge win for Clemson baseball this past Tuesday against the 10th ranked Georgia Bulldogs, fresh off of a series sweep of highly-rated Florida Gators.  Up next for the Tigers is the Notre Dame Fighting Irish in a three-game series in the cold…again.

Notre Dame is led by Third-Year Head Coach and 2021 D1 Baseball National Coach of the Year Link Jarrett.  The Irish took two out of three from the Tigers a season ago at Doug Kingsmore Stadium and it was their fundamental play and their all-around approach at the plate which left this viewer in awe.

Notre Dame led the country in fielding percentage a season ago, and I remember marvelling to friends and colleagues just how clean everything the Irish did during a game.  They were sure fielding, ran the bases well, played a bit of small ball and had some boppers as well.  They were as impressive to watch as it was hard to watch our Tigers get beaten soundly at their hands.

This season is different…or is it?

The Fighting Irish are coming into the weekend series versus the Tigers riding a five (5) game winning streak and 17-5 on the season.  This weekend will only be the 5th, 6th and 7th games at home for the team in green.  5-4 in the ACC as well.

The Irish have wins against: Manhattan, Stetson, Marist, Monmouth (x2), Illinois, Michigan State, Minnesota, Elon, NC State (x2), Valparaiso, Northern Illinois, Florida State (x3) and Butler

The five losses are to: Delaware, Louisville (x3) and Virginia Tech

I tend to write recently about the age of the teams the Tigers are going up against, because it was shocking at how young the NC State group was.  Georgia was slightly older, but this Notre Dame team may be the oldest team in the country.  One sophomore and one junior in the regular 9, and all the rest are seniors or graduates.  They do start a Freshman on the mound occasionally, but the two other known weekend starters are also graduates.  More on those guys in a bit.

Old guys know how to scrape and claw to win baseball games, and this Notre Dame team seems to be the prototype for that style.  Currently ranked as high as 12 by Baseball America and 6th in overall RPI.  This is a very sound baseball team the Tigers will face in frigid South Bend, Indiana.  They once again lead the country in fielding percentage with only 9 errors through 22 games.

The Irish are led on the offensive side by Senior First Baseman Carter Putz.  Putz is a name that Clemson fans should remember from the series a season ago as he led the attack with 6 hits over the weekend with multiple RBIs and his patience at the plate led him to getting three walks to the mix.  He was the guy that protected big bopper Niko Kavadas, who has since left Notre Dame by way of graduation.  This year Putz is hitting .366 with 4 big flys and 19 RBIs while his OPS is 1.048.

Another holdover (seemingly the entire roster save Kavadas) is Senior right fielder Brooks Coetzee who leads the Irish with 6 home runs and 21 RBIs while touting an OPS of .863.  Senior left fielder Ryan Cole leads the Irish with 10 stolen bases and has yet to be caught, while batting .329, 3 homers, with an OPS of .982.

The rest of the regulars looks as follows (with notable stats in parentheses):

Sophomore Center Fielder – TJ Williams – .279 BA/.756 OPS (3 2bs, 2 3bs)

Grad Second Baseman – Jared Miller – .279/.746 (5-7 in stolen base attempts)

Junior Third Baseman – Jack Branigan – .262/.857 (8 2bs; 4 HRs)

Graduate Catcher – David LaManna – .348/.817

Senior Shortstop – Zack Prajzner – .257/.694

Coach Jarrett has been known to mix-up his lineup as well as playing someone different at designated hitter every game.  Guys like Senior Jack Zyska, Grad Spencer Myers and RS Sophomore Nick Juaire are names that may be seen in the lineup throughout the weekend.

On the mound, the Irish are having a wonderful season by all of the metrics.  They are currently 11th nationally in team ERA with a gaudy 3.28.

The weekend staff is led by Grad Student, and former Furman Paladin, JM Bertrand who will take the ball Friday night.  Bertrand stifled the Tigers a season ago and will look to do the game.  Currently he is 4-0 with a 1.81 ERA through 7 starts and 44.2 Innings! ::INSERT EYES EMOJI::  51 strikeouts to only 12 walks and teams are hitting .212 against him.

Bertrand vs. Mack Anglin is set for Friday night and should be a good one, if Clemson continues to get a solid Anglin outing.  Anglin is currently 4-2 with a 3.86 ERA across 7 starts and 32.2 Innings.  He leads the team with 37 Ks and opponents are hitting .170 versus the Tigers ace.

For game 2, the Irish have announced that Grad Student Austin Temple will take the hill.  Temple is 2-0 on the season with a 3.29 ERA across 27.1 Innings, 5 starts and 7 total appearances.  He also is a high strikeout pitcher with 37 and opponents are hitting a paltry .159 against Temple.

Nick Hoffman will oppose Temple in game two.  Hoffman is 3-3 with a 5.29 ERA across 7 starts and adds 23 Ks.  Opponents are hitting .318 versus the Tiger #2 starter.

Game three is currently a TBA for the Irish, but looking at who has been starting for them the past few weekends, I would be willing to bet it will be either Senior lefthander Aidan Tyrell who is 4-0 across 5 starts and 27.1 Innings and 23 Ks, OR Freshman Jack Findlay who started last Saturday’s tilt versus Florida State in an opener type of role.

Tyrell was the pitcher that truly shut down Mississippi State in the Super Regionals last season.  A series that Notre Dame had every chance to win against the eventual National Champion Bulldogs.  Unless he is hurt (which my research came up inconclusive), I believe he will start Sunday.  And the TBA currently listed for Sunday starter leads me to believe he may be.

Notre Dame is once again a top ten team in the nation and are quickly becoming one of the best teams in a loaded Atlantic Coast Conference.  The 2021 Regular Season Champions have looked really good to start the year and have the makeup of yet another really sound team.  The cold weather will not do either team any good and I would hesitate to say that it is even an advantage for Notre Dame because the majority of their 22 games have been played in the south somewhere.  But if the Pittsburgh series was any indication, our boys in orange will not be big fans of the weather.

I do believe that the Tigers get a win in this series.  With the TBA and likelihood that it may NOT be Tyrell on Sunday, I believe the Tigers can get TWO wins on the weekend.  However, like my childhood team, the Miami Dolphins, couldn’t win in the cold.  I believe the Tigers will lose a game they shouldn’t and lose the series, unfortunately…AHHHH, can’t do it two weeks in a row.  I have faith…

Prediction: CLEMSON wins the series 2 games to 1