Clemson baseball – On Deck – USC Upstate Spartans

In Journalism school, teachers teach you not to put any of your own spin or thoughts into an article.  “Save that for an op-ed” some would say to young me all those years ago.  Well Clemson baseball fans, I have good news for you!

I am not a journalist one bit, nor was I a journalism major at Clemson (although it was my minor, but I digress).

I just love Clemson baseball and all things Clemson and am here to deliver the upcoming opponents for the baseball team, but WHAT IS GOING ON?!?!  Frustration is starting to set in on this baseball season as there are no real injuries to speak of to use as an excuse, but yet something is amiss.

Also thankfully for you wonderful readers, this is a space to learn about the upcoming opponents and not my opinion of the current three game losing streak by way of a series sweep at the hands of the Notre Dame Fighting Irish.

Notre Dame is a very good squad, and take nothing away from them, as I said in my preview, they may be, arguably, the best team Clemson plays this season.  But I truly thought if they could get to JM Bertrand and then the Sunday starter they could sneak in a game or two.  Heck, I predicted 2 out of 3 for the Tigers.  They couldn’t touch Bertrand for the 2nd year in a row and looked cold the rest of the weekend.

On to this mid-week game against our friends from Spartanburg County, the USC Upstate Spartans.  A team that destroyed the Tigers a season ago, and gave them all they wanted in an earlier game this season.  A Tigers victory 8-5.

The Spartans are led by 2nd Year Head Coach Mike McGuire.  They currently sit at 18-14 overall and 7-5 in the Big South Conference.  This is a team that is right in the hunt for a Big South Championship although they did just get swept by the Campbell Camels this past weekend in a battle of top seeds in the conference.

Losers of five (5) games in a row, do not let that fool you.  This is a veteran-laden team that has given Clemson fits the last few times out.  And this game is at a neutral site, Greenville’s Fluor Field.

USC Upstate’s wins are against: Ohio (x2), Western Carolina, Manhattan, Boston College, George Mason, Xavier, Citadel, Northern Kentucky (x2), Cincinnati, Presbyterian (x3) Radford (x2), and High Point (x2)

The Spartan’s 14 losses are to: Ohio, Clemson, Xavier (x2), Northern Kentucky, Georgia, Wofford, Radford, Kennesaw State, High Point, Georgia Tech, and Campbell (x3)

I won’t bore you with the fact that this Spartan team has a good deal of veteran leadership with some underclassmen sprinkled in just for fun.

Unofficial stat of the week: USC Upstate leads the nation in players named Noah with 3.

The Spartans are led offensively by 5th Year First-Baseman Devin Buckner, who is hitting .322 on the season (32 games) with 4 homeruns and 31 runs batted in.  Buckner touts a .937 OPS, and is also 4-6 in stolen bases.  He is the 2nd batter in the Spartan order and produces from that spot.  Upstate’s leadoff hitter, also a 5th year player, Right fielder Noah Myers is hitting .302 with an OPS of .876 with 3 long balls and is 17-18 in stolen base attempts this season.  He adds 7 doubles and 2 triples on the campaign.  Someone that Clemson is going to need to stay off of the bases to find success Tuesday night.

The rest of the projected lineup is as follows (with notable stats in parentheses):

Designated Hitter – Freshman Noah Sullivan – .336 BA (leads team)/.866 OPS (22 RBIs)

2nd Baseman – 5th Year – Cameron MacIntosh – .282/.790 (2 HRs, 25 RBIs)

Catcher – Freshman – Jace Rinehart – .375/.867 (2 triples; recent everyday starter)

Left Fielder – Redshirt Sophomore – Noah Rabon – .274/.752 (4 2bs, 2 3bs, 2 HRs, 30 RBIs)

Shortstop – Redshirt Sophomore – Troy Hamilton – .294/.786 (9 2bs, 4-6 SBs)

3rd Baseman – Freshman – Cole Caruso – .309/.712 (4 2bs)

Center Fielder – Redshirt Junior – Jack Hennessy – .257/.621 (3 2bs; 3-5 SBs)

On the mound for the Spartans is a bit of an enigma.  They have their normal weekend starters for the Big South Conference matchups, but Coach McGuire has mixed and matched his weekday starters throughout the year.

The beauty of projecting a weekend series starters for the Tigers is that the opponents usually post these a couple of days in advance and takes the guesswork out of it.  A lot tougher for midweek games, so I am going to guess here.  Educated guess, but a guess nonetheless.

I believe there are two options for Coach McGuire for Tuesday nights tilt in Greenville:

Redshirt Sophomore – Sawyer Worrell – 4.82 ERA across 18.2 innings with 17Ks and 8 BBs (5 starts)

Redshirt Freshman – Lukas Touma – 6.52 ERA across 9.2 innings with 6 Ks and 5 BBs (3 starts)

McGuire has used an opener in most of the mid-week contests, and therefore I believe he will employ the same versus the Tigers with Worrell and Touma being the most likely to take the ball first.  Worrell started in that game at Doug Kingsmore Stadium March 1st and only lasted 0.2 innings while giving up 3 hits and 4 runs.  Gun to head, I would say that Touma gets the opening nod.

The Spartans are a good baseball team and will be a force in the Big South Conference.  They have some really nice pieces and arms as well.  This team will run (46-56 in stolen base attempts) and take extra bases.

The Spartans average 6.9 Runs per game while allowing 6.9 runs per game.  The Tigers are averaging 7.25 runs per game while allowing 4.8 runs per game.

Both teams are on a multiple game losing streak, with the Spartans losers of five straight and the Tigers losers of three straight.  My predictions have not been good the last two weeks, after bragging about how good they were previous to that.

Freshman Tiger hurler Billy Barlow will likely take the mound for the Tigers and he threw a tremendous game versus the Georgia Bulldogs a week ago.  I believe the Tigers will utilize the long ball again in this game and manage to pull out the mid-week victory over our in-state foe.

Prediction – Clemson 8 – USC Upstate – 3