Clemson baseball: Opportunity knocks for Tigers in ACC Tournament

Clemson baseball learned it’s fate in the ACC Tournament on Sunday morning.

Clemson baseball, fresh off a sweep of Boston College to finish the regular season at 35-21 and 13-16 in the ACC learned which teams will be their pool-mates Saturday and when the games were scheduled on Sunday morning for the upcoming ACC Tournament.

The Tigers first game is against the North Carolina Tar Heels on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m.

The Tar Heels are 34-19 overall and 15-15 in the ACC, ranked 16th in RPI and are 16-16 against top 50 teams.

The challenge grows on Thursday at 6:30 as Clemson takes on the top seeded Virginia Tech Hokies, who are 40-11 overall, 19-9 in the ACC and ranked fourth nationally in RPI.

Clemson played neither team in the regular season.

As the lowest seeded team in the pool Clemson has to win both games to advance to the semi-finals scheduled for Saturday.

The tournament format is not a fan favorite, especially since teams can end up with the same record, but the team that lost the head to head could advance to the semi-finals.

For example, if Clemson beats Virginia Tech, but they both end up with 1-1 records, Tech would advance despite the Tigers head to head win and same records.

"If the teams are tied at the completion of pool play, the team with the highest seed in the respective pool will advance."

Despite wonky format, draw provides Tigers chance to improve resume

If they hope to earn at least an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament the Tigers likely need to win at least one of the two games.

Clemson is currently 30th in the RPI with the 14th toughest strength of schedule, going 13-16 against Quad 1, 4-4 against Quad 2, 11-1 vs. Quad 3 and 7-0 vs. Quad 4.

Despite the draw and less than optimal format, games against the number 16 and 4 RPI rated teams provides Clemson an opportunity to add to their resume.

Be sure to check out RubbingTheRock.com for Casey Cregan’s fantastic game previews and predictions on each game day!