Clemson baseball: On deck – ACC Tournament

Clemson baseball finds some consistency headed into ACC Tournament.

The Clemson baseball team, fresh off a convincing sweep of Boston College over the weekend will travel to Charlotte, NC to compete in the ACC Tournament.  It wasn’t but a few weeks ago that entry into the conference tournament was seemingly a pipe dream.  With inconsistent play all-around, there were murmurs that the coaching staff was in trouble and the fate almost certainly sealed if the team did not qualify for the 12-team tournament.

Fast-forward a couple of weeks, and outside of a disappointing mid-week effort versus Coastal Carolina, this team has found some consistency and will be the 12th seed in the ACC Tournament.

https://twitter.com/ACCBaseball/status/1528398232946151424?s=20&t=48Du2gGoVdCV2PHBB0HF6A

The ACC Tournament starts Tuesday with a very weird pod play format.  4 pods of three teams each.  Round robin format for the three teams and then the best record qualifies for the semi-finals.  HOWEVER, if teams are tied with record in pool play, the highest seeded team moves on to the semi-finals.  So, to put it simply, Clemson needs to go 2-0 in pool play to make the semi-finals.  The semi-finals and finals are single elimination format.

Personally, I think this format stinks.  It is a huge disadvantage to the lower seeds, but apparently teams are able to maximize their pitching and therefore why the conference has gone to this format years ago.

Clemson, being the 12th and final seed in the tournament has drawn #1 Seeded Virginia Tech Hokies and the #8 Seed North Carolina Tar Heels.  If Clemson beats VT and loses to UNC, but VT beats UNC, all three teams will be 1-1 and Clemson will be third in the pod.  How does that make sense?  But I digress…  onto the previews of two teams Clemson has not seen yet this season.  Plus, a bonus section where we preview Clemson as well.

#8 Seed UNC Tar Heels

The Tigers will face the North Carolina Tar Heels first in pool play on Tuesday evening at 6:30 PM from Truist Field in Charlotte.

The Tar Heels come in as the #8 Seed in the tournament with a 34-19 record on the season and 15-15 in the ACC.

The Heels are led by 2nd year Head Coach Scott Forbes. 62-46 overall to this point in his head coaching career.

Sophomore heavy lineup with 4 of them in the projected starting 9, along with 1 freshman, two juniors, and a senior.

The Diamond Heels have 34 wins on the season.  They were against: Seton Hall (x3), Elon, East Carolina (x2), Longwood, Winthrop, Coastal Carolina (x3), Pitt (x3), VMI, Duke (x2), Appalachian State, UNC Wilmington, Virginia Tech, Louisville, Georgia Tech, Campbell, Liberty, Charlotte, NC State (x2), Gardner-Webb, Charleston Southern, Wake Forest (x2), and Florida State (x3).

Their 19 losses are by way of: East Carolina, Liberty, Duke, Miami (x3), Virginia Tech (x2), South Carolina, Louisville (x2), North Carolina A&T, Georgia Tech (x2), Virginia (x3), NC State and Wake Forest.

UNC is lead offensively by Freshman Center Fielder Vance Honeycutt.  He’s hitting just .275 on the season, but is second on the team with 17 home runs and leads the team in stolen bases with 28 of 31.  He adds 9 doubles and 4 triples to his impressive Freshman season.  The big bopper for the Heels is Sophomore Designated Hitter Alberto Osuna.  Hitting .271 on the season with 19 home runs and 53 RBIs.

The rest of the North Carolina lineup is as follows.  Batting Average/OPS (and notable stats in parentheses):

Right Field – Redshirt Junior – Angel Zarate – .346 BA/.922 OPS (16 2bs, 5 HRs, 4-6 SBs)

Third Base – Sophomore – Mac Horvath – .261/.955 (12 2bs, 16 HRs, 45 RBIs, 17-19 SBs)

Shortstop – Junior –  Danny Serretti – .369/.995 (14 2bs, 6 HRs)

First Base – Sophomore – Hunter Stokely .286/.771 (6 2bs, 2 HRs)

Left Field – Senior – Mikey Madej – .301/.813 (4 2bs, 2 HRs)

Catcher – Sophomore – Tomas Frick – .257/.680 (11 2bs)

Second Base – Sophomore – Colby Wilkerson – .143/.473

The Heels have scored 346 runs over the course of 53 games on the season for an average of 6.5 runs per game.

On the mound is anyone’s guess as the postseason starts.  However, the three recent weekend starters are good places to start as to possible starters for the game versus the Tigers Tuesday evening.  These names were the starters from the last series of the season versus Florida State.

Sophomore RHP – Max Carlson – 1-2 – 3.72 ERA – 55.2 IP, 68 Ks, 31 BBs, .221 b/avg.

Junior LHP – Brandon Schaeffer – 6-2 – 4.15 ERA- 73.2 IP, 52 Ks, 20 BBs, .300 b/avg.

Sophomore LHP – Will Sandy – 1-0 – 2.66 ERA – 20.1 IP, 13 Ks, 12 BBs, .197 b/avg.

The staff has allowed 264 runs on the season across those same 53 games for an impressive average of just under 5 runs a game.

This is a good match-up for the Tigers, as it is likely that ace Mack Anglin will get the ball in the opener.  The Heels can hit and have some good quality arms as well, but if the Tigers continue to hit (and get their needed rest), they can win.  In fact, I would predict a victory in this opener.

#1 Seed Virginia Tech Hokies

Virginia Tech comes into the ACC Tournament as the top seed after winning the Coastal division outright with an impressive 40-11 record overall and 19-9 in the conference.  Currently ranked as high as #3 in the country by multiple outlets.

https://twitter.com/HokiesBaseball/status/1528420431019098113?s=20&t=48Du2gGoVdCV2PHBB0HF6A

They are led by Head Coach John Szefc (pronounced – SHEFF) in his 5th year at the helm with a 165-112 overall record as of 5/22/22.

The Hokies have 40 wins on the season and they are against: UNC-Asheville (x3), Fordham (x3), High Point, Wright State (x2), East Carolina, Pitt (x2), Radford (x2), Notre Dame, VMI (x2), North Carolina (x2), Marshall, NC State (x2), Liberty (x2), Miami (x2), Boston College (x3), James Madison, Virginia (x2), Villanova (x2), Louisville (x2), Kansas State, and Duke (x3).

Their 11 losses are by way of: Wright State, Georgia Tech (x3), James Madison, Pitt, North Carolina, NC State, Miami, Virginia, and Louisville.

Outside of an early season surprising sweep at the hands of Georgia Tech, the Hokies won every series that they played on the season.  A very impressive feat for the highly touted team having a tremendous season.

VT is very sophomore heavy in their projected starting 9 with 6 of them, to go along with a freshman, a junior and a grad student.

The Hokies offense is extremely impressive.  6 of the regulars have double digit home run numbers and OPS numbers that are extremely impressive.  I would say that they are lead offensively by Sophomore left fielder Jack Hurley.  Hurley leads the team in average, hitting .383 with 23 doubles, 13 home runs and 48 RBIs.  He’s also 9-11 in stolen bases.  Junior leadoff hitter and right fielder Nick Biddison is hitting .336 on the year with 13 doubles and 8 home runs.  He leads the team with 17-20 stolen bases on the season.

The rest of the (impressive) projected lineup is as follows.  Batting Average/OPS (notable stats in parentheses):

Center Field – Sophomore –  Gavin Cross – .319 BA/1.021 OPS (13 2bs, 5 3bs, 13 HRs)

Shortstop – Sophomore – Tanner Schobel – .366/.1.138 (15 2bs, 16 HRS, 66 RBIs, 7-8 SBs)

Catcher – Sophomore – Cade Hunter – .335/1.095 (13 2bs, 15 HRs, 59 RBIs, 11-12 SBs)

Second Base – Graduate – Eduardo Malinowski – .274/.938 (12 2bs, 12 HRs, 6-7 SBs)

Designated Hitter – Sophomore – Carson Jones – .360/1.408 (5 HRs)

First Base – Sophomore – Lucan Donlon – .250/.697

Third Base – Freshman – Carson DeMartini – .333/1.083 (12 2bs, 13 HRs)

The Hokies have scored 429 runs over 51 games for an average of 8.4 runs per game.  They have also hit 104 home runs as a team for an average of over 2 a game.

On the mound for the Hokies are some extremely serviceable arms as well as a familiar name for Tiger fans.  These three were the last series vs. Duke weekend starters.

Sophomore – RHP – Griffin Green – 7-2 – 4.39 ERA – 69.2 IP; 58 Ks, 25 BBs, .283 b/avg.

Freshman – RHP – Drue Hackenberg – 10-1 – 2.44 ERA – 85 IP; 78 Ks, 15 BBs, .240 b/avg

Grad – RHP – Jordan Geber – 0-1 – 4.82 ERA – 28 IP; 34 Ks, 7 BBs, .274 b/avg.

The Hokies have given up 228 runs on the season across the same 51 games for an average of 4.5 runs per game.

This is a very good overall team.  They pitch well, they hit well, run the bases exceptionally and do not make a lot of errors in the field.  There is a reason this team is ranked in the top 5 of every poll in the country.

#12 Seed Clemson Tigers

The Tigers come into the ACC Tournament as the 12th and final seed at a record of 35 – 21 on the season, 13-16 in the ACC.

Lead by Head Coach Monte Lee in his 7th season with the Tigers.  A record of 242-134 while at the helm of our Clemson boys.

https://twitter.com/ClemsonBaseball/status/1528074427270942724?s=20&t=48Du2gGoVdCV2PHBB0HF6A

The Clemson Tigers have 35 wins on the season against: Indiana (x3), College of Charleston, Hartford (x3), USC Upstate (x2), South Carolina (x3), Michigan State, Northeastern (x2), Miami, Winthrop (x2), NC State, Georgia (x2), Wake Forest (x2), East Tennessee State, Florida State (x2), Presbyterian, Wofford, Georgia Tech (x3), Virginia, and Boston College (x3).

The Tigers 21 losses are by way of: Northeastern, Georgia State, Miami (x2), Coastal Carolina (x2), Pitt (x2), NC State (x2), Notre Dame (x3), Wake Forest, Florida State, Louisville (x3), College of Charleston and Virginia (x2).

Max Wagner’s incredible season continues in the ACC Tournament

The Tigers are led offensively by Golden Spikes nominee, Sophomore Third Baseman Max Wagner.  The Green Bay, Wisconsin native is hitting .379 on the season with 15 doubles and 26 home runs with an OPS of 1.373.  Those 26 home runs are currently 2nd all-time for single season home runs, as well as 2nd in the nation for this season.  Sophomore Second Baseman Blake Wright is hitting .352 with 9 doubles and 10 home runs on the season.  The Clearwater Central Catholic product is having a heck of a season to date.

The rest of the Clemson projected lineup is as follows, Batting Average/OPS (with notable stats in parentheses):

Shortstop – Junior – Benjamin Blackwell – .330 BA/.854 (9 2bs, 3 HRs, 4-5 SBs)

Right Field – Freshman – Will Taylor – .262/.740

Designated Hitter – Sophomore – Cooper Ingle – .353/.986 (13 2bs, 8 HRs, 44 RBIs)

Left Field – Junior – Tyler Corbitt – .289/.839 (7 2bs, 11 HRs, 40 RBIs)

First Base – Junior – Bryar Hawkins – .249/.802 (8 2bs, 9 HRs, 42 RBIs)

Center Field – Sophomore – Caden Grice – .247/.816 (10 2bs, 12 HRs, 6-7 SBs)

Catcher – Freshman – Reed Garris – .429/1.457

The Tigers have scored 432 runs on the season across 56 games for an average of 7.7 runs per game.

On the mound, the Tigers have had a consistent trio of late for the weekend staff.  They are:

Sophomore RHP – Mack Anglin – 6-5 – 4.11 ERA; 72.1 IP, 74 Ks, 48 BBs, .217 b/avg.

Sophomore LHP – Geoffrey Gilbert – 5-2 – 5.10 ERA; 42.1 IP, 51 Ks, 16 BBs, .245 b/avg.

Freshman RHP – Billy Barlow – 2-3 – 4.58 ERA; 55 IP, 54 Ks, 19 BBs, .242 b/avg.

The Tigers pitching staff has given up 293 runs over the same 56 games for an average of 5.2 runs per game.

This Tiger team has all but secured a spot in the NCAA tournament by their late season success (save the one game).  The latest projection has them going to Knoxville and the University of Tennessee regional.  I am sure that even the most novice of college baseball fan has heard about that team and its successes on the diamond this season.

I am hoping for a good showing at the ACC Tournament and then going somewhere to avoid Tennessee and see what happens.  I do not think this team has the pitching to make noise on the national scale, however, the bats have the ability to keep the Tigers in games and possibly win games they shouldn’t.

I think the Tigers finish the ACC Tournament 1-1 and do not move on in the tournament, but we will discuss the NCAA regional when (if) that comes.