Clemson Baseball has ascended the rankings following their 2-1 series victory at Duke. The Tigers are now ranked 3rd overall, trailing only Alabama and Vanderbilt.
Now they must continue forward with a bigger target on their back as they begin another five-game week.
Clemson will start their week at home on Tuesday against the Winthrop Eagles. Winthrop is 8-10 overall and coming off a series win at home against Longwood.
The Tigers will then play a neutral field contest on Wednesday against Presbyterian at Flour Field in Greenville. The Blue Hose is 9-11 overall and coming off a series loss against George Washington. Clemson defeated Presbyterian 8-2 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on February 20th.
Clemson will have the day off before they face their ACC rival, the Florida State Seminoles, in a three-game series at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. FSU is ranked 7th by Baseball America.
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While the Seminoles are 18-0, they haven’t faced any major trials to date. They have only played two true road games at Florida and Jacksonville. Other than three neutral site games, their other victories have all come at home.
The game against Florida is their toughest opponent to date. The Gators are ranked 8th right behind the Seminoles.
Alden Mathes leads the team in hitting with a .333 among those with at least 50 at-bats, followed by Cam Cannarella and Jimmy Obertop. Blake Wright leads the team in RBIs with 19 on the season.
Tristan Smith (2.55 ERS) and Aidan Knaak (3.42 ERA) have both started five games for the Tigers.
Austin Gordon was the Friday starter for Clemson against Duke and is expected to start this series with the Seminoles as well. Smith and Knaak are expected to start on Saturday and Sunday, respectively.
Tuesday’s game against Winthrop will start at 6:00 PM and will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.