Clemson Baseball is ranked #7 in the most recent polls by D1baseball.com and listed as the #7 overall seed for their projections for the Postseason on the road to Omaha. If that were to hold serve then we would be getting Regional and potential Super Regional games in Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Erik Bakich’s first season was off to a rough start and almost everyone was wondering if the Tigers would even make the ACC tournament after Wake Forest came into Doug Kingsmore Stadium and swept the Tigers. Clemson was sitting at 2-8 in ACC play and 16-13 overall. Since that point, the Tigers ball club has gone 20-4 including two wins against #8 Coastal Carolina, a series win against #22 Boston College (#11 at the time), and three ACC series sweeps against NC State, Louisville, and Virginia Tech respectively.
Clemson Weekend Pitching Rotation
Friday Starter Ethan Darden
Clemson baseball is getting it all figured out at the right time and maybe the biggest part of that has been due to not only getting healthy but also settling the weekend rotation down and locking in three guys who have pitched well for the Tigers. Ethan Darden has been a very solid and reliable pitcher on Friday nights for the Tigers with 16 appearances, a 5.44 ERA, and a 3-2 record. Darden has given up 51 hits and 32 runs but teams are just hitting .267 off of the freshman left-hander.
Saturday Starter Austin Gordon
Austin Gordon has settled into the Saturday starting role with 13 appearances, a 4.72 ERA with opponents hitting just .261 off of him. He has really started to blossom in this role as of late with his last start going 5.0 innings and giving up 4 runs against a very potent Virginia Tech offense also adding 4 strikeouts and only allowing one free pass.
Sunday Starter Caden Grice
Caden Grice has truly shined in the Sunday role and given Clemson a true “ace” on Sundays. Caden has the best ERA of all of the Tiger’s weekend starters at 3.60, opponents are hitting .204 against the veteran left-hander and Grice has 73 total strikeouts and only allowing 29 walks.
Road To Omaha and The College World Series
Clemson is seemingly a lock to host at least a regional but if they are able to take two of three from North Carolina this weekend they would be in prime position to grab one of the top 8 national seeds. North Carolina is fresh off of a three-game sweep at home against NC State. North Carolina will come into Doug Kingsmore Stadium looking to improve their seeding and possibly jump up to the top of the ACC Coastal Standings where only two games separate them and the #1 team Virginia.
If the season were to end today then Clemson would be the #3 seed in the ACC Tournament and be paired up with #6 and #10 seeds. If Clemson makes it out of pool play and advances to the semifinals they would almost certainly be a lock for a top 8 national seed. Clemson has not made the postseason since 2019 in the Oxford Regional. Clemson has not hosted a Regional tournament since 2018 when the Tigers lost at home to Vanderbilt and failed to move past Regional play. It finally looks like we will have postseason baseball back at Doug Kingsmore this year and this team deserves it, and all of the support from the fan base.
There are a lot of things looking up for this baseball program under the helm of Erik Bakich but they have to take care of business at home this weekend against North Carolina. Clemson is still hot and has a great shot to continue to improve their resume with a series against a very good North Carolina ball club. Make sure you get out to Doug Kingsmore this weekend to support this team and keep it locked on clemsonsportsmedia.com for all of your Clemson baseball information.
