In his first year as head coach for Clemson baseball, Erik Bakich vastly surpassed expectations. At the beginning of April, Clemson was sitting at 16-13 and 2-8 in the ACC. The only question on people’s minds was, “Is Clemson even going to make the ACC Tournament?” Bakich’s squad then went on to win seven consecutive series, sweeping 4 of the last 5 ACC Series, and finishing the season at 39-17, 20-10 in ACC play, and on a 12-game win streak.
What changed in the middle of the season?
It’s obvious that when you have a first-year head coach and a completely brand-new coaching staff, there will be growing pains. Additionally, Clemson also dealt with the injury bug a bit early in the season. Ryan Ammons started off the season as the Friday starter and looked good early but had to miss the South Carolina series and a few starts after that. One of the projected best starters on this team, Billy Barlow, had only seen action in one game and threw just 2.0 innings. Clemson started to get healthier as the season progressed, and this team really started to gel.
What is Clemson baseball’s ceiling this year?
I believe that this Clemson baseball team has what it takes to make it to Omaha. When and if you get to Omaha, anything is possible, and it just takes everyone getting hot at the right time. Could Clemson baseball win the College World Series, is it possible, I don’t think this team is ready to take that big of a step just yet, but it wouldn’t completely shock me.
I do think that this team has what it takes to get past the Regionals and Super Regionals. The arms are by no means the best in the country, but with the run support that this lineup will be able to give them, I think they are plenty good enough to get through the first two rounds. According to the most recent D1baseball.com projections, Clemson was listed as a top 8 national seed, meaning that the road to Omaha would go through Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson finished the regular season at 24-10 in the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
What makes this lineup special?
The Clemson lineup has shown that it is more than capable of hitting the ball over the fence to score their runs, with Caden Grice (14 home runs) leading the way and Billy Amick adding 11 home runs as well. Blake Wright also has 7 home runs, and Cam Cannarella has added 5 round-trippers from the leadoff spot. Clemson can hit the long ball to score, but they certainly don’t rely on it. The Tigers have five players hitting over .300 on the season and carry a team batting average of .308 into the postseason. This team has shown the capability of manufacturing runs, especially with two outs. This team is showing that even when they get out, they know what they are doing; they are getting productive outs, and more often than not, they are able to scratch a few runs across when they need them the most.
So what should be expected?
As I mentioned earlier, this season Erik Bakich has vastly surpassed expectations and will be bringing postseason baseball back to Doug Kingsmore Stadium. I do expect this team to make a serious push to Omaha; however, everything this team does from this point on will be icing on the cake. I fully expect to have Regionals and Super Regionals in Clemson this year, and that will be a massive help for this team. Everyone keeps waiting for the other shoe to fall for this team and wondering if they’ve just gotten hot at the right time. I believe that this team isn’t simply “getting hot.” This team is just flat-out good, and we will have to wait and see just how good they really are.
