Whoa Nelly have we got a series for you. It is nearly impossible regardless of schedule for a team to be undefeated nearly 20 games into the college baseball season. Florida State will come into Doug Kingsmore Stadium at 19-0. In a weird twist of fate, the Noles, just this week, entered the national rankings.
Clemson finished off the “trap games” of the midweek disposing of Winthrop and Presbyterian in successive days by double digits to come in nearly just as hot as the Seminoles.
With forecasted bad weather for Friday night, the Clemson brass have moved the Friday tilt to Saturday where the teams will play a double-header before playing the third and final game of the series on Sunday.
Clemson Briefly:
Clemson is now 19-2, 2-1 in the ACC through the first third of the season. An impressive start for the club. According to the athletics department, it is the best start to a season since 2002 when they started 20-1.
Blake Wright has been a mainstay in this portion of the previews, but goodness he has been on fire the past few weeks. He added three home runs and 6 RBIs Wednesday night in Greenville against Presbyterian. He has 10 homers on the season and 28 RBIs. He’s slugging an eye-popping .733.
Alden Mathes impressed on Wednesday night with 2 no-doubt home runs of his own. Mathes has played stellar defense, showing off his arm and range, and has been solid at the dish all season as well.
Justin LeGuernic got his first start of his career on Wednesday night and went 2 innings striking out 5 and walking 3 across 10 batters. The true Freshman will continue to get opportunities if he can get a little more consistent throwing strikes. He certainly has the stuff to be great.
Opponent Preview:
Here is your look at the early season, huge ACC series with the Florida State Seminoles:
Florida State Seminoles
Head Coach – Link Jarrett (2nd Season; previous HC Notre Dame)
Record – 19-0 (3-0 ACC)
Wins against: Butler x2, Jacksonville, Western Carolina x3, South Florida, Michigan State, Illinois, Western Michigan, Florida Gulf Coast, New Orleans x3, Florida, Notre Dame x3, Stetson
Losses against: none
Pitching Match Ups:
Saturday @ 1PM: RHP Austin Gordon (Clemson) vs. RHP Cam Leiter (FSU)
Saturday @ ~5PM: LHP Tristan Smith (Clemson) vs. LHP Jamie Arnold (FSU)
Sunday @ 1PM: RHP Aidan Knaak (Clemson) vs. RHP Connor Whittaker (FSU)
No changes for either team from their respective weekend rotations. Austin Gordon has not looked like himself from a year ago, but battled hard last Friday night against Duke in a loss. Everyone knows he has the stuff to be the ace of this staff, and it is good to see Coach Bakich sending him back out there this weekend
Tristan Smith and Aidan Knaak have been tremendous for the Tigers in the early going. It would be hard pressed to find a better #2 and #3 starters in the country. And remember, Smith is just a sophomore, and even more impressive is that Knaak is a true freshman.
Florida State pitchers have been equally, or more impressive as the Tigers starters. FSU’s strength of schedule is in the upper 30s while Clemson’s sits at 13. So while maybe an argument can be made that Florida State’s opponents are lacking, being undefeated is extremely impressive at this point in the season.
Here is the projected starters for the Florida State Seminoles positionally, with their season stats as well:
Position Players:
| NAME (Jersey #) | GRADE | POSITION | ‘24 STATISTICS |
| DeAmez Ross (27) | Centerfield | Sophomore | .298; 3 2B, 3B, 12 RBI; 6-6 SB |
| Cam Smith (24) | 3rd Base | Sophomore | .476; 5 2B, 6 HR; 22 RBI |
| James Tibbs III (22) | Right Field | Junior | .387; 7 2B, 3B, 8 HR; 33 RBI |
| Jime Ferrer (7) | Left Field | Junior | .314; 2 2B, 2 3B, 7 HR; 19 RBI |
| Drew Faurot (3) | 2nd Base | Sophomore | .358; 13 2B, 3B, HR; 11 RBI |
| Marco Dinges (43) | DH | Sophomore | .302; 2B, 4 HR; 13 RBI |
| Daniel Cantu (32) | 1st Base | RS Senior | .385; 6 2B, 11 RBI |
| McGwire Holbrook (25) | Catcher | Senior | .394; 2 2B, HR; 10 RBI |
| Alex Lodise (1) | Shortstop | Sophomore | .304; 2B, 4 HR, 13 RBI |
Offensively, the Seminoles are hitting .356 as a team (2nd nationally), with 47 doubles, 9 triples, 32 home runs and have knocked in 169 runs. Florida State is 2nd nationally in batting average and it does not take a brilliant person to look at the batting averages from 1 through 9 to see those stats. Cam Smith leads the offense from the 2-hole with a gaudy average, 8th best in the nation with more at-bats than the 7 players ahead of him. Just a heck of a player. James Tibbs III is the power bat in the lineup with 8 homers for the Noles, while also knocking in 33 runs (T-11th nationally).
STARTING PITCHING
| NAME (Jersey #) | Year/Hand | ‘24 Statistics |
| Cam Leiter (30) | Sophomore/RHP | 4-0; 3.38 ERA; 26.2 IP, 41 K, 14 BB; OppBA: .212 |
| Jamie Arnold (16) | Sophomore/LHP | 5-0; 0.33 ERA, 27.2 IP, 44 K, 5 BB; OppBA: .184 |
| Connor Whittaker (13) | Junior/RHP | 3-0; 3.75 ERA, 24 IP, 26 K, 5 BB; OppBA: .205 |
Florida State’s weekend starters have unbelievably gaudy stats. Led by Sophomore New Jersey native with a famous last name Cam Leiter, who’s cousin Jack starred at Vanderbilt and now for the Texas Rangers. Two of his uncles played in the majors as well. The genes are strong in the Leiter family.
As good as Leiter has been, Saturday starter Sophomore Jamie Arnold is the nation’s leader in ERA through 19 games. The Tampa, Florida native has impressed in all five of his starts this season.
As a pitching staff, Florida State has a 2.79 ERA 2nd in the country through 19 games, while opponents are hitting .208 against the Seminoles. They’ve surrendered 35 2Bs, 5 3B, and 12 HRs as a staff.
SUMMARY
This cannot be emphasized enough. This is the biggest series of the season so far for the Tigers. And that’s saying something going into last weekend at Duke. Florida State’s statistics are better than Duke’s. Hopefully the weather won’t get in the way of this highly anticipated series against two great baseball programs.
Will Florida State suffer their first (second, or third) loss(es) on the season? We’ll have to wait and see, but one thing is for sure. This should be a doozy of a series.
Go Tigers!
