The Clemson baseball team started the season last weekend in Arlington, Texas with mostly positive results and things starting to fall into place. There are definitely still some questions, but overall a great weekend for our Tigers.
Two big wins over Oklahoma State and Arizona respectively before being run-ruled by Ole Miss on Sunday. Getting run-ruled is never good, but a lot of arms got to throw in relief to give the staff and fans alike a look at what they have.
Depth will be key this season both at the plate and on the mound, and getting a look at a lot of guys will be beneficial in the long run.
This weekend, the Tigers welcome two teams into Doug Kingsmore Stadium; VCU and North Carolina A&T. They will play each team twice for four total games for our squad.
Here is your preview on both teams with projected lineups. (It’s still early in the season, so this will be best guess based on last weekend’s trends)
Clemson Briefly:
Clemson started the season with 2 wins and 1 loss in the Shriners Children’s Baseball Classic last weekend. (wins vs. Oklahoma State, Arizona; loss vs. Ole Miss)
Transfers were slotted right in and showed out. Josh Paino (Cal Baptist) shifted from his normal shortstop position to play third and showed off his glove numerous times…Luke Gaffney (Purdue) saved some of Paino’s likely throwing errors with his glove at first. Dom Listi (Indiana State) also showed off his glove in the field. All three, along with Collin Priest (Michigan) were key in the success over the weekend.
Friday/Saturday Pitching – it’s no real surprise that ace Aiden Knaak shined in his first start of the season. He did give up two long balls, but otherwise, he was completely in control in his 4 innings of work against Oklahoma State. Not to be outdone, Ethan Darden was even better than Knaak against Arizona yielding just two hits in 4 full innings of work.
Cam Being Cam – Some may say the Pre-Season All-American was pressing in the opener, but he came out day two and was himself. No Clemson fan needs to worry about Cannarella this year. He will be as dynamic as he’s been since stepping foot on campus.
Here is a look at the Two Opponents in the Clemson Baseball Invitational:
Game 1: 2/21 @ 4PM EST / Game 3: 2/22 @ 4PM EST
Virginia Commonwealth University
Head Coach – Sean Thompson (1st Season)
2025 Record: 1-3
Win: College of Charleston
Losses: College of Charleston (x2); Longwood
Here are the probable starting lineup for VCU and their 2025 stats:
Position Players:
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2024 Stats |
| Nick Flores (6) | Fr. | 2B | .267; 2B, HR, RBI |
| Danny Estrada (41) | Sr. | RF | .000 |
| Jacob Lee (37) | Fr. | C | .429; 2B, HR, 6 RBI |
| Collin Hughes (46) | Jr. | DH | .111; RBI |
| Sean Swenson (55) | Grad. | 1B | .250; 2 RBI |
| Seth Werchan (8) | Grad. | CF | .333; 2-4 SB |
| Nate Kirkpatrick (3) | Soph. | 3B | .214; HR, 2 RBI |
| Spencer Sullivan (17) | Jr. | LF | .250; 2 RBI |
| Nick April-Gath (4) | Fr. | SS | .333 |
Offensively, the Rams are led by two first year players in the early part of the season. Freshman 2nd Baseman Nick Flores has a double, home run and an RBI, along with classmate, Catcher Jacob Lee who leads the team with 6 RBIs.
PROBABLE Pitchers for VCU:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2024 Stats |
| Cade Dressler (43) | Sr. | LHP | 0-1; 9.00 ERA; 4 IP, 4 K, BB, OppBA: .294 |
| Brian Yetter (31) | Grad | RHP | 0-1; 11.57 ERA; 2.1 IP, 3 K, BB, OppBA: .364 |
The Friday starter for the Rams, Cade Dressler, has 28 appearances across three full seasons, all out of the bullpen. His first start of his career was last weekend, where he was roughed up a little bit, but was able to show many different pitches from the left side after settling in against College of Charleston.
Saturday will see Grad student Brian Yetter, who did not make it through his scheduled 4 innings only going 2 and a third. 3 to 1 strikeout to walk rate in a small sample size is a good start to the year.
Game 2: Saturday, 2/22 @ 12PM EST / Game 4: Sunday 2/23 @ 2PM EST
North Carolina A&T
Head Coach – Ben Hall (10th Season)
2025 Record: 2-0
Wins: Delaware State
Losses: None
Here is the projected starters for North Carolina A&T and their very early 2025 season statistics:
Position Players:
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2024 Stats |
| Enrique Wood (6) | Sr. | SS | .444; 2 2B, 2 RBI |
| Bruce Wyche (9) | Fr. | RF | .429; HR, 3 RBI, SB |
| Tyler Smith (6) | Fr. | C | .400; 3B, HR, 2 RBI, 1-2 SB |
| Luis Gomez (31) | Jr. | DH | .000 |
| AJ Jones (13) | Sr. | 3B | .571; 2 2B, 3B, 2 RBI, SB |
| JT Taylor (3) | RS Fr. | 2B | .571; 2B, 3 3B, 5 RBI |
| Jason Campo (38) | RS Soph | 1B | .333; 3 RBI |
| Andrew Tinsley (36) | Jr. | LF | .286; 2 RBI |
| Nick DiCarlo (8) | Jr. | CF | .125; 2B |
Offensively, the Aggies are led by Freshmen making their second weekend series starts. Redshirt Freshman JT Taylor had 3 triples last weekend in his first eight plate appearances of his collegiate career. He also added 5 RBI.
Freshman Catcher Tyler Smith added a triple, a home run, 2 runs batted in and a stolen base in his collegiate debut.
North Carolina A&T is coached by former Clemson fan favorite Ben Hall.
PROBABLE Pitchers for NC A&T:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2024 Stats |
| Angel Ortiz (7) | Sr. | RHP | 1-0; 3.60 ERA; 5 IP, 5 K, 2 BB, OppBA: .278 |
| Mekai Griffin (21) | Fr. | RHP | 0-0; 6.75 ERA; 1.1 IP, 3 K, 3 BB; OppBA: .429 |
North Carolina A&T, like Clemson, will throw their Friday and Saturday guys against Clemson. Angel Ortiz, the ace of the staff went 5 innings last weekend against Delaware State allowing only 2 runs.
Freshman Mekai Griffin was a little wild last Saturday, walking 3, but Coach Hall has confidence in the Freshman and will throw him out there against the hard-hitting Tigers in the weekends finale.
Summary
This is the first time I can remember that Clemson hosted one of these in-season invitationals. It’s great to get a feel as to what the team has. With all of the pitchers that are banged up or just working their way back to the rotation, it will stress the Tigers, who play 4 games over three days.
As a fan, it’ll be great to see the Tigers play 4 games. As far as the players go, let’s hope no further injury bugs hit Clemson.
“Baseball Happens” is a common phrase when teams that are seemingly over-matched come into DKS. I am expecting three wins this weekend and hoping for all 4.
As always…
Go Tigers!
