The Clemson Tigers baseball team won their midweek series against the Citadel getting right back on the winning side of things after tasting their first defeat at home to Notre Dame last Sunday.
The Tigers have yet another home series and the competition is definitely raised this weekend. Wake Forest and their extremely talented squad will invade Doug Kingsmore Stadium for a three-game set.
Friday’s game is at 6PM, Saturday at 2PM and Sunday will be at 3PM, weather permitting.
Wake Forest comes into DKS for the ACC series with a record of 18-4, 6-0 in the ACC.
Clemson and the Citadel have played 209 times across nearly 125 years. The Tigers have a 142-66-1 record all-time against the Deacons and are 72-26-1 at home.
Here is your preview of Clemson’s second ACC series with the Wake Forest Demon Deacons.
Clemson Briefly:
Clemson enters the weekend with 21 wins and 2 losses.
The Tigers are hitting .299 as a team through 21 games (67th nationally). They’re still led in that category by Jarren Purify who’s hitting .386.
Cam Cannarella upped his average, as he has hit his stride.
Josh Paino leads the team with 5 home runs.
As a team, the Tigers have 37 doubles, 5 triples and 25 home runs.
On the mound, the Tigers pitching staff touts a 3.71 ERA (31st nationally). The staff has struck out 244 batters and walked 80 through 23 games.
Opponents are hitting .202 against the Tigers pitching staff.
Here is a look at the Wake Forest Demon Deacons through 22 games of the season:
Wake Forest Demon Deacons
Head Coach – Tom Walter (16th Season)
2025 Record: 18-4
Wins: Long Island (x2), Marist (x2), St. John’s (x3), Elon, Princeton, Maryland, Appalachian State, Notre Dame (x3), Coastal Carolina, Miami (x3)
Losses: UNC-Greensboro, Maryland, Princeton, Liberty
Here are the probable starting lineup for Wake Forest and their 2025 stats:
Position Players:
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2024 Stats |
| Matt Scannell (26) | Grad. | RF | .313; 4 2B, 4 HR, 18 RBI |
| Marek Houston (7) | Jr. | SS | .414; 8 2B, 8 HR, 39 RBI; 11-11 SB |
| Ethan Conrad (23) | Jr. | CF | .372; 8 2B, 7 HR, 27 RBI; 4-5 SB |
| Jack Winnay (21) | Jr. | 1B | .325; 5 2B, 3B, 9 HR, 33 RBI; 5-5 SB |
| Kade Lewis (6) | Soph. | DH | .455; 8 2B, 6 HR, 31 RBI; 2-3 SB |
| Dalton Wentz (1) | Fr. | 3B | .352; 10 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI |
| Javar Williams (14) | Soph. | LF | .314; 2B, HR, 13 RBI; 6-6 SB |
| Jimmy Keenan (34) | Jr. | C | .214; 2 2B, 2 HR, 10 RBI; 2-2 SB |
| Antonio Morales (24) | Soph. | Util. | .224; 3 2B, 2 HR, 8 RBI |
| Austin Hawke (9) | Jr. | 2B | .250; 4 2B, HR, 7 RBI; 2-2 SB |
Offensively, the Deacons are led by Junior Shortstop and Pre-Season All American, Marek Houston. The highly touted prospect is hitting .414 with 8 home runs and 39 RBIs. He’s also a perfect 11-11 stealing bases. Three Deacs have over 30 RBI on the season (Kade Lewis, Houston, and Jack Winnay.
Wake has hit 45 homeruns in 22 games. Three hitters are closing in on 10 home runs on the season as well (Houston – 8; Winnay – 9, Ethan Conrad – 7)
The Deacs are hitting .329 as a team (12th nationally). They have hit 60 doubles, 1 triple and 45 home runs as a team.
Announced Starters for Wake Forest:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2025 Stats |
| Logan Lunceford (48) | Jr. | RHP | 4-0; 1.33 ERA; 27 IP, 50 K, 9 BB; OppBA: .110 |
| Matthew Dallas (10) | Soph. | LHP | 3-0; 3.74 ERA; 21.2 IP, 23 K, 11 BB; OppBA: .247 |
| Blake Morningstar (4) | Soph. | RHP | 3-0; 2.70 ERA; 23.1 IP, 30 K, 7 BB; OppBA: .202 |
The Wake Forest pitching staff owns a 3.68 staff ERA (29th nationally), have struck out 273 opponent hitters while walking 88. They have given up 13 home runs as a staff through those 22 games.
Clemson has announce Aidan Knaak on Friday, Ethan Darden on Saturday, but TBA on Sunday.
UPDATE: Clemson will throw Justin LeGuernic on Sunday.
SUMMARY
The first true test of the season since the opening weekend in Texas has arrived. Wake Forest, at 6-0 in the conference, has swept Notre Dame and Miami in successive weekends and comes in as one of the best hitting teams in the country.
Wake are no slouches on the mound either, led by their Friday night starter Logan Lunceford who already has 50 strikeouts in 5 starts, an average of 10/game.
The Tigers will be tested this weekend and will need Cannarella to lead him, along with many other guys at the dish. Pitching will need to hold up as well. I will be interested to see what Coach Bakich and Bellinger do on Sunday.
The bats are starting to come along, but yet this team can win in many different ways. Hoping the starters can eat up some innings and hand the ball over to the uber-capable bullpen.
Here we go!
As always…
Go Tigers!
