It really does stink when the Tigers lose a game like they did on Saturday afternoon, 18-2. Most games Clemson baseball plays, even if they go down there is a feeling that comeback is imminent. That Saturday afternoon game did not elicit that same feeling. Georgia Tech jumped on the Tigers early and there was no looking back.
All of that to say, Georgia Tech is a load. They are a heck of a ball club, playing for a skipper that just announced his retirement at the end of the season. Oh yeah, they also have one of (if not) THE best players in the country in Drew Burress.
And yet, the Tigers won yet another series against a Top 25 program, and a hungry one at that.
Just last week in this space I talked about Coach Leggett’s speech to the team about resiliency. After losing so handily Saturday afternoon, the Tigers were able to flush it and come out 45 minutes later and put together another quality win (and a comeback at that!)
Clemson took 2 of 3 games from the Yellow Jackets over the weekend, a team that can flat-out hit.
There were some really good things that happened over the weekend, and then some glaring things that weren’t so good.
Here are some things that we learned in this weekend’s series recap with Georgia Tech:
The Great
BJ Bailey – This first spot is usually reserved for Aidan Knaak. Don’t worry, he’s in this group as well, but BJ Bailey was outstanding when the Tigers needed him most. The Sunday starter role has been a bit of an enigma through the first five plus weeks of the season. Bailey put his stamp on that role against that potent Yellow Jacket lineup. 6.2 Innings pitched (and he was pissed that they were taking him out), 4 hits, 1 run, 8 strikeouts. As Coach Bakich said postgame, “BJ Bailey has cemented himself into a weekend starter role with this performance”
Aidan Knaak – Ho hum, just another good start by a top 10 arm in all of college baseball. Knaak did give up 5 runs through 5 innings, but managed to keep his team in it by limiting the big innings and walked only 1.
Closers(?) – How good was Lucas Mahlstedt on Friday night? That’s kind of a rhetorical question, but his statistics also can answer the question. 3.1 innings pitched, 3 hits, 3 strikeouts. He did allow a run, which, for him is odd, but he was dynamite with his frisbee slider to never give the Jackets a chance to come back. Reed Garris on Sunday was great again as well. He did allow the home run to All-American Drew Burress, but settled down in the 9th to snuff out another Tech comeback.
Jacob Jarrell – Friday night’s hero. The steady backstop for the Tigers added two home runs to put the game mostly out of reach.
The Good
Collin Priest – Priest broke out a little bit over the weekend adding two mammoth home runs, including one to tie game 3 back up after the Yellow Jackets took a one-run lead in the bottom of the 8th. We have been waiting for Priest to get going, and it felt like with every at-bat over the weekend, we are starting to see it!
Fight – This team fights. I could not put my finger on it, but we definitely felt like after that game Friday night that the Jackets would respond in a big way in game 2, and the did. But this team fights like crazy to let the results of one game go, and get back to playing Clemson baseball.
The ‘Meh’
Saturday Afternoon – Yuck. Just yuck. All the way around. At-bats were not good early. Ethan Darden got roughed up again. I am wondering if maybe a switch to Sunday would do the lefty some good. I still believe Darden is a quality pitcher, as evidence by his early season success. Not sure if the “book” is out on him in the scouting world, if he’s tipping pitches or what, but something is just off with the junior. Knaak, Bailey, Darden is a good weekend rotation…yes, in that order. We will see what happens.
Overall Grade
C+ – I’m going with a C-plus because I thought Knaak was great on Friday but got hit around a little bit more than the last few weeks. Saturday afternoon was a big yikes, and then Saturday evening was exceptional all the way around. Therefore we land somewhere in the middle.
The Tigers are 26-\5 (6-3 ACC) on the season, and are ranked in the top 10 in all major polls this week.
Next up are a mid-week game this week against Georgia Southern on Tuesday in North Augusta, South Carolina followed by a series with the University of California out in Berkeley, California. Tuesday’s start is 6:30PM EST, while the weekend series out west will be: Friday at 9PM, Saturday at 5PM and Sunday 4PM EST respectively.
Go Tigers!
