The beer garden is up and running, and Coach Bakich is expecting a “rowdy crowd” this weekend for the Tigers Baseball team’s ACC series against Stanford.
It has been a good week already, after sweeping Cal on the west coast and then battling a game Gardner-Webb team in the midweek.
The Tigers will continue their current home stand with three games against Stanford.
Friday and Saturday night’s game will start at 6PM EST, while the finale on Sunday will start at 3PM EST.
Stanford comes into the series at 18-12, 5-10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference in their first season in the conference.
Clemson and the Cardinal have only played 2 times all time, both were in Omaha during the College World Series. Stanford has won both of those games.
Here is your preview of Clemson’s weekend series against the Stanford Cardinal.
Clemson Briefly:
Clemson enters the weekend with 31 wins and 5 losses. 9-3 in the ACC.
The Tigers are hitting .278 as a team through 35 games (143rd nationally).
As a team, the Tigers have 53 doubles (T-186th), 6 triples (T-135th) and 40 home runs (T-73rd).
On the mound, the Tigers pitching staff touts a 4.44 ERA (45th nationally). The staff has struck out 349 batters over 302 innings for an average of 10.4 per 9 innings (23rd) and walked 135 through 35 games.
Opponents are hitting .225 against the Tigers pitching staff.
Here is a look at the Stanford Cardinal:
Stanford Cardinal
Head Coach – David Esquer (8th Season)
2025 Record: 18-12 (5-10 ACC)
Wins: Cal State Fullerton (x4), Washington (x4), Xavier (x2), North Carolina (x2), Duke (x3), San Jose State, Santa Clara, UC-Davis
Losses: Xavier (x2), North Carolina, Cal (x3), Virginia (x3), Georgia Tech (x3)
Here are the probable starting lineup, plus some extras for Stanford and their 2025 stats:
Position Players:
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2025 Stats |
| Trevor Haskins (5) | Sr. | 3B | .333; 6 2B, 9 HR, 29 RBI |
| Cort MacDonald (22) | Jr. | DH | .138; 3 RBI |
| Rintaro Sasaki (3) | Fr. | 1B | .280; 3 2B, 4 HR, 25 RBI |
| Jimmy Nati (6) | Jr. | 2B | .322; 6 2B, 8 HR, 25 RBI |
| Charlie Saum (21) | Sr. | C | .245; 5 2B, 4 HR, 15 RBI |
| Temo Becerra (2) | Sr. | SS | .371; 6 2B, 2 3B, 20 RBI |
| Ethan Hott (13) | Jr. | CF | .341; 2 2B, 2 HR, 11 RBI |
| Tatum Marsh (4) | Fr. | LF | .371; 7 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 17 RBI |
| Names To Know | |||
| Brandon Larson (16) | Jr. | DH | .292; 2 2B, 2 HR, 13 RBI |
| Luke Lavin (11) | Soph | DH | .318; HR, 4 RBI |
| Brady Reynolds (27) | Soph | OF | .357; 6 2B, 7 HR, 23 RBI |
***Reynolds was a starter for most of the season. He may return to the starting lineup this weekend.
Offensively, the Cardinal are multi-faceted but do have some boppers on the team. They are led by leadoff hitter, Senior 3rd Baseman Trevor Haskins with 9 home runs on the season. Junior 2nd Baseman Jimmy Nati follows closely with 8.
Becerra and Marsh are both hitting .371 on the season. Five of the regulars are all hitting over .300. Reynolds holds a 1.081 OPS.
Leadoff hitter Haskins leads the team with 29 runs batted in.
Rintaro Sasaki was rated as the best high school player in Japan, and was named preseason National Freshman of the Year in multiple publications.
The Cardinal are hitting .307 as a team (40th nationally). They have hit 47 doubles (T-237th), 7 triples (T-106th) and 39 home runs as a team (T-85th).
Stanford is not known to steal a lot of bases, having only swiped 8 in 23 attempts.
Expected Starters for Stanford:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2025 Stats |
| Joey Volchko (19) | Soph. | RHP | 2-1; 7.49 ERA, 8 App, 33.2 IP, 32 K, 16 BB, OppBA: .286 |
| Ryan Sheshyock (30) | Soph. | RHP | 1-0; 3.52 ERA, 11 App, 15.1 IP, 22 K, 7 BB; OppBA: .196 |
| Matt Scott (28) | Jr. | RHP | 4-2; 5.30 ERA, 8 App, 37.1 IP, 37 K, 15 BB; OppBA: .288 |
The Stanford pitching staff owns a 6.13 staff ERA (159th nationally), having struck out 267 opponent hitters for an average of 9.0 per 9 innings (92nd) while walking 120 or 4.1 per 9 innings. They have given up only 24 home runs as a staff through 30 games.
Clemson has not announced starters as of Thursday evening. However, I would fully expect Sophomore ace Aidan Knaak on Friday night, followed by Ethan Darden on Saturday and BJ Bailey to round out the weekend. No need to tinker with what was phenomenal outings by the starting pitchers last weekend.
SUMMARY
The Cardinal will travel across the country again for a conference series. The first meeting as ACC foes for the two teams.
Stanford has had some troubles of late in ACC series, having been swept by Cal, Virginia and Georgia Tech in successive weekends.
The Stanford bats will likely keep them in games during this series. They have a potent lineup 1 through 9 and it will take similar outings from Clemson pitching to stop the Stanford big innings, which they have been known to have in a lot of their games.
The two teams do have two common opponents so far this season; California and Georgia Tech. Clemson is 5-1 in those games while Stanford is 0-6 against the same opponents.
Get out to Doug Kingsmore, grab a beverage and have a great night at the best ballpark in all of college baseball!
As always…
Go Tigers!
***Statistics Graphics Courtesy of Marty Coleman @seldomusedres on X***
