Back to back series losses for the Tigers after not dropping an ACC series all season long. But not all is lost.
It really looked like the Tiger bats were starting to warm up this weekend. Yes, we would have liked Friday night to end differently, and I think if the home plate umpire had called the Florida State baserunner out at the plate initially, the call would have stood as it did because of the safe call.
Ifs and Buts help no one. The late Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis said it perfectly, this time of year for the Tigers, “Just Win Baby.”
And the Tigers have not done a lot of winning the last couple of weeks.
Clemson will have its last midweek game this week, with only two more conference series remaining on the regular season schedule. Plenty of time to right the ship.
The Tigers will take the trip over to Conway, South Carolina on Tuesday night to play the second of the “home and home” with the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers in a Top 10 matchup between the two in-state powers.
Coastal beat the Tigers at Doug Kingsmore 8-2 on March 25th.
The game starts Tuesday night at Springs Brooks Stadium at 6PM. The game is officially sold out.
Coastal Carolina comes into the series at 37-11 overall, 20-4 in the Sun Belt Conference and ranked as highly as #8 by Baseball America.
Clemson and Coastal have played 64 times all time, including the game in late March. Clemson leads the all-time series 51-13. That record includes Clemson winning 12 of 17 games in Conway.
Here is your preview of Clemson’s road midweek tilt against the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers.
Clemson Briefly
Clemson enters the midweek with 37 wins and 12 losses. 14-10 in the ACC.
The Tigers are hitting .272 as a team through 49 games (187th nationally).
As a team, the Tigers have 81 doubles (T-163rd), 8 triples (T-164th) and 57 home runs (T-79th).
On the mound, the Tigers pitching staff touts a 4.97 ERA (72nd nationally). The staff has struck out 454 batters over 425.1 innings for an average of 9.6 per 9 innings (35th) and walked 178 through 49 games which is still 3.8 per 9 innings.
Opponents are hitting .246 against the Tigers pitching staff, up from .235 last weekend.
Lucas Mahlstedt still leads the nation with 15 saves on the season.
Here is a look at the Coastal Carolina Chanticleers:
Coastal Carolina Chanticleers
Head Coach – Kevin Schnall (1st Season)
2025 Record: 37-11 (20-4 Sun Belt)
Wins: St. Joseph, Kansas State (x2), Washington, Ohio State, NC State, UNC-Wilmington (x2), Rutgers (x3), East Carolina (x2), Georgia Southern (x3), Campbell (x2), Troy, CLEMSON, Texas State (x2), Arkansas State (x2), Georgia State (x3), Marshall (x3), James Madison (x3), UNC-Greensboro, Appalachian State (x3)
Losses: College of Charleston (x2), Alabama, North Carolina, East Carolina, Wake Forest (x2), Troy (x2), Texas State, Arkansas State
Here are the probable starting lineup for Coastal Carolina and their 2025 stats to date:
Position Players:
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2025 Stats |
| Ty Dooley (3) | Senior | SS | .313; 8 2B, 5 HR, 33 RBI |
| Caden Bodine (17) | Junior | C | .324; 14 2B, 3 HR, 31 RBI |
| Walker Mitchell (5) | Sophomore | 3B | .301; 4 2B, 3B, 3 HR, 29 RBI, 11-14 SB |
| Dominico Tozzi (13) | Freshman | DH | .272; 7 2B, 6 HR, 35 RBI |
| Sebastian Alexander (1) | RS Senior | LF | .283; 5 2B, 3B, 8 HR, 40 RBI; 20-23 SB |
| Blake Barthol (7) | Junior | 2B | .263; 9 2B, 8 HR, 36 RBI; 10-13 SB |
| Blagen Pado (22) | Sophomore | RF | .234; 3 2B, 5 HR, 21 RBI |
| Colby Thorndyke (16) | RS Sophomore | 1B | .281; 10 2B, HR, 22 RBI; 6-6 SB |
| Wells Sykes (20) | Senior | CF | .273; 6 2B, 3 HR, 22 RBI; 9-10 SB |
| DOUBTFUL TO PLAY | |||
| Dean Mihos (8) | Junior | OF | .320; 11 2B, 2 HR, 18 RBI; 6-7 SB |
Offensively, the Chants are led by Junior catcher Caden Bodine. Hitting a team leading .324 with 14 doubles and 31 RBIs.
Redshirt Senior outfielder Sebastian Alexander is tied for the team lead along with Junior 2B Blake Barthol with 8 home runs. Alexander leads in two other categories RBIs (40) and stolen bases (20-23).
Sophomore outfielder Blagen Pado notched 4 RBIs in the game in late March against the Tigers. The Chants only had 5 hits in that ballgame, but scored 8 runs.
Coastal Carolina is hitting .281 as a team (135th nationally). They have hit 90 doubles (T-107th), 2 triples (T-291st) and 48 home runs as a team (T-138th).
Announced Starter for Coastal Carolina:
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2025 Stats |
| Luke Jones (45) | Freshman | RHP | 2-2; 3.50 ERA, 12 App, 7 Starts, 36 IP, 28 K, 17 BB; OppBA: .209 |
The Coastal pitching staff has a 3.47 staff ERA (41st nationally), having struck out 425 opponent hitters for an average of 9.3 per 9 innings (55th) while walking 153 or 3.3 per 9 innings.
The staff has given up 31 home runs as a staff through 48 games. Opponents are hitting .22 against the Chanticleer pitching staff.
The Chants will throw Freshman righty Luke Jones. Jones started that game in March at DKS and went 4 innings, allowing just 2 Clemson hits with 2 strikeouts and 2 walks. He did not allow a run in that outing.
Clemson has announced Junior righty Nathan Dvorsky as the mid-week starter. He is 4-0 with a 6.61 ERA on the season in 17 appearances. Dvorsky has pitched 16 ⅓ innings, with 21 strikeouts and 13 walks. Opponents are hitting .211 off of the junior.
Summary
My thoughts about the FSU series last weekend being a “must-win series” went out the window. The Tigers did drop a few spots in the polls but are still highly thought off nationally.
Coastal is having a heck of a season and are on the cusp of hosting yet another regional over there in Conway.
As we saw in March, Coastal is a really good team, deserving of their Top 10 ranking nationally.
The Tigers have two ACC series left (Duke and Pitt), both are winnable. They need to finish these last 7 games strong and that starts Tuesday night in Conway.
Clemson is going to have to have a good few innings by “opener” Nathan Dvorsky against this hard-nosed, well-coached Coastal squad on their home turf.
As always…
Go Tigers!
***Statistics Graphics credit: Marty Coleman***
