The Clemson Tigers took care of business in the Lowcountry this week, and it looked the way a good team expects it to look.
A 3-1 win over College of Charleston on Tuesday at Patriots Point set the tone. It was clean, controlled, and never really in doubt despite the close score.
The Tigers followed that up on Wednesday with a 9-3 win over The Citadel, handling a familiar face in Russell Triplett and putting together a pretty complete offensive performance to finish the trip 2-0.
That is what you want from midweek games in March. Show up, play steady baseball, pitch well and get back on the bus with two wins.
Now the focus shifts back to conference play, and it comes with a trip north.
Clemson heads to South Bend for a three-game Atlantic Coast Conference series with Notre Dame, a weekend that carries a little more weight as the calendar continues to move. ACC road series are never simple, and this one will ask Clemson to be sharp in all phases.
The Tigers bring a strong record into the weekend and have shown the ability to win in different ways. Pitching has been reliable, the lineup has produced throughout, and they have avoided letting one bad inning turn into something bigger. That consistency is what travels.
Notre Dame presents a different kind of challenge at home. It is a program that tends to play with structure, limit mistakes, and make opponents earn everything over the course of nine innings. Games like that can feel tight deep into the middle innings, which puts pressure on execution and decision making.
For Clemson, this weekend is about maintaining what it has already established. Keep the pitching steady. Continue to get contributions throughout the order. Stay clean defensively. If those pieces are there, the results usually follow.
It is also another opportunity to keep building a resume that already has the attention of people around the country. ACC series in March do not decide everything, but they start to shape how a season is viewed. And the Tigers schedule does not get easier going forward.
Clemson handled its work in the Lowcountry. Now it gets a chance to carry that same approach into a conference road series against a Notre Dame team that will not give anything away.
Clemson Briefly
Nate Savoie was the lone star in Tuesday nightโs game at Charleston. A ton of hard hit balls up and down the lineup, but it was Savoie that had all three RBIs on two mammoth home run blasts.
Jacob Jarrell had a 404 foot blast on Wednesday tying Savoie for the team lead with 9 home runs on the season.
Tyler Lichtenberger had 5 2-out RBIs in Wednesday nights game, a career high for the Tigers Sophomore shortstop.
Bryce Clavon, Luke Gaffney and Jarren Purify all added two hits for the Tigers on Wednesday night in Charleston.
Noah Samol was awesome in relief for the Tigers against Charleston. Brendon Bennett, Dane Moehler, Eston Simpson were all solid on Wednesday against the Citadel. The pitching staff continues to impress.
Clemson has announced their starters for the weekend and not much has changed. Aidan Knaak will go on Friday, followed by Michael Sharman on Saturday and Drew Titsworth getting the start Sunday.
Through 22 games, Clemson is hitting .304 as a team and has tallied 41 doubles, 1 triple and 31 home runs while scoring 150 runs, good for an average of 7.5 runs per game.
Here is a look at the Notre Dame Fighting Irish:
University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish
Location: South Bend, Indiana
Head Coach – Shawn Stiffler (4th Season @ ND)
2026 Record: 11-6 (3-3 ACC)
Wins: Florida Atlantic (x2), Indiana, Alabama A&M, Illinois-Chicago, Tennessee Tech, Eastern Michigan, Duke (x2), Queens, Louisville
Losses: Florida Atlantic, UCF, LSU, Duke, Louisville (x2)
The Notre Dame Fighting Irish enter their third ACC series at 11-6 overall and 3-3 in the ACC.
The Irish are hitting .310 as a team and have collected 26 doubles, 5 triples and 24 home runs in their first seventeen games. They average 9.4 runs per game.
The Irish are led offensively by Junior catcher Mark Quatrani who is hitting a team leading .441 with 2 doubles, 6 home runs and 23 runs batted in. Sophomore shortstop Noah Coy is hitting .357 with a double, two triples and a home run. Coy also leads the team in stolen bases with 4.
On the mound, the Notre Dame pitching staff carries a 4.91 ERA through seventeen games. The staff has struck out 149 batters and has issued only 64 walks, allowing opponents to hit .260.
Here are the probable starting lineup for Notre Dame and their 2026 season stats:
Position Players
| Name (#) | Year | Position | 2026 Stats |
| Drew Berkland (10) – Minnesota | Graduate | CF | .303; 5 2B, 2 HR, 13 RBI; 3-4 SB |
| Noah Coy (11) | Sophomore | SS | .357; 2B, 2 3B, HR, 16 RBI; 4-7 SB |
| Mark Quatrani (19) | Junior | C | .441; 2 2B, 3B, 6 HR, 23 RBI |
| Bino Watters (15) | Sophomore | LF | .295; 4 2B, 4 HR, 18 RBI |
| Parker Brzustewicz (22) | Sophomore | 1B | .284; 4 2B, 13 RBI |
| Jayce Lee (1) | Sophomore | RF | .338; 4 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 11 RBI |
| Davis Johnson (55) | Junior | DH | .267; 2B, 4 HR, 14 RBI |
| Mason Barth (3) | Freshman | 2B | .333; 2 2B, HR, 9 RBI |
| Jamie Zee (13) | Freshman | 3B | .241; 2 HR, 11 RBI |
Starting Pitchers
| NAME (#) | Year | Hand | 2026 Stats |
| Jack Radel (27) | Junior | RHP | 2-1; 2.77 ERA, 5 starts, 26 IP, 36 K, 6 BB; OppBA: .151 |
| Caden Crowell (7) | Freshman | LHP | 1-1; 6.10 ERA, 5 starts, 20.2 IP, 18 K, 12 BB; OppBA: .333 |
| Ty Uber (24) | Graduate | RHP | 3-0; 3.74 ERA, 5 starts, 21.2 IP, 17 K, 10 BB; OppBA: .205 |
Final Thoughts/Game Times
Clemson took care of business in the Lowcountry this week.
A 3-1 win over College of Charleston on Tuesday and a 9-3 win over The Citadel on Wednesday gave the Tigers exactly what they needed out of the midweek. Clean baseball, steady pitching, and two wins on the road.
Now the focus shifts back to ACC play.
Clemson heads to South Bend for a three-game series with Notre Dame, where things tend to get tighter over the course of a weekend. Road series in this league demand consistency, and the Tigers have shown they can handle that so far.
Game Times at Notre Dame are: Friday at 4:30PM, Saturday at 2PM and Sunday at 1PM.
Note: Only Friday is able to be streamed apparently.
The approach stays simple. Build off what worked this week and carry it into conference play.
Take care of Friday, and the rest of the weekend starts to fall into place.
Go Tigers!
