Tigers enter crucial May stretch after emotional win over Louisville

Jimmy Obertop won't be available for the opening game this weekend after an ejection in the series finale win over Louisville.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Tue Apr 30 13:15:04 GMT-04:00 2024

The calendar turns to May tomorrow, which means the ACC Baseball Tournament will begin three weeks from today in downtown Charlotte. That also means the stretch run is here for a Clemson baseball team coming off an emotional week.

The Tigers lost an extra-inning thriller to Georgia last Tuesday, completed yet another furious rally to defeat Louisville on Friday, lost a heartbreaker to Louisville on Saturday, and took a baseball bat to the Cards’ NCAA Tournament chances with a run-rule mercy killing on Sunday.

Clemson is ranked No. 4 in both the Baseball America and D1Baseball polls and sits fourth in the RPI rankings. The Tigers’ strength of schedule currently sits at No. 14, and a non-conference strength of schedule of 18 helps that cause. (Texas A&M, ranked No. 1, has an NCSOS of 118, while No. 2 Arkansas is 42, No. 3 Kentucky is 84, and No. 5 Tennessee is 146th). Clemson is also 11-4 in RPI Quadrant 1 games and 8-2 in Q2 games.

Clemson is in line to host and earn a top-eight national seed when the NCAA Tournament field is announced. The Tigers return to action Friday for the start of a three-game series against a Georgia Tech team that is 7-3 in its last ten games and has won each of its last four ACC series, against Pitt, Virginia Tech, Virginia, and Miami.

The Tigers will be without catcher/first baseman Jimmy Obertop in the series opener after he was ejected in the 7th inning of Sunday’s win over Louisville. The Cardinals’ Dylan Hoy homered against Clemson on Saturday, stood at the plate to watch his blast, flipped his bat, and made sure to talk to every Clemson infielder on his extremely slow trot around the bases.

Tempers were short on Sunday, but the Tigers came out focused and run-ruled the Cards by a 17-7 score in seven innings. Head coach Erik Bakich was pleased with the way his team bounced back.

“Proud of our team, proud of our response. Emotional loss yesterday for a lot of different reasons, but just more just kind of the way things happened. And our guys came out (Sunday) with just a look in their eyes that they were not going to be denied,” Bakich said. “And it's one thing to feel that way, and it's another thing to just come out and be in attack mode from the first pitch on, and the quality at-bats that we had, the scoring in multiple innings, that was just a heck of a response.

“We were the aggressor, and we needed to be because they've got a very good offense. Louisville has a very good offense, and they can score quickly. And there were moments (Sunday) where you could feel like they were on the verge of putting up some big innings, and they had the one four-spot, but our guys just kept their foot on the pedal and found a way to get 17 runs. And that was awesome. And a lot of big hits.”

Obertop flipped his bat toward the Louisville dugout following his mammoth three-run blast and was ejected by the umpire when he reached home plate. Under NCAA guidelines, Obertop has to sit out Friday’s opener.

The Tigers played four games on the road last week, but six of the final 11 are at home. The Tigers play three against Tech, then go on the road to take on Charlotte (one game), Wake Forest (three games), and Coastal Carolina (one game). They then finish the season with a three-game homestand against Boston College.

“So, it's tough to play on the road, tough to win on the road, but for us to come out of here with a series win, we will take it,” Bakich said. “So proud of our guys' effort and look forward to the games coming up.”