Clemson NCAA Regional Team Capsules |
David Hood
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- Thursday, May 30 2024
The NCAA Clemson Regional begins Friday, and TigerNet examines the teams and players who will impact what happens this weekend.
The Tigers were selected to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 6 national seed and No. 1 seed in the Clemson (S.C.) Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers (41-14) face No. 4 seed High Point (34-25) in their opening game, while No. 2 seed Vanderbilt (38-21) and No. 3 seed Coastal Carolina (34-23) round out the regional field. It marks Clemson’s 46th NCAA Tournament appearance, the fifth most in the nation. Overall record: 41-14 Conference record: 20-10 Head coach: Erik Bakich (2nd season) FINAL RPI: No. 7 Best wins of the season: Clemson swept national seed Florida St. in spectacular fashion in late March, winning a laugher in the first game but coming from behind in each of the next two games to win the series. The Tigers took two of three at Duke early in the conference schedule and swept both games against South Carolina. Worst losses of the season: Clemson’s low point was a sweep at the hands of Wake Forest late in the season, but an early 18-1 loss to Kennesaw St. stands as the ultimate clunker of the season. Recent NCAA Tournament: We all know the history – Clemson hasn’t advanced out of a regional since 2010 and was bounced in its own regional last season. A loss in a thriller to Tennessee saw Cam Cannarella ejected, and without Cannarella the Tigers went through the motions in a 3-2 loss to Charlotte the next day. The Tigers have been eliminated in each of their last five regionals played at home at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. POSITION PLAYERS Team batting average: .298 (8th in ACC) Team home runs: 101 (6th in ACC) Team on-base percentage: .401 (9th in ACC) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 474 (5th in ACC)-281 (9th in ACC) Top position players: CF Cam Cannarella hit .342 with nine homers and 51 RBI. A shoulder injured early in the season limited him to no steals in just two attempts 3B Blake Wright hit .341 with 21 homers and 70 RBI. SS Jacob Hinderleider hit .316 with 13 homers and 55 RBI, and he collected nine steals in 10 attempts. C/1B Jimmy Obertop hit .310 with 19 homers and 53 RBI Defensively: Clemson was dead last in the ACC with 65 errors and a fielding percentage of .968. Ironically, the Tigers were tied for last with Louisville in both of those categories. PITCHING STAFF Team ERA: 4.53 (2nd in ACC) Team opposing batting average: .244 (3rd in ACC) Team walks: 220 (3rd in ACC) Team strikeouts: 513 (4th in ACC) Top pitchers: RHP Aidan Knaak was the Tigers’ top starter with a 4-1 record and 2.96 ERA in 73 innings pitched. He walked 26 and struck out 97. Ethan Darden went 5-4 with a 5.09 ERA, while Tristan Smith was 2-0 with a 4.17 ERA in 41 innings pitched. Billy Barlow threw the third-most innings on the team and was 6-1 with a 4.34 ERA. Austin Gordon leads the Tigers with ten saves. Vanderbilt is 38-21 on the season and has extended the longest active streak in D-I baseball to 18 consecutive NCAA Tournaments with Monday’s selection. The Dores went 3-1 at the SEC Tournament last week in Hoover, Alabama, with wins over Florida, top-ranked Tennessee and No. 15 Mississippi State to reach the semifinals for the fifth time since 2013. Overall record: 38-21 Conference record: 13-17 Head coach: Tim Corbin (22nd season) FINAL RPI: No. 20 Best wins of the season: The Commodores have wins over Texas (early March) and also have wins over Tennessee and Kentucky, the top two seeds in the NCAA Tournament. They were impressive in the SEC Tournament. Worst losses of the season: Not necessarily the worst losses, but this team didn’t play well on the road. Vanderbilt was 27-8 at home but just 4-12 on the road, and lost two of three at Kentucky and Tennessee, lost one of three at LSU, but were swept on the road by Texas A&M, South Carolina, and Georgia. Recent NCAA Tournament: Vanderbilt hosted last season and opened with a 12-2 win over Eastern Illinois but lost the next two – to Oregon and Xavier – to get knocked out of its own regional with just one win. In the Corvallis Regional two years ago, the Commodores dropped into the loser’s bracket on the first day with a 3-2 loss to San Diego. The Commodores ripped off three straight wins – 21-1 over New Mexico St., 14-4 over San Diego and 8-1 over host Oregon St. to force a Monday finale. The Beavers won that one 7-6. Vanderbilt advanced to the finals of the College World Series in 2021, losing two of three to Miss. St. POSITION PLAYERS Team batting average: .286 (sixth in SEC) Team home runs: 70 (13th in SEC) Team on-base percentage: .377 (12th in SEC) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 504 (6th in SEC)-226 (12th in SEC) Top position players: C Alan Espinal hit .285 with a team-best 12 homers, 47 RBI and three stolen bases in three attempts 2B RJ Austin hit .322 with 5 homers and 51 RBI and collected 27 steals in 32 attempts INF Jayden Davis hit .319 with two homers and 35 RBI SS Johnny Vastine hit 297 with ten homers and 42 RBI Defensively: Vanderbilt was eighth in the SEC with a fielding percentage of .978 and tied for sixth in the SEC with 46 errors. The Commodores were second in the league in turning double plays (38). PITCHING STAFF Team ERA: 4.99 (6th in SEC) Team opposing batting average: .241 (6th in SEC) Team walks: 223 (8th in SEC) Team strikeouts: 578 (5th in SEC) Top pitchers: Bryce Cunningham (7-4, 4.20 ERA, 31 walks, 94 strikeouts, 79 1/3 innings pitched) and Carter Holton (6-4, 5.29, 25 walks and 96 strikeouts, 68 innings pitched) are the top two starters in terms of innings, but JD Thompson has thrown 48 1/3 innings and fashioned a 5-1 record with a 2.98 ERA, while Devin Futrell has also thrown 48 1/3 innings with a 4-1 record and 5.41 ERA. Coastal Carolina is making the program's 20th NCAA Regional appearance this weekend, and the Chanticleers have made 19 NCAA Regionals under head coach Gary Gilmore, all since the NCAA went to 64 teams in 1999. This is Gilmore’s last season in Conway. Overall record: 34-23 Conference record: 16-14 Head coach: Gary Gilmore (28th season) FINAL RPI: No. 36 Best wins of the season: The Chants defeated Wake Forest 17-9 early in the season and defeated UNC 5-4 in Chapel Hill in mid-April. Worst losses of the season: The Chants allowed 66 runs during an eight-game losing streak late in the season, put together a five-game winning streak in late May and then lost its last two in the Sun Belt Tournament by an 11-3 total. Recent NCAA Tournament: While CCU has made just one College World Series appearance, the Chants made the best of it, going 6-2 overall and winning the 2016 National Championship. The Chants hosted last season and jumped into the loser’s bracket with an extra-innings loss to Rider in the opener. The Chants reeled off three in a row – over UNCW, Rider, and Duke, but lost 12-3 to Duke on Monday. The same thing happened in 2022 in the East Carolina Regional – the Chants lost the opener to Virginia, won three in a row over Coppin St., East Carolina, and Virginia, but lost to host East Carolina on Monday. POSITION PLAYERS Team batting average: .296 (3rd in Sun Belt) Team home runs: 82 (5th in Sun Belt) Team on-base percentage: .420 (2nd in Sun Belt) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 478 (4th in Sun Belt)-315 (2nd in Sun Belt) Top position players: 3B Sam Antonacci hit. 368 with an OPS of 1.014. He hit four homers and drove in 43, but is an on-base machine with an on-base percentage of .526 and stole a team-high 14 bases. RF Graham Brown hit .365 with 12 homers and 60 RBI, while catcher Caden Bodine hit .313 with seven homers and a team-leading 65 RBI. Zack Beach hit 16 homers to lead the team. Defensively: Coastal was third in the Sun Belt with just 51 errors and second in the league with a fielding percentage of .976. Here is another great stat – opposing teams attempted just 31 stolen bases against the Chants, and 15 of those were thrown out. PITCHING STAFF Team ERA: 5.95 (9th in Sun Belt) Team opposing batting average: .267 (5th in Sun Belt) Team walks: 220 (4th in Sun Belt) Team strikeouts: 486 (5th in Sun Belt) Top pitchers: Riley Eikhoff started 15 games and fashioned a 5-1 record with a 5.12 ERA. Cameron Flukey is the only other pitcher to start double-digit games (10), and he went 3-2 with a 5.77 ERA. Reliever Dominick Carbone appeared in 23 games and leads the team with six wins. High Point will make its first appearance in program history in the NCAA tournament on Friday, when it will face Clemson. Overall record: 34-25 Conference record: 17-7 Head coach: Joey Hammond (3rd season) FINAL RPI: No. 124 Best wins of the season: High Point won a game at Ole Miss early in the season for its only Quad 1 win. They also put up 25 runs at Richmond in March. Worst losses of the season: The worst loss of the season came in late April when UNCG run-ruled them 13-0 in seven innings. Recent NCAA Tournament: First NCAA Tournament appearance. POSITION PLAYERS Team batting average: .294 (2nd in Big South) Team home runs: 90 (2nd in Big South) Team on-base percentage: .407 (1st in Big South) Team strikeouts vs. walks: 423 (5th in Big South)-324 (1st in Big South) Top position players: The Panthers have three everyday players hitting above .300. Third baseman Cael Cheatham is the team’s best offensive player – he led the Panthers with a .314 average and had team-bests of 17 homers and 54 RBI. He also had more walks (48) than strikeouts (47). Catcher Eric Grintz hit .310 with 11 homers and 31 RBI, 1B Brayden Simpson hit .302 with 12 homers and 43 RBI, and SS Adam Stuart hit .297 with 11 homers and 47 RBI. Defensively: High Point led the Big South with a .977 fielding percentage and committed just 51 errors. They also turned a league-high 50 double plays and teams were successful just 70 percent of the time in stolen bases (27-47). PITCHING STAFF Team ERA: 6.08 (3rd in Big South) Team opposing batting average: .271 (3rd in Big South) Team walks: 279 (8th in Big South) Team strikeouts: 446 (4th in Big South) Top pitchers: The three weekend starters are Gus Hughes (6-4, 3.95 ERA in 95 2/3 innings pitched with 39 walks and 104 strikeouts; Matt Little (6-2, 4.31, 79 1/3, 20-54); and Brett Wozniak (8-2, 4.41, 81 2/3, 37-49). Weekend schedule (double elimination) May 31 2. Vandy v. 3. Coastal Carolina, noon EDT (ESPN2) 1. Clemson v. 4. High Point, 7 p.m. EDT (ACCN) June 1 Elimination bracket game, noon EDT (TV TBA) Winner's bracket game, 5 p.m. EDT (TV TBA) June 2 Elimination bracket game, noon EDT (TV TBA) Regional final game, 6 p.m. EDT (TV TBA) June 3 Regional final game (if needed/TV TBA)No. 1 CLEMSON TIGERS
No. 2 VANDERBILT COMMODORES
No. 3 COASTAL CAROLINA CHANTICLEERS
No. 4 HIGH POINT PANTHERS
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