Tigers and Davidson looking to take advantage of postseason opportunity

Logan Davidson hopes the Tigers make some noise in Oxford

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Wed May 29 14:32:43 GMT-04:00 2019

CLEMSON – Baseball hasn’t changed much since the 1930s and the days of Hall of Famer Bob Feller. It’s still throwing, catching, hitting and running, and anything can happen on any given day.

Feller once said, “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is.”

For Clemson, a trip to Oxford for a Regional matchup with top-seeded Ole Miss, No. 2 see Illinois and No. 4 see Jacksonville State is its new opportunity.

The Tigers have had an up-and-down season, sweeping No. 14 seed North Carolina and taking three of four from seventh-seeded Louisville, while mixing in a nine-game losing streak and six losses to teams ranked worse than 100 in the RPI.

However, Friday is a new day and the 4 p.m matchup with the Illini is a new opportunity for Clemson and junior Logan Davidson.

"I think at the end of the day, the reason I came to Clemson is to play for Clemson baseball and win a championship and be with the team, help the team get a lot of wins," Davidson said Monday afternoon. "So there's no telling – it's kind of a weird thought, like no telling where I'm going to be over the next month. We're planning on obviously winning the Ole Miss regional, winning Supers and going to Omaha. That's what we're striving for. That's what we worked so hard for over the past couple years, and that's what I'm striving for.

"We were really looking forward to the opportunity. That's what we're happy about. We worked hard to get here. We're just going to take advantage of it."

During the last part of the season, Clemson won games at Georgia Tech and N.C. State and played a nearly perfect game against Louisville in the ACC Tournament – all wins that Davidson believes can serve as a springboard heading into this weekend’s Regional.

"Baseball is a game of momentum," Davidson said. "I think like you said, we went through a tough stretch. But I think over the past couple of weeks, we've really won some ballgames, won some big ballgames for us on the road and the ACC tournament, we beat Louisville who is one of the top teams in the country. So just taking that momentum into the rest of the post-season into Ole Miss is going to be big for us."

Despite having to go on the road and play in a hostile environment, it’s still baseball and anything can happen when a trip to Omaha is on the line.

"We're going to make sure everything's working good, make sure everybody's playing their best baseball," Davidson said. "Just going in with that momentum from the last couple of weeks, just taking the preparation daily. We're doing everything the best we can.

"Anything can happen. I think that's pretty much it. It's whoever's playing the best baseball. It's not necessarily the best teams. Whoever plays the best that game. Teams get hot. We've seen in the past, there's been tons of teams who weren't supposed to win that win it. Not saying that we're not supposed to, I'm just saying that anything could happen in postseason baseball."