Clemson ACC Tournament preview |
CLEMSON, S.C. - The Tigers, who are the 2018 ACC regular-season co-champions, travel to the 45th ACC Tournament as the No. 2 seed at Durham, N.C.
TOURNAMENT SETUP • Who (Wednesday) - Clemson (43-13) vs. Notre Dame (24-28) • Who (Thursday) - Miami (Fla.) (27-25) vs. Clemson (43-13) • Best Rankings - UND - NR; MIA - NR; CU - No. 4 Collegiate Baseball, Perfect Game • When - Wednesday (3 p.m.), Thursday (7 p.m.) • Where - Durham, N.C. (Durham Bulls Athletic Park) • Watch - RSN, ACC Network Extra (subject to blackout) • Video Announcers - Wes Durham, Nick Green, Lyndsay Rowley • Listen (Radio) - WCCP (105.5 FM), ESPN Upstate • Listen (Internet) - ClemsonTigers.com, TuneIn • Live Stats - ClemsonTigers.com • Social Media - ClemsonBaseball SERIES HISTORY (NOTRE DAME) • Overall Record - Clemson leads 10-6 (1994-18) • Record at Neutral - 0-0 • Record in ACC Tournament - 0-0 SERIES HISTORY (MIAMI (FLA.) • Overall Record - Miami leads 40-29-1 (1977-18) • Record at Neutral - Miami leads 9-7 (1980-14) • Record in ACC Tournament - Clemson leads 3-2 (2005-14) STARTING PITCHERS • Wednesday - RHP Spencer Strider (CU - 5-1, 3.66) vs. LHP Cameron Brown (UND - 2-1, 5.43) • Thursday - TBA (MIA) vs. TBA (CU) CLEMSON OVERVIEW • Clemson, who has won 17 of its last 19 games and 12 of its 14 weekend series, swept Pittsburgh on the road last week. • The Tigers are averaging 6.3 runs per game and hitting .259 with a .376 on-base percentage and 48 steals. • The pitching staff has a 3.35 ERA, .232 opponents’ batting average and 2.32 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Clemson is fielding .975. NOTRE DAME OVERVIEW • Notre Dame is led by eighth-year head coach Mik Aoki. • The Fighting Irish were swept at Louisville last week. They are hitting .274 and have a 5.55 ERA and .974 fielding percentage. • Nick Podkul is hitting .321 with eight homers and 40 RBIs, while Matt Vierling is batting .317 with nine homers and 41 RBIs. MIAMI (FLA.) OVERVIEW • Miami is led by 25th-year head coach Jim Morris. • The Hurricanes have won 10 games in a row. They are hitting .257 and have a 3.70 ERA and .962 fielding percentage. • Danny Reyes is hitting .327, while Freddy Zamora is batting .310 with 20 steals. Romy Gonzalez has totaled 21 steals as well. QUICK HITS • The Tigers are 42-5 when scoring at least three runs, 37-3 when scoring at least four runs and 34-2 when scoring at least five runs. • Clemson outhit its opponent in only 14 of its first 37 games (26-11). In the last 19 games (17-2), Clemson has outhit the opponent 17 times. • Clemson reached the 40-win mark in the regular season for the first time since 2006, when it was also 43-13 during the regular season. TIGERS TO PLAY IN 45TH ACC TOURNEY • Clemson (43-13), the No. 2 seed, opens its ACC Tournament by playing No. 11 seed Notre Dame (24-28) on Wednesday at 3 p.m., on RSN. • The Tigers are the designated visiting team and occupy the first-base dugout on Wednesday. • The Tigers play No. 7 seed Miami (Fla.) (27-25) on Thursday at 7 p.m., on RSN. • Clemson is the designated home team and occupies the third-base dugout on Thursday. • The games are played at Durham (N.C.) Bulls Athletic Park. • It is the 11th time the ACC Baseball Tournament is held in Durham and first time since 2016, when Clemson won its 10th ACC Tourney title. • The 2018 tourney’s format has four three-team pools. The winner of each pool advances to a four-team, single-elimination tourney. • The format, in its second year, features four three-team pools that guarantees the 12 teams play a minimum of two games. • Pool A is comprised of No. 1 seed North Carolina, No. 8 seed Georgia Tech and No. 12 seed Pittsburgh. • Pool B is comprised of No. 2 seed Clemson, No. 7 seed Miami (Fla.) and No. 11 seed Notre Dame. • Pool C is comprised of No. 3 seed NC State, No. 6 seed Florida State and No. 10 seed Virginia. • Pool D is comprised of No. 4 seed Duke, No. 5 seed Louisville and No. 9 seed Wake Forest. • The ACC Championship Game is Sunday at noon on ESPN2, and the winner of the game receives an automatic bid into the 2018 NCAA Tournament. • All of Clemson’s ACC Tournament games are broadcast live on the radio by Clemson Tigers Network. • Live stats are available at ClemsonTigers.com for all Tiger games. CLEMSON’S ACC TOURNAMENT HISTORY • This is the 45th ACC Tournament, and Clemson has been to the finals in 22 of the previous 44 tournaments, nine more than any other school. • Clemson has won an ACC-high 10 ACC Tournament titles in history, including 2016, when it beat Florida State 18-13 in the title game. • Clemson’s 10 ACC Tournament titles came in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994, 2006 and 2016. • Clemson has a 110-70 record (.611) in ACC Tournament games. The Tigers are tied for the most All-ACC Tournament selections (60) in history. • Clemson is one of only two teams to play in all 45 ACC Tournaments. The Tigers join Virginia as the only teams to play in every ACC Tourney. • Only Florida State (65.5) has a better winning percentage than Clemson (61.1) in ACC Tournament play. • Clemson's 110 ACC Tournament wins are 25 more than any other team (NC State, 85). • The ACC Tournament began in 1973 and has been held every year but one (1979) since then. ACC REGULAR-SEASON CO-CHAMPIONS • Clemson (22-8) won 12 of its last 13 ACC regular-season games and tied for first in the overall ACC standings with North Carolina. • It marked the first time the Tigers at least shared the ACC regular-season title since 2006. • Clemson's 22 ACC regular-season wins were its most since 2006, when it was 24-6. • Clemson won its first ACC Atlantic Division title since 2010, when it shared the division title with Florida State with an 18-12 record. • It was the Tigers' first outright ACC Atlantic Division championship since 2006. • Clemson won eight of 10 ACC series. ROAD WARRIORS • Clemson has a 15-5 road record and had a 13-2 record in ACC road games, a big reason the Tigers had a 22-8 overall ACC record. • The Tigers won all five ACC road series for the first time in program history. • Clemson has won a school-record 11 ACC road games in a row, including sweeps at Wake Forest, Virginia and Pittsburgh. • The Tigers recorded three ACC road sweeps for the first time since 1995. SIX TIGERS NAMED TO ALL-ACC TEAM • Seth Beer (OF) and Ryley Gilliam (RP) earned First-Team All-ACC honors. It was the third time Beer was named All-ACC. • Gilliam became the first Tiger relief pitcher to earn First-Team All-ACC honors since 1998 (Scott Clackum). • Logan Davidson (SS) was a Second-Team All-ACC selection. • Grayson Byrd (DH/UT), Kyle Wilkie (C) and Chris Williams (1B) were Third-Team All-ACC picks. • Clemson’s six All-ACC selections tied for third most in the conference. • Spencer Strider (RP) earned All-ACC Freshman honors.
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