Clemson Baseball Regional Preview vs. UNCG |
CLEMSON, S.C. - The Tigers host the Clemson Regional as the No. 1 seed with No. 2 seed Vanderbilt, No. 3 seed St. John's and No. 4 seed UNC Greensboro.
REGIONAL SETUP • Who - UNC Greensboro (35-22) vs. Clemson (39-19) • Rankings - NCG - NR; CU - No. 19 BA, No. 17 CB, No. 15 USA • When - Friday (7 p.m.) • Where - Clemson, S.C. (Doug Kingsmore Stadium) • Watch - ESPN3 • Video Announcers - Rusty Ensor, Roy Philpott • Listen - TigerCast, Clemson Tiger Sports Network • Live Stats - ClemsonTigers.com • Social Media - ClemsonBaseball • Tickets - ClemsonTigers.com, 1-800-CLEMSON SERIES HISTORY • Overall Record - Clemson leads 2-0 (2008) • Record at Clemson - Clemson leads 2-0 (2008) • Record in NCAA Tournament - 0-0 STARTING PITCHERS • LHP Bryce Hensley (NCG) vs. RHP Alex Eubanks (CU) CLEMSON OVERVIEW • Clemson lost both games in the ACC Tournament at Louisville, Ky., last week. • The Tigers are averaging 6.3 runs per game and hitting .286 with a .385 on-base percentage and 48 steals. • The pitching staff has a 3.53 ERA, .256 opponents’ batting average and 3.93 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Clemson is fielding .970. UNC GREENSBORO OVERVIEW • UNC Greensboro is led by fifth-year head coach Link Jarrett. • The Spartans won the SoCon Tournament at Fluor Field last weekend. They are hitting .325 and have a 5.02 ERA and .979 fielding percentage. • Caleb Webster is hitting .397, Andrew Moritz is batting .390 with 16 steals and Ben Spitznagel is hitting .362 with 12 steals. TIGERS IN THE CLEMSON REGIONAL • Clemson (39-19), the No. 1 seed, opens the Clemson Regional by playing No. 4 seed UNC Greensboro (35-22) on Friday at 7 p.m., on ESPN3. • The Tigers are the designated home team on Friday and will occupy the first-base dugout for all their Clemson Regional games. • The winner of Clemson’s game plays the winner of Friday’s game between No. 2 seed Vanderbilt (33-22-1) and No. 3 seed St. John's (42-11). • The winner of the Clemson Regional plays the winner of the Corvallis (Ore.) Regional from June 9-12. • Clemson won both meetings against UNC Greensboro (11-10, 6-5) in midweek home games in 2008. • Clemson is 2-1 vs. Vanderbilt. The Tigers, who played in the 2014 Nashville Regional, won on the road in 1984 and split home games in 1986. • Clemson is 5-1 vs. St. John's. The last meeting was a 3-2 Tiger win in the 2007 Myrtle Beach Regional. The only game at Clemson was in 1975. CORBIN, HAMPTON RETURN TO CLEMSON • Tim Corbin, now in his 15th year as head coach at Vanderbilt, was an assistant coach at Clemson for nine seasons (1994-02). • Corbin was on the staff of three College World Series teams (1995,96,00) at Clemson and helped the Tigers average 48 wins in nine years. • One of the players Corbin coached as an assistant at Clemson in 1994 was Mike Hampton, now in his 16th year as an assistant at St. John's. • Hampton hit .380 with 11 homers, 21 doubles, four triples, 70 RBIs, 84 runs and 39 steals as a first-team All-America third baseman in 1994. • Hampton, who played two seasons (1993,94) at Clemson and graduated in 1997, served as a Tiger volunteer assistant in 1999 alongside Corbin. • It is the first time Corbin (2002) and Hampton (1999) have coached a game at Doug Kingsmore Stadium since their final seasons at Clemson. CLEMSON REGIONAL STRONG • The four teams in the Clemson Regional have combined for 97 NCAA Tournament appearances (including 2017). • Clemson is making its 42nd appearance, followed by 36 by St. John's, 16 by Vanderbilt and three by UNC Greensboro. • The Clemson Regional’s 97 combined NCAA Tournament berths are third most of any regional, trailing Long Beach (113) and Fayetteville (109). • In both 2015 and 2016, Clemson played in a regional with the most combined appearances by the teams (2015 Fullerton, 2016 Clemson). TIGERS HOST REGIONAL FOR 15TH TIME • Clemson is hosting an NCAA regional for the 15th time in history in 2017. • The last time the Tigers hosted a regional was in 2016. From 1994 to 2011 (18 years), the Tigers hosted a regional 11 times. CLEMSON’S NCAA TOURNEY HISTORY • Clemson plays in its 42nd all-time NCAA regional when it competes in the 2017 Clemson Regional. • The 42 appearances are fifth most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (58), Florida State (55), Miami (Fla.) (45) and Oklahoma State (43). • Clemson has been to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1987 except one (2008), or 30 of the last 31 years (including 2017). • Clemson is one of only eight schools in the country to play in the NCAA Tournament each of the last nine seasons (including 2017). • The others are Cal State Fullerton, Florida, Florida State, Rice, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt and Virginia. • Clemson has made nine super regional appearances, with its last in 2010. • The Tigers have made 12 trips to the College World Series, with its last in 2010. • Clemson has a 115-89 record (.564) in NCAA Tournament games. QUICK HITS • A total of 14 Tigers have started at least 10 games in the batting order in 2017. • Clemson has only allowed 31 steals in 55 attempts. • Clemson is 31-6 when totaling at least as many hits as its opponent and 8-13 when getting outhit. WILKIE FILLING IN BEHIND THE PLATE • Freshman Kyle Wilkie has been forced into action at catcher late in the season due to the injury of Chris Williams. • Wilkie started the first three games of the season due to another injury suffered by Williams. • Wilkie has started 10 of the last 11 games at catcher. • He is hitting just .184, but has a .326 on-base percentage with a triple, four RBIs and three sacrifice bunts. • He threw out all three basestealers at second base against Duke in the ACC Tournament on May 23.
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