Rankings: Clemson holds on to spot in Baseball America rankings

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Mar 18, 2019, 9:02 AM

Clemson baseball's momentum from four-straight wins over ranked opponents stalled over the weekend, which meant a drop in the polls.

Monte Lee's Tigers dropped 2-of-3 to Notre Dame over the weekend, falling seven spots to No. 25 in the Baseball America poll and at least two to fall out of the D1Baseball rankings.

"One weekend after making a huge statement with a series sweep over North Carolina, Clemson dropped two out of three to a suddenly-hot Notre Dame team," Baseball America analyzed. "On Friday, defense betrayed the Tigers a bit, as the Irish scored three unearned runs in the second inning to jump out to a quick lead on the way to a 9-2 win. In the loss on Sunday, the Clemson offense simply wasn’t able to solve Notre Dame’s pitching, led by 7.1 quality innings from righthander Cameron Junker."

The bright spot of the weekend was sophomore lefty Mat Clark improving to 4-0 with a 1.64 ERA on Saturday, throwing seven shutout frames.

Preseason All-American candidate shortstop Logan Davidson leads the lineup with a .343 batting average, six home runs and 20 RBIs. Clemson's team batting average (.271) ranks 10th in the ACC, while placing third in home runs (27) and ninth in runs (127).

With the rash of errors over the weekend, Clemson dropped to seventh in the ACC in fielding percentage (.971).

The Tigers (14-5, 4-2 ACC) get back to action this week with two games versus College of Charleston, Tuesday in Clemson (4 p.m.) and 7 p.m. Wednesday in Columbia's Spirit Communications Park. They travel to Boston College (10-8, 2-4) for their first true road series this weekend.

Rankings

Baseball America: 25 (-7)

D1Baseball: NR (24 last week)

Collegiate Baseball: 20 (-8)

Other ACC rankings

D1Baseball: Louisville (4), NC State (6), UNC (16), Florida State (21).

Baseball America: NC State (6), UNC (8), Louisville (10), Florida State (21).