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Jun 01, 2023

Tigers Begin Clemson Regional Play On Friday

By: Brian Hennessy

Notes (PDF)

The Tigers are playing in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2019 and hosting an NCAA Regional for the first time since 2018.


REGIONAL SETUP
Who – Lipscomb (36-24) vs. Clemson (43-17)
Best Ranking – LIP – NR; CU – No. 3 Collegiate Baseball, D1Baseball
When – Friday (1 p.m.)
Where – Clemson, S.C. (Doug Kingsmore Stadium)
Watch – ESPN+
Video Announcers – Tom Hart, Kyle Peterson
Listen (Radio) – Clemson Athletic Network (locally on WCCP (105.5 FM))
Listen (Internet) – ClemsonTigers.com
Live Stats – ClemsonTigers.com
Social Media – ClemsonBaseball
Tickets – ClemsonTigers.com, 1-800-CLEMSON


SERIES HISTORY
Overall Record – 0-0


STARTING PITCHERS
• LHP Logan Van Treeck (LIP) vs. RHP Austin Gordon (CU)


CLEMSON OVERVIEW
• Clemson, who has a 24-10 home record, won the ACC Tournament title with a 4-0 record last week.
• The Tigers are averaging 7.5 runs per game and hitting .308 with a .470 slugging percentage, .403 on-base percentage and 97 steals.
• The pitching staff has a 4.33 ERA, .250 opponents’ batting average and 2.37 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Clemson is fielding .978.


LIPSCOMB OVERVIEW
• Lipscomb, who has a 14-15 road record and is averaging 6.8 runs per game, is led by 17th-year Head Coach Jeff Forehand.
• The Bisons won the ASUN Conference Tourney title with a 3-2 record. They are hitting .257 and have a 5.06 ERA and .969 fielding percentage.
• Trace Willhoite is hitting .311 with 17 homers and 65 RBIs, Austin Kelly is batting .302 with 21 homers and Hayden Frank has four saves.


TIGERS IN THE CLEMSON REGIONAL
• Clemson (43-17), the No. 1 seed, opens the Clemson Regional by playing No. 4 seed Lipscomb (36-24) on Friday at 1 p.m. on ESPN+.
• The Tigers are the designated home team during Friday’s game.
• The winner of Clemson’s game plays the winner of the game between No. 2 seed Tennessee (38-19) and No. 3 seed Charlotte (34-26).
• The Tigers occupy the first-base dugout for all their games in the Clemson Regional.
• Clemson is the No. 4 national seed, its first top-eight national seed since 2016 and fifth overall (2000,02,06,16).
• The winner of the Clemson Regional plays the winner of the Auburn (Ala.) Regional from June 9-12.
• Clemson and Lipscomb have never met.
• Clemson is 23-11 against Tennessee, with the last meeting in 1997. The Tigers lead 14-3 at Clemson and 12-2 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
• Clemson is 1-1 in the NCAA Tourney vs. Tennessee, a 3-1 Vol win in the 1995 CWS and a 12-5 Tiger win in the 1996 NCAA Regional at Clemson.
• Clemson and Tennessee split a home-and-home season series, with the home team winning each game, in its most-recent meetings in 1997.
• Clemson has a 14-3 record against Charlotte in a series that began in 1985. The Tigers are 9-2 in games played at Clemson.
• The Tigers downed Charlotte 9-5 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Feb. 21, 2023, as Clemson broke a 5-5 tie with four runs in the seventh inning.
• Charlotte Associate Head Coach Toby Bicknell was Clemson’s volunteer assistant coach in 2007 and 2008.


CLEMSON REGIONAL STRONG
• The four teams in the Clemson Regional have combined for 68 NCAA Tourney appearances (including 2023).
• Clemson is making its 45th appearance, followed by 13 by Tennessee, seven by Charlotte and three by Lipscomb
• In both 2015 and 2016, Clemson played in a regional with the most combined appearances by the teams (2015 Fullerton, 2016 Clemson).
• The 2017 Clemson Regional featured the third-most combined appearances, while the 2018 Clemson Regional was tied for third most.


TIGERS HOST REGIONAL FOR 17TH TIME
• Clemson is hosting an NCAA regional for the 17th time in history in 2023.
• Clemson last hosted a regional in 2018. From 1994 to 2011 (18 years), the Tigers hosted 11 times.


CLEMSON’S NCAA TOURNEY HISTORY
• The Tigers play in their 45th all-time NCAA regional when it competes in the 2023 Clemson Regional.
• The 45 appearances are fifth most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (62), Florida State (59), Miami (Fla.) (49) and Oklahoma State (48).
• Clemson’s last NCAA Tournament appearance came in 2019.
• Clemson has made nine super regional appearances, with its last in 2010 by winning the Auburn Regional.
• The Tigers have made 12 trips to the College World Series, with its last in 2010.
• Clemson has a 121-95 record (.560) in NCAA Tournament games.


QUICK HITS
• Clemson has 23 come-from-behind wins among its 43 overall victories.
• Clemson’s bullpen has a 27-9 record, 16 saves, a 4.00 ERA, .258 opponents’ batting average and 291 strikeouts in 279.0 innings pitched.
• Clemson is 34-7 when outhitting its opponents and 16-1 when hitting multiple homers.


ACC TOURNAMENT CHAMPION
• Clemson won the ACC Tourney title with a 4-0 record, wins over Virginia Tech, No. 19 Boston College, North Carolina and No. 8 Miami (Fla.).
• It was Clemson’s first ACC Tournament title since 2016 and 11th overall, most among ACC teams.
• Clemson claimed its 16th ACC championship overall, as it won five ACC regular-season titles before the ACC Tourney began in the 1973 season.
• Clemson outscored the opposition 39-15 in the four games.
• Clemson hit .310 with six doubles, three triples, seven homers, a .538 slugging percentage, .420 on-base percentage and 13 steals.
• Clemson committed only one error in four games, good for a .993 fielding percentage.
• The pitching staff had a 3.50 ERA, .216 opponents’ batting average and 42 strikeouts against 16 walks in 36.0 innings pitched.
• Caden Grice was named ACC Tourney MVP by going 7-for-19 (.368) with two homers, nine RBIs and 7.0 strong innings to earn a win on the mound.
• Cooper Ingle earned All-ACC Tournament honors by going 7-for-17 (.412) with a double, RBI and six runs.
• Riley Bertram earned All-ACC Tourney honors by going 6-for-15 with a homer, six RBIs, five runs and a Tiger ACC Tourney record six steals.
• Cam Cannarella earned All-ACC Tournament honors by going 5-for-17 (.294) with a homer, two triples, a double, four RBIs and six runs.


WINNING STREAK
• Clemson has won 16 games in a row. Its last loss was a 3-1 defeat in the second game of a doubleheader at No. 11 Boston College on April 28.
• The 16-game winning streak is sixth longest in school history and its longest since winning 17 games in a row in the second half of 2006.
• The 16-game winning streak is the second-longest active streak in the country, trailing on Oral Roberts (18).
• The 16-game winning streak is tied for the third longest in the nation in 2023.
• Clemson is hitting .339 with a .525 slugging percentage, .434 on-base percentage and 33 steals during its 16-game winning streak.
• Clemson is averaging 8.9 runs per game, outscoring the opposition 142-65 during the winning streak, and is fielding .983 during the streak.
• Clemson has a 3.59 ERA, .235 opponents’ batting average and 150 strikeouts against 70 walks in 143.0 innings pitched during the streak.
• Clemson has also won 21 of its last 22 games and 26 of its last 29 games.
• Clemson had a 15-0 record in May.
• Other than the month of February, the undefeated month was Clemson’s first in a month it played at least one game since May 1976.
• In May 1976, Clemson was 3-0 in three NCAA Atlantic Regional games at Columbia, S.C., its only three games that month.


ALL-AMERICA HONORS
• Billy Amick and Caden Grice were both named first-team All-Americans by Collegiate Baseball.
• They became the 65th and 66 All-Americans in Clemson history and 30th and 31st first-team All-Americans in Tiger history.
• It marks the first time since 2018 (Seth Beer, Logan Davidson, Ryley Gilliam) that Clemson has multiple All-Americans in one season.
• It marks the first time since 2016 (Seth Beer, Pat Krall, Chris Okey) that Clemson has multiple first-team All-Americans in one season.


NCAA TOURNAMENT EXPERIENCE
• Three Tigers on the 2023 roster have NCAA Tournament experience.
• Chad Fairey is the lone 2023 Tiger to play in an NCAA Tournament game in a Clemson uniform, as he did so in the 2019 Oxford (Miss.) Regional.
• Fairey, who is not on the active postseason roster, went 0-for-2 with two walks in his only regional game in the 8-4 win over Illinois.
• Righthander Jackson Lindley was on the active roster for the 2019 Oxford Regional, but did not make an appearance in the regional.
• Riley Bertram and Willie Weiss have NCAA Tournament experience, including in the College World Series, from their playing days at Michigan.
• Bertram and Weiss were on the Michigan team that played in the 2019 College World Series Championship Series under Head Coach Erik Bakich.
• Bertram is 15-for-37 (.405) with three doubles, four RBIs, five runs, a .500 on-base percentage and two steals in 12 NCAA Tournament games.
• Weiss has a 3.60 ERA and has allowed only two hits in 5.0 innings pitched over five relief appearances in NCAA Tournament games.


FIRST-YEAR COACHES & ACC TITLES
• Since the ACC was formed during the 1953-54 academic year, Clemson, who has won 16 ACC championships, has had five head coaches.
• Bob Smith was in his third year as head coach in 1954, when Clemson won the ACC title in the league’s first baseball season.
• The next four head coaches at Clemson all won the ACC title in their first year as head coach of the Tiger program.
• Bill Wilhelm led Clemson to the ACC championship and College World Series in the first of his 36 seasons as head coach in 1958.
• Jack Leggett led the Tigers to the 1994 ACC championship by winning the ACC Tourney in the first of his 22 seasons as head coach at Clemson.
• Monte Lee led the Tigers to the 2016 ACC championship by winning the ACC Tourney in the first of his seven seasons as head coach at Clemson.
• Erik Bakich led the Tigers to the 2023 ACC championship by winning the ACC Tournament in his first season as head coach at Clemson.
• Leggett, Lee and Bakich are the only head coaches in the 49 years of the ACC Tourney to win the event in their first season as head coach.

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