Clemson Baseball News & Notes

Dec. 24, 2008

Clemson, SC –

Clemson is ranked #26 in the nation in Collegiate Baseball’s 2009 preseason poll, released Monday. The Tigers return eight of the nine starters in the field and four of their five starting pitchers in 2009.

Two of the starters in the field, Kyle Parker (OF) and Ben Paulsen (1B), are among the players on the Brooks Wallace Award Watch List for the 2009 season. The award is given annually to the nation’s top player. Parker, a quarterback on the Clemson football team, hit .303 with a team-high 14 homers and 50 RBIs as a freshman in 2008 on his way to earning First-Team All-ACC honors. Paulsen batted .310 with 13 homers and 49 RBIs in 2008.

Both Tigers are also among the nation’s top-50 players for the 2009 season according to TheCollegeBaseballBlog.com. Paulsen is listed as the #20 player in the nation, while Parker is the #32 player.

Also recently released by the NCAA were the attendance figures for the 2008 season. A total of 140,040 fans attended baseball games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in 2008. For the 30 home dates, the Tigers averaged 4,668 fans per date, the eighth-highest figure in the nation. It marked the 15th consecutive year that Clemson finished in the top 20 in the nation in average attendance.

The Tigers will open the season with a three-game series against Charlotte at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on February 20.