On Feb. 28, 2026 at Segra Park in Columbia, the Tigers were looking to bounce back from their first setback of the season. The night before in the same city, South Carolina blanked the Tigers 7-0.
On the mound for the Tigers in the second game of the series was fifth-year senior Michael Sharman, a first-year transfer from Tennessee who had caught the eye of the staff with his impeccable control in the fall. He had earned a weekend spot in the rotation during the first two weekends and had pitched well.
But his performance at Segra Park on the third weekend was nothing short of spectacular. The lefthander pitched a complete game, the first by a Tiger since 2024, in a 4-1 win over Clemson’s rival. He allowed only four hits, one run and no walks with four strikeouts.
The remarkable aspect of his outing was the pitch count. He threw only 78 pitches, 67 of which were strikes, meaning he only threw 11 balls in nine innings. He did not throw more than 11 pitches in any inning. Only two batters saw a two-ball count and no batters saw a three-ball count.
For his accomplishment, he was named Golden Spikes Award x D1Baseball National Player-of-the-Week and Perfect Game National Pitcher-of-the-Week. He also was named ACC Pitcher-of-the-Week and received the Bob Bradley Award as Clemson's MVP of the three-game series.
It was one of many memorable performances for Sharman in his one and only season in the Tiger program. He was the team’s most valuable pitcher, as he was 6-2 with a 3.39 ERA, .243 opponents’ batting average and 77 strikeouts against only 11 walks in 77.0 innings pitched in 2026.
Sharman led the team in wins, starts, complete games, innings pitched and strikeout-to-walk ratio. Despite the Tigers falling short of the season’s goals, Sharman was a bright spot on the 2026 team.