Tigers Begin Regional vs. UNCG

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.

ACC TOURNAMENT RECAP• Clemson went 0-2 in the ACC Tournament at Louisville, Ky., on May 23 and May 26.• Duke rallied to defeat Clemson 6-3 at Louisville Slugger Field on May 23. Chase Pinder, Andrew Cox and Logan Davidson all hit solo homers.• No. 10 Virginia scored eight runs in the first inning in its 10-2 win over Clemson at Jim Patterson Stadium on May 26.

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.