Tigers Open Regional vs. WCU

The Tigers host the Clemson Regional as the No. 1 seed with No. 2 seed Oklahoma State, No. 3 seed Nebraska and No. 4 seed Western Carolina.

REGIONAL SETUP• Who – Western Carolina (30-29) vs. Clemson (42-18)• Rankings – WCU – NR; CU – No. 9 BA, No. 11 CB, No. 10 USA• When – Friday (7 p.m.)• Where – Clemson, S.C. (Doug Kingsmore Stadium)• Watch – ESPN3• TV Announcers – Tom Hart, Mike Rooney• Listen – TigerCast, Clemson Tiger Sports Network• Live Stats – ClemsonTigers.com• Social Media – Twitter/Instagram (@ClemsonBaseball)• Tickets – ClemsonTigers.com, 1-800-CLEMSON

SERIES HISTORY• Overall Record – Clemson leads 61-16 (1974-16)• Record at Clemson – Clemson leads 42-5 (1974-16)• Record in NCAA Tournament – 0-0

STARTING PITCHERS• TBA (WCU) vs. LHP Charlie Barnes (CU)

CLEMSON OVERVIEW• Clemson won the ACC Tournament title at Durham, N.C., by winning all four games last weekend.• The Tigers are averaging 7.0 runs per game and hitting .271 with a .384 on-base percentage and 56 stolen bases.• The pitching staff has a 4.33 ERA, .262 opponents’ batting average and 2.21 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Clemson is fielding .961.

WESTERN CAROLINA OVERVIEW• Western Carolina is led by ninth-year head coach Bobby Moranda.• The Catamounts won the SoCon Tournament title with a 5-1 record. They are hitting .304 and have a 5.96 ERA and .964 fielding percentage.• Matt Smith is hitting .387 with 10 homers, Bryson Bowman is batting .336 with 19 homers and 58 RBIs and Garrett Brown has 34 steals.

TIGERS IN THE CLEMSON REGIONAL• Clemson (42-18), the No. 1 seed, opens the Clemson Regional by playing No. 4 seed Western Carolina (30-29) on Friday at 7 p.m., on ESPN3.• The Tigers are the designated home team and will occupy the first-base dugout on Friday.• The winner of Clemson’s game plays the winner of Friday’s game between No. 2 seed Oklahoma State (36-20) and No. 3 seed Nebraska (37-20).• Clemson is the No. 7 national seed, its first national seed since 2006 and fourth overall (2000,02).• The winner of the Clemson Regional plays the winner of the Columbia (S.C.) Regional from June 10-13.• Clemson downed Western Carolina on the road (10-8) and at home (7-6) earlier this season. Clemson has won five games in a row in the series.• Clemson is 4-2 all-time against Oklahoma State, including 2-1 in the 2009 Clemson Regional. Those are the only three meetings at Clemson.• Clemson is 1-1 all-time against Nebraska, a 5-0 loss at Fresno, Calif., in 1993 and an 11-10 win in the 2002 College World Series.

CLEMSON REGIONAL STRONG• The four teams in the Clemson Regional have combined for 109 NCAA Tourney appearances (including 2016).• Oklahoma State is making its 42nd appearance, followed by 41 by Clemson, 14 by Nebraska and 12 by Western Carolina.• The Clemson Regional’s 109 combined NCAA Tourney appearances are the most of any regional, ahead of second-place Gainesville Regional (97).• It is the second year in a row Clemson has been in the regional with the most combined appearances by the teams (2015 Fullerton Regional).

TIGERS HOST FOR FIRST TIME SINCE 2011• Clemson is hosting an NCAA regional for the 14th time in history in 2016.• The last time the Tigers hosted a regional was in 2011. From 1994 to 2011 (18 years), the Tigers hosted a regional 11 times.• No player on the 2016 team has been involved in a regional at Clemson.

CLEMSON’S NCAA TOURNEY HISTORY• Clemson plays in its 41st all-time NCAA regional when it competes in the 2016 Clemson Regional.• The 41 appearances are fifth-most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (57), Florida State (54), Miami (Fla.) (45) and Oklahoma State (42).• Clemson has been to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1987 except one (2008), or 29 of the last 30 years (including 2016).• Clemson is one of only nine schools in the country to play in the NCAA Tournament each of the last eight seasons (including 2016).• The others are Cal State Fullerton, Florida, Florida State, Miami (Fla.), 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 113-87 record (.565) in NCAA Tournament games.

QUICK HITS• Clemson’s nine-game win streak is tied for the nation’s third-longest active streak, trailing Coastal Carolina and Louisiana-Lafayette (10).• Clemson has a 24-7 record at home, including an 8-1 record in one-run games and 16-0 record when outhitting the opponent.• Clemson is tied for second in the nation in walks (327) and tied for 15th in the nation in home runs (63).

TIGERS WIN ACC TOURNAMENT TITLE• Clemson won the ACC Tournament title with a 4-0 record, wins over No. 8 Virginia, No. 3 Louisville, Wake Forest and No. 11 Florida State.• It was Clemson’s first ACC Tournament title since 2006 and 10th overall, most among ACC teams.• It was the first time Clemson was undefeated in the ACC Tournament since 1991.• Clemson won all four of its games, as all four games had start times of 11 a.m.• Clemson hit .256 with 33 runs, 14 doubles, one triple, seven homers, a .534 slugging percentage, 26 walks and a .395 on-base percentage.• The pitching staff had a 5.76 ERA, .259 opponents’ batting average and 29 strikeouts against 14 walks in 36.0 innings pitched.• Mike Triller was named ACC Tournament MVP by going 6-for-13 (.462) with five runs, three doubles, two homers and four RBIs in three games.• Reed Rohlman earned All-ACC Tournament honors by totaling two homers, one double, four RBIs and four walks in four games.• Eli White tied a Tiger ACC Tournament record with four doubles, while he went 7-for-17 (.412) in four games.• Pat Krall earned All-ACC Tournament honors by going 2-0 with one save in four relief appearances. He pitched 5.2 innings, allowing one run.• Clate Schmidt earned earned All-ACC Tournament honors by tossing 8.2 innings against Louisville, allowing two earned runs to record the win.

TIGERS ENTER REGIONAL STREAKING• Clemson has won each of its last nine games entering the NCAA Tournament, including a 4-0 record in winning the ACC Tournament.• The Tigers earned wins over RPI top-25 teams Virginia, Louisville, Wake Forest and Florida State to claim the championship.• Clemson’s nine-game winning streak entering the NCAA Tournament is tied for the longest such streak in school history.• Clemson also had a nine-game winning streak entering the 1991 NCAA Tournament.• This is the sixth time Clemson has entered the NCAA Tourney on a winning streak of five games or more.• The nine-game winning streak is Clemson’s longest winning streak overall since it won nine straight games in May 2013.

TRILLER NAMED ACC TOURNAMENT MVP• Graduate outfielder Mike Triller came out of nowhere to have the games of his life in the 2016 ACC Tourney at Durham, N.C., from May 26-29.• He was named ACC Tournament MVP by going 6-for-13 (.462) with five runs, three doubles, two homers, four RBIs and one walk in three games.• He made more starts in the ACC Tournament (3) than he made during the regular season (2).• He is 10-for-38 (.263) with eight runs, four doubles, three homers, a .605 slugging percentage and nine RBIs in 24 games (five starts).• In his career, he is hitting .255 with 18 runs, seven doubles, three homers, 17 RBIs, 11 walks and four steals in 83 games (17 starts).