Clemson's Kyle Parker slides past North Carolina State catcher Chris Schaeffer in the bottom of the eighth inning to extend the lead for the Tigers in the first of two games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson won 12-7.

View full size photo »

I think we're going to be alright.

After the last two weekends I'm starting to feel like we have a very good baseball team. They hit well, the starting pitching has been good and a few guys in the bullpen seem to be pretty dependable. For the last two years, although its a recurring theme with Leggett's teams, I thought we played ball really tight. They'd make a crucial mistake in the field and pitchers didn't have much to fear from a lineup that was pressing themselves so hard that they really could never get anything going to help the Top-5 pitching staff. Tension is a hitter's worst enemy, and then it would make them try to swing harder, which is what you dont want to do.

Last year I believe the youth of the squad was a big factor with that tightness, although I know many people believe it is because of Leggett's small ball philosophies. This year he is certainly letting them swing away more often, and its paid off so far. While we aren't tearing up the league in batting average like NC State and FSU were coming into this weekend, we are hitting more home runs and not having serious difficulties at the plate at any position besides Catcher John Nester (.107) and 3B Jason Stolz (.226), though both contributed this weekend.

Even Wilson Boyd, who had had a few struggles coming into this weekend which I remarked last week, seems to have turned it around. Turns out he made a change to his stance, lowering back into his crouch and giving him back some power. He used it against NCSU to win the 2nd game of the doubleheader Saturday. He raised his BA to .271 over the weekend.

Still though, I worry about our weak defense on the left side of the infield. Brad Miller wasn't a problem this weekend, but Stolz made 3 errors at 3B. He doesnt charge the ball and it eats him up. 6 runs allowed this weekend were unearned due to various errors.

Another puzzler to me is the lack of innings by the starting pitchers. Usually when you go out there the first two times, youre on pitch counts in the 75-85 range, and then it steps upwards. I'm not an advocate of a Ray Tanner 130-pitch philosophy, but Leggett takes them out at 5-6IP...even Harman....without letting them work through a rough inning later when you tend to go to your 2nd and 3rd pitches more often. They aren't getting to 100 pitches, and our control hasn't been an issue. I don't think a pitcher can grow unless he works through more adversity, and we aren't letting them get that experience.

Pulling Weismann after 6 today I agree with however.

Now to the Series results:

Continue reading this post »

Drew Poulk is just one cog of a daunting NC State lineup.

View full size photo »

NC State Woofers (11-1) @ #12 Clemson Tigers (10-1)

Yeah its early and NC State has mostly played easy competition, but they are killing people. Their best opponent, #8 Coastal Carolina, beat them in a 6-3 contest at Myrtle Beach in a weekend tournament for their sole loss. They defeated UC-Irvine at that tournament 7-4 in 10 innings. The 3 game set against Clemson begins a 9-game road trip.

The Tigers lead the overall series 104-68-1, and have beaten NC State more times than any other opponents aside from North Carolina and Duke.

Continue reading this post »

From the Fall signing period. Obviously theres not much to report on them so I found what I could. If anyone knows anything about them, please chime in.

Dale Innes, Enka NC, RHP, 6-0' 180

Medium athletic build. Slow paced delivery, good direction, extended 3/4's release, throws downhill, quick compact arm. FB touched 89 mph in the Metrodome, power CB is best pitch, good downward bite when on top, short and quick, downhill angle helps CB. Should be very successful at next level. (Via Perfect Game)

Dominic Attanasio, Olympia FL, OF,  5-9 160

Smaller tightly wound athlete. Good speed/even better quickness, very good jumps/range in CF, good arm strength with plus accuracy, top level defensive OF'er. CF, Lead off type, sees ball well, open stance, quick compact swing, drives the ball hard, squares up top quality stuff, handles off speed well, high average hitter, plays very hard and smart. Can play and be a big producer at any college in the country. Possible pro future.

Joe Costigan, Barron Collier FL, OF, 6'0 185
Kevin Pohle, Parkway South, StL MO, RHP 6'4" 175 - also a star basketball player.

Medium athletic frame with some present strength. Very polished hitter, advanced for age. Smooth left handed swing, good bat speed, recognizes pitches very early, hard line drive contact to all fields, short to the ball, can drive the ball to the gaps, should hit immediately at the next level. Nice OF actions, 7.06 runner, left field arm strength, tracks balls well. The bat could create some draft interest.

Steve Wilkerson, Pope GA, MIF  6'2"/190

Jonathan Surber, Lisle IL, RHP/3B 6'2" 175 - Surber missed a large chunk of his junior season after injuring his knee sliding into home plate. But he came back in late June pumping 87-90 mph with a sharp slider and quickly became one of the hottest prospects in the country. One of top 100 players in IL. Comes form Top Tier, where we got Firth. Another Top Tier pitcher, Junior Jeremy Scheck, also committed.

Michael Dunster, Greenwich CT, SS 5'10", 160 - won the American Legion State Best Hitter Award.

He went 6-1 last spring with a 2.06 earned run average (ERA). In 51 innings pitched, he struck out 43 and walked 21 batters.

"It's just getting going for Kevin," Stahl said. "He's got draft possibilities as well. He's one of the top two arms in St. Louis and in the top five in the state of Missouri. He's got a solid average pro fastball of 89 or 90 miles an hour and he can get it to 92. He's got a lot of sink. His arm is very, very easy. It's special. Plus, he understands the concept of pitching, which a lot of guys his age have to develop. He understands he's not a big strikeout guy. He's a sinkerball guy who gets you to beat the ball in the ground. He's going to be a good one."

Pohle also plays first base when he is not pitching. He hit .348 last spring.

"We need to keep his athleticism in the field and we need his bat," Stahl said. (source)

Matthew Campbell, Northview-Roswell, GA, RHP  6'1, 175 - All-Region 7 5A - Perfect Game USA Preseason HS Underclassmen All American Honorable Mention

Cole Brand, Bradley Central, TN C/P. 6'2, 205 - Also Honorable mention by Perfect Game.
Jonathan McGibbon, Lindenhurst NY, 1B 6'2", 205

View full size photo »

#1 Virginia

Split to Wright State, who we swept last weekend. The first game was a pitching duel between UVA ace Danny Hultzen and Wright State's Alex Kaminsky that the Cavs lost 2-1. Wright State was aided by 3 UVA errors in the game.

Phil Gosselin led the Cavaliers’ 16-hit effort with a career-high four hits as UVA beat Dartmouth 14-3. Tyler Cannon and Steven Proscia each added a pair of hits as well as three RBI. Every UVa starter scored at least one time. UVa’s one through four hitters – Gosselin, Cannon, Dan Grovatt and Proscia – combined to go 10-for-16 with nine RBI and seven runs.

Virginia finished off a hot day at the plate with a 13-3 victory over Wright State, Sunday afternoon, in the second game of a doubleheader at Davenport Field. In the first game, UVa pounded out 18 hits in an 11-5 win over Dartmouth.

Tyler Cannon had a big game at the plate, going 3-for-5 with five RBI. He had a key two-run triple to break open a one-run game in the seventh inning and then had a three-run double in the eighth inning. Cannon had eight RBI over the weekend.

A tuesday game vs. JMU was postponed. UVA remained #1 in Baseball America.

UPCOMING

William & Mary, then Florida State in Tallahassee.

Continue reading this post »

David Haselden shut down Sakerlina Friday night.

View full size photo »

Leggett SC postgame

Mark Ethridge at SEBaseball (Rivals) was in attendence for the series and wrote several good columns you should take a look at. Here's his column from Game 1.

I have often called this the best rivalry in college baseball. Now that the teams are meeting three times on a weekend, they really have a chance to prove it.

"Since they added new stands it is pretty loud," admitted South Carolina starting pitcher Blake Cooper. "The atmosphere is great here at Clemson."

(It probably hurt a bit to say that. Maybe he had his fingers crossed inside his jacket.)



"There have been a lot of good ones and tonight was a classic," said South Carolina head coach Ray Tanner. "In the first inning I thought they were going to knock the fences down."

"I thought this was going to be one of those nights when we got things rolling but Cooper settled down and did a nice job," said Clemson coach Jack Leggett.

Game 1 - Former Spartanburg High standout David Haselden pitched 4 hitless innings in relief of Casey Harman, holding the Gamecock bats silent and propelling Clemson to a 4-3 win Friday night (with video highlights) at Tiger Field.

The Gamecocks took a 3-2 lead in the sixth inning on Adrian Morales' sac fly. But the Tigers scored single runs in the seventh and eighth innings on two-out singles by Stolz and Boyd, respectively, to give the Tigers the one-run win.

Continue reading this post »

View full size photo »

Clemson Tigers (7-0) vs. South Carolina Yardbirds (5-2)

When:  Friday's opener is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at Tiger Field (on TigerCast) with Saturday's contest at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. at 2 p.m. and the series finale on Sunday afternoon at Carolina Stadium, also a 2 p.m. start. Clemson is the designated home team Saturday.

Clemson leads the all time series 165-120-2: 93-42 at CU and 46-25 at Tiger Field. Jack is 30-29 against SC at Clemson, 15-13 at home. Under Ray Tanner, SC is 25-22 against CU.

Starters:

Friday: Jr. Casey Harman (2-0, 0.84) vs. Sr. Blake Cooper (2-0, 3.00)

Saturday: Soph. Will Lamb (1-0, 1.42) vs. Jr. Sam Dyson (1-0, 2.35)

Sunday: Soph. Scott Weismann (1-0, 2.89) vs. Fr. Tyler Webb (0-0, 0.00)

Last weekend - SC lost a key early series against #14 East Carolina on the road, who had lost ot UVA the previous weekend. The Cluckers won Game 1 6-2 behind Cooper, then lost the next two 4-3 and 4-2. Dyson pitched 4 solid innings against ECU and Webb threw 4 scoreless innings of relief against them as well.

Continue reading this post »

View full size photo »

Around the ACC....

New Baseball America Rankings - Clemson up to #13.

#1 Virginia 6-1

#1 UVA beat George Washington 5-2 Wednesday night, jumping out to an early lead and coasting to the win. The Cavs began a weekend series against URI and won 13-0 Friday behind another good performance of starter Danny Hultzen (2-0, 7 IP, 2H, 0 BB, 12K). Catcher Franco Valdes went 2-4 with 3 RBIs on a bases-clearing triple and Hultzen went 1-3 himself with a 2-run 2B. Every UVA starter got a hit.

Virginia baseball rolled to a 22-2 victory over Rhode Island Saturday afternoon. Every Virginia starter had at least one hit by the fourth inning, and 13 Cavaliers recorded hits.

UVA finished the sweep 8-5 Sunday afternoon. Phil Gosselin went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBI to lead the Cavaliers’ offense. He finished the week 9-for-17 with six RBI. Keith Werman added a pair of hits as he went 6-for-7 in the series. John Hicks also had a three-run double to key the Cavaliers’ big first inning.

UPCOMING

Tuesday vs. James Madison at home, then a weekend Tournament at home with Dartmouth and Wright State.

Continue reading this post »

David Haselden helped hold Wright State down while the offense manufactured runs Saturday.

View full size photo »

Game 1 - Clemson wins 4-3 in the first ever meeting between the two teams. Southpaw starter Casey Harman (5.2 IP, 4H, 1 ER, 3BB, 6Ks) went to 2-0 on the season despite a shaky 6th where he loaded the bases. Jonathan Meyer came in to get the last out of the inning but gave up a hit and was taken out in favor of Tomas Cruz, who was himself taken out with 2 outs in the 9th for Alex Frederick to get the Save.

Kyle Parker went 3-for-3 with a walk  and 2 runs scored. Brad Miller drove in 2 Runs as well, but the Tigers were outhit 9-6 on the day.

Game 2 - We scrap and fight to an 8-6 win. We led 4-1 going into the 4th before an error by Miller allowed the first runner to get on base, who then got to 2nd on a balk call on Weismann. Stolz then made another error and the runner went to 3rd and later scored to make it 4-2. In the 5th the defense let us down again, another error by Miller and a 3 Run Homer added up to 4 unearned runs to make it 6-4 before Weismann was taken out (4.2, 5H, 6 R, 1 ER, 0BB, 4K). Why Jack took him out then, with the bases empty and 2 outs, is beyond me. I would've left him in to face the cleanup hitter with 2 outs. Kevin Kyle and David Haselden pitched 4 1/3 shutout innings to keep it within reach of Clemson batters. Catcher Phil Pohl hit a 2 run single in the 6th driving in Boyd and Miller to tie it up. In the bottom of the 8th, Brad Miller doubled and drove in Shaffer, and Stolz used a suicide squeeze to score Miller to make it 8-6.

Game 3 - Clemson jumps out to an early 5-1 lead and piles it on 12-6. Will Lamb started and didnt have his best stuff today, but got the win despite Jack taking him out too early. The same rule that applied last weekend benefitted Lamb today, as he only went 4 innings (4H, 1ER, 1BB, 2 K). The Tiger Bullpen managed to give up a 3-spot in relief because of Justin Sarratt's lack of control (0.1IP, 2 H, 3 ER, 1BB, 1K) but Joseph Moorefield, Dominic Leone, and Alex Frederick quieted the Wright State bats as Clemson built up their lead.

Clemson jumped out 2-0 in the 1st inning on a Jeff Schaus RBI Single to score Mike Freeman and John Nester was walked with the bases loaded....which happened too much today and drives me nuts. In the 2nd, Jason Stolz singled and later scored on a RBI double by Brad Miller, and Miller scored later on a Sac Fly by Schaus. To top off the inning, Kyle Parker rocked one into the Chapman Grandstand to make it 5-1. Back-to-back homers by Schaus and Parker in the 4th made it 8-1 and the Tigers piled on 4 more to make it 12-6.

On the series, Kyle Parker went 5-for-11 to push his average to .435/.826/.519, 4 Runs scored (7), 2 Homers (3), 2 RBI (7). LF Jeff Schaus went 6-for-10 (.429/.667/.481) with 1 HR (1) and 6 RBI (11), and Brad Miller continued his hot hitting as well, going 5-for-11 (.381/.619/.417) with 6 Runs scored (8) and 4 RBI (4). If Miller wasn't hitting so well, he'd be on the bench with 3 errors already this season.

Leadoff batter Chris Epps is really struggling so far, batting just .118. He has worked 5 walks and scored 5 runs so far however.

Team Statistics

So far, Casey Harman is definitely the staff ace with a 2-0 record with a 0.84 ERA in 10.2 IP, 5 H, 1 ER, 4 BB, 9 Ks. Scott Weismann stands at 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA in 9.1 IP, 11H, 3 ER, 1 BB, 10 Ks. Both Alex Frederick and Jonathan Meyer have recorded saves out of the bullpen.

Clemson has a Wednesday afternoon game against Dayton at 4pm, and we face the Cluckers next weekend.