Tigers head to Coral Gables

Miami Hurricanes (25-15, 8-10 ACC) vs. #20 Clemson Tigers (26-11, 12-6 ACC)

Miami is roughly where I expected Clemson to be this season. Their starting pitchers and closer have carried them while the offense has been downright dreadful, producing just 4.5 runs per game with a .254 team average, 231st in the nation, and a .327 SLG%. They are starting 4 rookies in the infield, 2 of them JUCOs, and have no consistency in LF either. Freshman 3B David Thompson leads the offense with 3 HRs and 27 RBIs, after being slowly eased into the everyday lineup.

Miami has faced the #6 SOS while Clemson's is #16, mostly because of the difference between Florida and SC on our schedules, plus they've already faced FSU. They have not done well in conference and whipped up on the OOC slate with the exception of Florida, who took the series 2-1. The Canes lost series to Duke, UNC, UVA and FSU 2-1. Their only series wins in the ACC were VT and Maryland.

Clemson AD Series Preview

Clemson and Miami (FL) have met 56 times on the diamond, with the Hurricanes holding a 29-26-1 lead in the series dating to the 1977 season, with a 14-9-1 lead in Coral Gables. The two teams have not met in Coral Gables since 2008, when Miami swept one of the worst Clemson teams of this decade. Last year in Clemson, we took 2 of 3 by a slim margin of 8-6. Jack is 18-17 against Miami.

Sunday's game will be on CSS and ESPN3.

Last Week:

Miami defeated Bethune-Cookman 6-1, and took 2 against Maryland last weekend.

Clemson swept Wake Forest. The midweek game against Furman was postponed due to weather until May 7th.

Weekend Starters:

Friday, 7pm:

Throws	Player	Rec	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	BB	Ks
LHP	Christian Diaz	3-2	1.78	60.2	66	17	12	11	37
RHP	Daniel Gossett	4-2	3.04	56.1	49	26	18	20	51

Saturday, 7pm:

Throws	Player	Rec	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	BB	Ks
LHP	Bryan Radziewski	5-1	1.11	40.2	22	9	5	10	55
LHP	Matthew Crownover	5-0	2.54	39.0	34	11	11	10	23

Sunday, 1pm:

Throws	Player	Rec	ERA	IP	H	R	ER	BB	Ks
LHP	Andrew Suarez	2-3	3.86	46.2	56	27	20	12	33
RHP	Clate Schmidt	3-1	4.07	42.0	57	21	19	19	22

Hitting Comparison

Team Batting Statistics

	BA	OBP	SLG	R/9	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	HBP	SB-ATT	FLD%
Clemson	.278	.350	.369	5.3	58	9	13	170	133	15	59/86	.972
Miami	.256	.358	.330	4.4	58	6	8	160	167	42	45/69	.968

This is one of the few teams we'll see that slugs worse than us. Just going through the stats, I find it alarming that only 3 bench hitters have more than 20 ABs: Costigan, who should be starting DH since he's raking the ball; Maleeke Gibson, and Kevin Bradley. Mike Triller is batting 3-for-8 and Jackson Campana has disappeared despite having a hit in one of his two ABs, with 3.1 IP as a reliever.

Sometimes Jack has no depth in the postseason because he doesn't use players the right way during the season. If we're not RS'ing them, let them have a few ABs. Hell let them finish up when we're up in late innings or give them a 3-inning start.

Clemson Prospective Lineup

Pos	Player	BA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB
LF	Tyler Slaton	.344	12	33	3	0	9	12
CF	Tom Brittle	.274	29	37	4	1	12	17
C	Garrett Boulware	.316	26	42	6	7	31	12
DH	Shane Kennedy	.328	25	41	4	2	21	24
2B	Steve Wilkerson	.286	18	36	10	1	20	11
RF	Steven Duggar	.299	26	44	6	2	22	11
SS	Tyler Krieger	.271	15	35	6	0	14	11
1B	Jon McGibbon	.229	19	32	4	0	21	11
3B	Jay Baum	.217	14	26	4	0	6	16
DH	x-Joe Costigan	.346	3	9	5	0	6	2

Miami Prospective Lineup

Pos	Player	BA	R	H	2B	HR	RBI	BB
1B	Chris Barr	.235	22	20	1	0	5	19
2B/SS	Alex Hernandez	.277	30	38	10	1	20	22
RF	Chantz Mack	.299	28	40	9	0	20	20
DH	Alex San Juan	.313	12	40	5	1	16	13
LF	Michael Broad	.250	12	24	4	1	15	10
CF	Dale Carey	.185	16	17	2	1	5	14
C	Garrett Kennedy	.254	7	17	1	1	8	15
3B	Tyler Palmer	.254	9	15	2	0	5	5
SS	Brandon Lopez	.227	12	25	1	0	4	14
3B	x-David Thompson	.269	8	28	9	3	28	14
	Brad Fieger	.284	9	33	9	0	21	6

Miami brought in what was supposed to be a good recruiting class, and they play them, but they're taking their lumps as a result.

Team Pitching

Team Pitching Statistics

		ERA	W-L	SHO/CBO	Saves	IP	H	R	ER	BB	Ks
	Clemson	3.15	26-11	6/5	11	337.0	327	149	118	117	238
	Miami	3.65	25-15	5/4	11	358.0	359	178	145	115	283

Miami's pen consists of the closer and not much else. Senior righthander Eric Nedeljkovic has eight of the team's 11 saves along with a 2-1 record, an 0.92 ERA, and a .171 opponents' batting average in 19.2 innings pitched over 18 relief appearances.

"He’s 90-92 on the gun, and what’s really improved is his breaking ball," Morris said. "He’s got a hard slider that he’s throwing now, and a changeup. He’s locating and he’s very, very competitive. Nothing really affects him. He has no problem throwing a breaking ball 3-2 with two outs in a tie ballgame. Last year he did not have a breaking ball."

-Baseball America

Of the rest of the pen, only Thomas Woodrey has been solid, with a 4-0 record and 2.76 ERA in 32.2 IP. Everyone else has ERAs over 6.00. Awful. If we can knock out the starters, it'll be Woodrey then Nedeljkovic, because they don't have a prayer with anyone else.

Clemson's pen has been solid aside from a few guys. Meyer's ERA has dropped from OMG to 4.01 in 24.2 IP, as has Matt Campbell's of late. However the go-to guys are still Andrews (2.45 ERA), Erwin (2.61) and Schnell (1.86 in 19.1 IP). Clemson has a clear advantage here.

While I think this Miami team is capable of beating us 2-1 at home, I think Clemson wins the series 2-1 on the road. I think we'll get dominated by one of their starters but we'll get the others out early enough to get a lead in the late innings before the closer comes in.