Clemson Baseball Preview-Coastal Carolina

Who- #18 Coastal Carolina(21-9) at #8 Clemson(22-6)

Where- Doug Kingsmore Stadium, Clemson SC

When- 630pm Tuesday April 3

Video- ACC Network Extra/WatchESPN(William Qualkinbush & Ron Smith)

Audio- TigerCast, Clemson Tigers Radio Network

Gary Gilmore will bring his Coastal Carolina Chanticleers to TigerTown Tuesday night, looking to sweep both games of the home and home series between the two. The two teams squared off just two weeks ago in Conway, in a game that saw the Chants pick up a walk off win, courtesy of a Lee Sponseller grand slam in the bottom of the ninth. The Tigers, winners of 6 of their last 7, will send freshman righty Spencer Strider to the hill for the start, hoping to build off of some strong outings in relief of late. Strider is 2-0 with a 5.19 ERA. He has 29 Ks in 17.1 IP, which translates into 15.1 Ks/9 IP. Current National and ACC Player of the Week Seth Beer looks to keep the hot bat he has had over the past week going. He is 8 for his last 13(.615 BA) with an OBP of .667 over that stretch. He has homered once in each of the last 4 games and has 12 RBI, along with having scored 7 runs. As a team, the Tigers are only hitting .250, but do have an OBP of .369, and are averaging 6.1 runs per game.

Coastal, coming off a series win on the road at Georgia Southern, will counter with RHP Shaddon Peavyhouse. He will be making his first start, but is 1-2 with a 3.31 ERA in 9 appearances. He has 23 Ks in 16.1 IP and opponents are hitting .231 against him. The Chants are a good hitting team, evidenced by their .294 team batting average. The aforementioned Sponseller is one guy to look out for. He is hitting .311 with 4 HRs and 22 RBI. Another guy to keep an eye on is Seth Lancaster. He is hitting .313 with 7 HR and 23 RBI. One more is Kevin Woodall Jr. His .268 BA does not jump off of the page at you, but his power numbers do. He has 12 HR and 38 RBI. They have hit 41 long balls as a team, so the Tiger pitchers will once again have their work cut out for them.

It will be Military Appreciation Day at the ballpark for this one, and tickets can be had for $2, as the Tigers look to avenge their earlier loss. The first game these two played in Conway 2 weeks ago was delayed 2 ¹⁄₂ hours due to rain, and it was cold and very windy. The conditions did not seem to affect the Chants at all, as you could tell from the start that they were up for the Tigers. Clemson did not match the energy or enthusiasm that Coastal had on display that night. Having been there for that game, I would not be shocked at all if the weather did not at least play some part in that. It was pretty miserable. The weather this time around will not be so nasty. In fact, it should be ideal weather for baseball and I am looking forward to seeing the Tigers enact some revenge on the 2016 CWS Champions.

As always, check back in with STS after the game for results