TigerIllustrated.com - Notebook: 'Clemson back in the mix'

May 25, 2009

Cris Ard
TigerIllustrated.com Publisher

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Pride & Tradition

After missing the NCAA Tournament for the first time in two decades a year ago, No. 15-ranked Clemson (40-19) is back in the postseason picture, and will host its 12th regional since 1975, starting Friday with an opening round match-up versus Tennessee Tech (30-22-1).

Tiger outfielder Wilson Boyd said Monday he's just happy to be back in the hunt for a World Series appearance and uphold a long-standing history of excellence, as Clemson makes another run for Omaha.

"It's definitely nice. Nobody wants to be known as the team that broke the streak here at Clemson," he said. "We put a lot of pride and emphasis on tradition here and being a winning program.

"I think coach (Jack Leggett) and everyone else here expects to win and expects to host a regional. We want to have a chance to go out and play for a national championship every year."

The Tigers went into last weekend's ACC Tournament with 39 wins, 19 regular season conference wins and a No. 7 RPI ranking, not to mention an expectation of hosting a regional. But Clemson dropped its first two games in the tourney to Virginia and Duke, and might have needed its Saturday upset win over No. 6 North Carolina to solidify a host site.

"After those first two games, it was definitely a concern," Boyd said. "We knew we had to go out and play hard. Even though we were out of it and couldn't win the tournament, there was still something to play for. We never gave up, went out and played hard. It was a great game and we played hard. I hope everyone thinks we played hard."

Boyd is no stranger to playing hard, as evidenced by his turnaround at the plate after suffering a bout with Bell's Palsy earlier in the season. Entering the ACC tournament the Hickory (NC) product was Clemson's hottest hitter going 23 of 45 (.511) over the Tigers' last 13 regular season games.

Entering this weekend's regional, Boyd is second on the roster in hitting (.348) and first in on-base percentage (.436). He also has totaled three homeruns and 41 runs batted in.

"He's got good focus and concentration skills," Leggett told reporters Monday. "He's got a lot of confidence right now, good rhythm and his swing is good. He gets in that groove and he's pretty tough to pitch to."

Clemson closed its season hitting .341 as a team in its last 13 games.

Boyd says he'd like to think the Tigers can build on Saturday's win and some hot hitting as of late this weekend in the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

"We're not going to be allowed to have some of our (music) intros (going up to the plate), but it'll be nice to be here," he said. "It'll be nice to play in front of a great crowd. Hopefully a lot of Clemson fans will turn out."

Boyd admits he's not familiar with the teams that round out the Tigers' regional bracket ? Alabama (37-19) from the SEC and Oklahoma State (32-22) from the Big 12.

"Both of those teams have great players but I don't know anything about them," he said. "At this point, anybody can beat anybody on any given day. We'll just practice and prepare for any game that's ahead of us."

And the junior believes the Tigers may have an edge entering Friday's round-one match-up.

"There's an extreme amount of momentum from that win (over UNC). After battling a top ranked team like that, winning in extra innings in a walk-off, showing the young guys what it takes and how big games are, yes," he said. "I wish we could have been playing for an ACC title, but I think we made the best of the situation that we were given."

Solid Across The Board

Clemson first-baseman Ben Paulsen, who leads Clemson in hitting (.368), hits (86), runs batted in (55), slugging percentage (.611) and fielding percentage (.987), said Monday he feels his team has the makeup to go deep into the tournament.

"I think our team is going to do well. We took a shot this weekend in the ACC Tournament, but I think we'll do really well in the post-season," he said. "We're excited to be home. It's tough playing on the road. It's a great thing to be able to sleep in your own bed and being able to play here. It's a good situation."

History suggests that is the case, given that the Tigers are an impressive 35-7 all-time in NCAA Tournament home games, 32-5 all-time under Leggett.

"Me and my friends, my roommates, the day it was on (Sunday) and we saw that we were hosting, it was awesome. This was big-time for us. It's the first time we've hosted since I've been here," Paulsen said.

Paulsen said though he felt Clemson might have landed a host site despite what took place between the Tigers and Tar Heels on Saturday, landing a 40th win did hold some significance.

"Coach Leggett told us before the game that we needed to play it like it was one of the last games of the season," he said. "40 wins is sometimes the number you have to have in order to host a regional, more or less. I had felt we played well enough anyway, but we were able to beat North Carolina and we played that game as hard as any we've played all year. We did what we had to do to host a regional.

"We're a great team. We're well-rounded. We've got good hitting, great pitching, a great bullpen and good leadership on and off the field. Our defense is great, too. No one part of our game stands out. We're just well-rounded."

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