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CLEMSON -- After a series victory over Louisville last weekend, No. 13 Clemson enters the halfway mark of the ACC season with an 11-4 conference record, the second-best mark in the league.
The Tigers have found a groove since dropping their rivalry series to South Carolina for the first time since 2014, boasting a 25-8 record overall to show for it.
Monte Lee has been forced to rely on his younger players to produce this season after losing seven players from last year’s team to the MLB Draft.
Many had expected this to be a down year for Clemson, who was picked to finish third in the ACC Atlantic division in the ACC preseason coaches’ poll.
One of the main reasons for Clemson’s success this season is the strong performance of its pitching staff, which ranks second in the conference with a 3.33 ERA.
“When you look at our starters – our starters have done a nice job,” said Lee. “I think our bullpen has done a nice job overall. We pitch very well. I think going into today we were second in the league in pitching overall, ERA wise. A lot of positives on the pitching side.”
Freshman Davis Sharpe has been a two-way threat for Clemson while building a strong campaign for National Freshman of the Year. Sharpe earned a spot in the opening weekend rotation and never looked back, posting a 5-1 record with an ACC-leading 1.55 ERA in eight starts this season. Opponents are hitting just .184 against Sharpe, who has 57 strikeouts and 15 walks in 46 1/3 innings pitched. At the plate, he is batting .299 with three home runs and 15 RBIs.
Another freshman pitcher who has emerged for the Tigers is left-hander Keyshawn Askew, who is 2-1 with a 3.63 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 34 2/3 innings. Askew began the season as a midweek starter before moving into the weekend rotation at the start of conference play. He has allowed one earned run or less in four of his seven starts this year.
“We have two freshmen starting on the mound on the weekends,” said Lee. “We have a lot of young guys playing, and we have a lot of young guys and some older guys that are playing pretty well.”
Sophomore Mat Clark has also been a reliable arm in Clemson’s starting rotation. The lefty began the season in the bullpen, but was moved into the weekend rotation after holding South Carolina scoreless in 4 1/3 innings of extended relief. He has a 1.99 ERA over a team-high 32 innings pitched, and leads the nation with seven victories. Clark allowed just one run in a career-high 7 1/3 innings against Louisville on Saturday.
Junior right-hander Carson Spiers has picked up nine saves as Clemson’s closer, posting a 2.18 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings of work. Spiers had not allowed more than one run in any appearance this season before allowing three runs in extra innings during Sunday’s loss to Louisville.
Sam Weatherly (2-0, 2.63 ERA) and Holt Jones (2-0, 1.44 ERA) have also been reliable arms out of the bullpen.
On offense, Clemson is batting .269 as a team and averaging 6.9 runs per game. The Tigers have had success with the long ball, totaling 40 home runs on the year, and have stolen 34 bases.
Lee has been pleased with the offense, especially after an impressive showing last weekend against Louisville, which led the ACC with a 2.97 ERA.
Said Lee: “Offensively, I feel like we’re in a pretty good place. We’ve been swinging the bats fairly well. We faced one of the best pitching staffs in the country and were able to score some runs off of them.”
Clemson has been getting solid production out of its starting lineup, with seven of nine starters batting over .290. The Tigers are one of two teams in the ACC who have not been shut out yet this season.
Junior shortstop Logan Davidson leads the Tigers with a .309 batting average, nine home runs, 32 RBIs, and 11 stolen bases this season.
Leadoff hitter Sam Hall leads the team with a .419 on-base percentage, 19 stolen bases, and 35 runs scored this year. The sophomore infielder is batting .296 with three home runs and 20 RBIs as well.
Sophomore center fielder Bryce Teodosio is hitting .277 with eight home runs, 32 RBIs, and seven steals.
“I’m not content at all, but I’m proud of our guys,” said Teodosio. “We have worked hard. We just have to keep moving forward and get ready for the next series.”
Sophomore outfielder Bo Majkowski is batting .290 with 10 RBIs, including a .375 batting average in ACC play. He has also impressed with this defense, making several web gem plays against Louisville over the weekend.
“I feel like we’re getting better defensively. I don’t think we made an error this weekend,” said Lee. “I thought our defense was solid this weekend, and it needs to be.
“I’m proud of our guys. I don’t have too many negatives. As a coach, I have to continue to address the areas that we need to improve on. We just need to keep our confidence up and hopefully we’ll continue to get better.”
The Tigers have been unable to drive in potential winning runs in a few games this season. In a series finale against Notre Dame, Clemson had its first two runners reach base in the ninth inning but were unable to drive them home, eventually losing in extra innings. More recently, Clemson advanced Teodosio into scoring position with one out in the ninth inning on Sunday, but was again unable to drive in the run and lost in extra innings to Louisville.
Said Lee: “For us to take that next step as a team, we need to be able to compete in the back halves of games a little bit better when we face better relievers, when being able to move a runner over and getting a run in becomes critical in those high leverage situations.”
Clemson beat Furman 2-0 Wednesday and now hits the road for a three-game series against Florida State. The Tigers will then head to Athens next Tuesday for a matchup against No. 2 Georgia, who downed Clemson 5-3 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium last week.
The Tigers also will have two challenging road series against ranked conference opponents in No. 3 N.C. State and No. 17 Georgia Tech.
“There’s a lot of clubs that would like to be sitting at the halfway point of ACC play at 11-4,” said Lee. “We’re getting good, quality at-bats out of our offense. I think our defense is getting better. So, I feel like we’re in a good spot at 25-8 overall.”
Michael Cavallaro is an intern for Tigerillustrated.com.
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