Clemson drops in latest polls after weekend sweep

Clemson still can clinch the Atlantic Division and a No. 2 seed in the ACC Baseball Championship with a series win this week over Boston College (Clemson athletics photo).

by TigerNet Staff - Mon May 13 09:30:07 GMT-04:00 2024

Clemson fell as much as six spots in the latest college baseball Top 25 polls after suffering a weekend sweep at preseason No. 1 Wake Forest.

Baseball America sent Clemson (37-13) down six spots to No. 10 and D1Baseball moved the Tigers down just two places to No. 4.

"After scoring four runs in the ninth inning in Tuesday’s win against Charlotte, Clemson was soundly swept at Wake Forest. Outside of Ethan Darden, no starter was able to make it out of the fifth inning. The Tigers’ bats also struggled mightily and on the weekend hit just .202. Outfielder Tristan Bissetta was the team’s lone bright spot, as he hit two home runs and accounted for five of the team’s 10 RBIs. Clemson will look to bounce back this weekend at home against Boston College," Baseball America's writeup said.

Baseball America kept Tennessee No. 1, followed by Kentucky, Arkansas, UNC, and Texas A&M, with Wake Forest moving to No. 7. Clemson still paces the ACC for D1Baseball, with UNC next (No. 7), Wake Forest (8), Florida State (10), Duke (11), NC State (17), and Virginia (18).

With UNC (20-7) and Clemson (17-10) on the opposite ends of sweeps, the Tar Heels will likely clinch the No. 1 seed in the ACC Baseball Championship in the final ACC regular season series week starting Thursday, where they travel to Duke. The Tigers are still two wins up on Florida State and NC State (15-11) and two full games up on Wake Forest (15-12) for the Atlantic Division crown and a No. 2 seed in the ACCs next week. Boston College (22-26, 8-19) comes to town starting at 6 p.m. Thursday.

In the ACC's individual stat leaders, Blake Wright is fourth in RBIs (66), eighth in home runs (19) and eighth in runs scored (58). Jimmy Obertop is ninth in walks (40). On the pitching side, Aidan Knaak dropped a spot in ERA to third (3.22), down to fourth in opposing batting average (.204) and strikeouts (86). Austin Gordon is second in saves (8).