CLEMSON BASEBALL

Clemson Baseball Preview vs. Virginia

Clemson Baseball Preview vs. Virginia


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The Tigers head to Durham, N.C., for the 43rd ACC Tournament as the No. 6 seed.

TOURNAMENT SETUP

• Who (Thursday) - Clemson (38-18) vs. Virginia (36-18)

• Who (Friday) - Louisville (46-10) vs. Clemson (38-18)

• Who (Saturday) - Clemson (38-18) vs. Duke (33-21) or Wake Forest (32-23)

• Rankings - CU - No. 15 BA, No. 15 USA; UVA - No. 8 BA, No. 8 CB, No. 11 USA; LOU - No. 6 BA, No. 3 CB, No. 5 USA; DUK - NR; WFU - NR

• When - Thursday (11 a.m.), Friday (11 a.m.), Saturday (11 a.m.)

• Where - Durham, N.C. (Durham Bulls Athletic Park)

• Watch - RSN, ESPN3 (subject to blackout)

• TV Announcers - Nick Green, Tom Werme

• Listen - TigerCast, Clemson Tiger Sports Network

• Live Stats - ClemsonTigers.com

• Social Media - Twitter/Instagram (@ClemsonBaseball)

SERIES HISTORY (VIRGINIA)

• Overall Record - Clemson leads 104-52 (1955-14)

• Record at Neutral - Clemson leads 10-8 (1973-12)

• Record in ACC Tournament - Clemson leads 10-8 (1973-12)

SERIES HISTORY (LOUISVILLE)

• Overall Record - Clemson leads 8-5 (1970-16)

• Record at Neutral - Clemson leads 1-0 (2015)

• Record in ACC Tournament - Clemson leads 1-0 (2015)

SERIES HISTORY (DUKE)

• Overall Record - Clemson leads 130-68-2 (1904-2016)

• Record at Neutral - Duke leads 13-11 (1904-2014)

• Record in ACC Tournament - Clemson leads 9-4 (1978-14)

SERIES HISTORY (WAKE FOREST)

• Overall Record - Clemson leads 129-57-1 (1901-2016)

• Record at Neutral - Clemson leads 14-4 (1950-07)

• Record in ACC Tournament - Clemson leads 12-5 (1973-07)

STARTING PITCHERS

• Thursday - LHP Charlie Barnes (CU) vs. RHP Connor Jones (UVA)

• Friday - TBA (LOU) vs. TBA (CU)

• Saturday - TBA (CU) vs. TBA (DUK or WFU)

CLEMSON OVERVIEW

• Clemson, who has won five games in a row, swept Notre Dame on the road by a combined score of 19-4.

• The Tigers are averaging 6.9 runs per game and hitting .272 with a .383 on-base percentage and 54 steals.

• The pitching staff has a 4.23 ERA, .263 opponents’ batting average and 2.22 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Clemson is fielding .961.

VIRGINIA OVERVIEW

• Virginia is led by 13th-year head coach Brian O'Connor.

• The Cavaliers, who have won 11 of the last 12, swept Virginia Tech. They are hitting .302 and have a 4.05 ERA and .969 fielding percentage.

• Matt Thaiss is hitting .378 with nine homers and 54 RBIs against 11 strikeouts, while Ernie Clement is batting .353 with only 12 strikeouts.

LOUISVILLE OVERVIEW

• Louisville is led by 10th-year head coach Dan McDonnell.

• The Cardinals, who swept Wake Forest, have won nine games in a row. They are hitting .325 and have a 2.69 ERA and .977 fielding percentage.

• Nick Solak is hitting .390, Will Smith is batting .369, Devin Hairston is hitting .368 and Corey Ray has 14 homers, 57 RBIs and 37 steals.

DUKE OVERVIEW

• Duke is led by fourth-year head coach Chris Pollard.

• The Blue Devils, who have won nine of 10, downed Pittsburgh twice. They are hitting .263 and have a 3.64 ERA and .975 fielding percentage.

• Justin Bellinger is hitting .333 with six homers and 30 RBIs, while Jimmy Herron is batting .330 with 22 doubles, 35 runs and 24 steals.

WAKE FOREST OVERVIEW

• Wake Forest is led by seventh-year head coach Tom Walter.

• The Demon Deacons were swept at home by Louisville last weekend. They are hitting .282 and have a 4.89 ERA and .969 fielding percentage.

• Will Craig is hitting .392 with 15 doubles, 15 homers, 62 RBIs, a .772 slugging percentage, .537 on-base percentage and 1.99 ERA.

QUICK HITS

• Clemson (16-14) finished the ACC regular-season schedule with a winning record for the 22nd time in the last 23rd year.

• Clemson played 24 games against ACC Tournament teams, most in the ACC. The only team it did not play was Virginia, its first foe.

• Three teams in Clemson's bracket in the ACC Tournament are all on hot streaks (Virginia 11-1, Louisville 16-1, Duke 9-1) in the late stages.

TIGERS TO PLAY IN 43RD ACC TOURNEY

• Clemson (38-18), the No. 6 seed, opens its ACC Tourney by playing No. 3 seed Virginia (36-18) on Thursday at 11 a.m., on RSN.

• The Tigers will be the designated visiting team and occupy the first-base dugout on Thursday.

• The Tigers play No. 2 seed Louisville (46-10) on Friday at 11 a.m., on RSN.

• Clemson will be the designated home team and occupy the third-base dugout on Friday.

• Clemson’s third game is against either No. 7 seed Duke (33-21) or No. 10 seed Wake Forest (32-23) on Saturday at 11 a.m.

• Clemson will be the designated visiting team and occupy the first-base dugout on Saturday for the game on RSN.

• The games will be played at Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C.

• It will be the 10th time the ACC Baseball Tournament is held in Durham and the second year in a row.

• For the third time under the current format, the tournament has a 10-team field, with two single-elimination games Tuesday.

• The round-robin format, in its 10th year, features two four-team brackets that guarantees the eight teams play a minimum of three games.

• The other bracket is No. 1 seed Miami, No. 4 seed Florida State, No. 5 seed NC State, No. 8 seed Boston College and No. 9 seed Georgia Tech.

• The winner of each bracket meets in the ACC Championship Game on Sunday at noon.

• The title game will be televised by ESPN2 and the winner of the game receives an automatic bid into the 2016 NCAA Tournament.

• All of Clemson’s ACC Tournament games are broadcast live on the radio by Clemson Tiger Sports Network.

• Live stats are available at ClemsonTigers.com for all Tiger games.

CLEMSON’S ACC TOURNAMENT HISTORY

• This is the 43rd ACC Tournament, and Clemson has been to the finals in 21 of the previous 42 tournaments, eight more than any other school.

• Clemson has won an ACC-tying-high nine ACC Tournament titles in history, including 2006 when it defeated NC State 8-4 in the title game.

• Clemson has a 106-68 record (.609) in ACC Tournament games. The Tigers also have the most All-ACC Tournament selections (56) in history.

• Clemson’s nine ACC Tournament titles came in 1976, 1978, 1980, 1981, 1989, 1991, 1993, 1994 and 2006.

• Clemson is one of only two teams to play in all 43 ACC Tournaments. The Tigers join Virginia as the only teams to play in every ACC Tourney.

• This will be the 20th time the tournament is held in the state of North Carolina.

• Only Florida State (63.9) has a better winning percentage than Clemson (60.9) in ACC Tournament play.

• The ACC Tournament began in 1973 and has been held every year but one (1979) since then.

ONE-RUN SUCCESS

• Clemson has a 12-6 record in one-run games this season. The school record for one-run wins in a season is 13 (13-5 record in 1994).

• Clemson also was 12-3 in one-run games in 1978, 12-6 in 1999 and 12-7 in 2007.

• Clemson has played 18 games decided by one run, but only five games (2-3) decided by two runs and one game (1-0) decided by three runs.

• From 2010 to 2015, Clemson had just one winning record in one-run games (9-4 in 2013).

• Clemson is 5-1 in extra-inning games in 2016.

THREE TIGERS NAMED TO ALL-ACC TEAM

Seth Beer (OF) and Chris Okey (C) earned First-Team All-ACC honors, while Pat Krall (RP) earned Second-Team All-ACC honors.

• Beer is the first Tiger freshman to earn First-Team All-ACC accolades since Kyle Parker (2008). Beer also earned All-ACC Freshman honors.

• Okey earned First-Team All-ACC honors in 2015 and is the Tigers' first two-time, First-Team All-ACC pick since Richie Shaffer (2011,12).

• Krall is the first Tiger reliever to earn All-ACC accolades since Patrick Hogan (2004).

BEER ACC'S TOP PLAYER & FRESHMAN

• Seth Beer was named ACC Player-of-the-Year in a vote by the league head coaches. He was also named ACC Freshman-of-the-Year.

• He is the first freshman to be named ACC Player-of-the-Year, an award that was established in 1969.

• He is the 13th Tiger to earn ACC Player-of-the-Year honors and the first since shortstop Brad Miller in 2011.

• He is third Tiger to earn ACC Freshman-of-the-Year honors and the first since outfielder Patrick Boyd in 1998.

COX DEFENDING AT FIRST

• Junior Andrew Cox has committed just one error in 172 chances at first base in 2016 and has a .994 fielding percentage overall.

• At the plate, he is hitting .235 with two doubles, one triple, two homers, 15 RBIs and three steals in 30 games (21 starts).

• He missed 20 games during the regular season due to a fractured foot.

• He hit his first career home run, a three-run shot, at The Citadel on March 15.

• In his career, he is hitting .225 with 38 runs, nine doubles, one triple, two homers, 26 RBIs and nine steals in 117 games (80 starts).

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