Clemson NCAA Tournament regional notes |
The Tigers are the No.3 seed in the Oxford Regional with No. 1 seed Mississippi, No. 2 seed Illinois and No. 4 seed Jacksonville State.
REGIONAL SETUP • Who – Clemson (34-24) vs. Illinois (36-19) • Best Ranking – CU – NR; ILL – No. NR • When – Friday (4 p.m. EDT) • Where – Oxford, Miss. (Swayze Field) • Watch – ESPNU • Video Announcers – Lance Cormier, Richard Cross • Listen (Radio) – WCCP (105.5 FM), ESPN Upstate • Listen (Internet) – ClemsonTigers.com, TuneIn • Live Stats – ClemsonTigers.com • Social Media – ClemsonBaseball SERIES HISTORY • Overall Record – Clemson leads 3-0 (1986-00) • Record at Neutral – 0-0 • Record in NCAA Tournament – Clemson leads 1-0 (2000) STARTING PITCHERS • LHP Jacob Hennessy (CU - 4-1, 3.72 ERA) vs. RHP Ty Weber (ILL - 4-2, 2.97) CLEMSON OVERVIEW • Clemson, who has a 3-1 neutral record, went 1-1 in the ACC Tournament, including a 7-1 win over No. 7 Louisville. • The Tigers are averaging 6.6 runs per game and hitting .266 with a .365 on-base percentage, .444 slugging percentage and 91 steals. • The pitching staff has a 4.39 ERA, .245 opponents’ batting average and 2.30 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Clemson is fielding .971. ILLINOIS OVERVIEW • Illinois is under the leadership of 14th-year Head Coach Dan Hartleb. • The Fighting Illini lost both games in their conference tournament. They are hitting .279 and have a 3.66 ERA and .982 fielding percentage. • Grant Van Scoy is hitting .347, Zac Taylor is batting .331 with 10 homers, 28 RBIs and 20 steals and Garrett Acton has 19 saves. TIGERS IN THE OXFORD REGIONAL • Clemson (34-24), the No. 3 seed, opens the Oxford Regional by playing No. 2 seed Illinois (36-19) on Friday at 4 p.m. EDT on ESPNU. • The Tigers are the designated visiting team on Friday and will be in the third-base dugout. • The winner of Clemson’s game plays the winner of the game between No. 1 seed Mississippi (37-25) and No. 4 seed Jacksonville State (37-21). • The winner of the Oxford Regional plays the winner of the Fayetteville (Ark.) Regional from June 7-10. • The Tigers won both games against Illinois at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in 1986 and won again 9-3 in the 2000 Clemson Regional. • Clemson is 7-8 against Mississippi, with the last meeting in 1984. All 15 games have been on the road, with just one neutral-site contest. • Clemson has never played Jacksonville State. Both were in the 2010 Auburn Regional, but they never met. FORMER TIGER ASSISTANTS IN TOURNEY • Five head coaches of teams in the 2019 NCAA Tournament are former Clemson assistant coaches. • Tim Corbin (Vanderbilt) was on the staff of four College World teams (1995,96,00,02) at Clemson from 1994-02 under Head Coach Jack Leggett. • Kevin O’Sullivan (Florida) was on the staff of three College World Series teams (2000,02,06) at Clemson as pitching coach from 1999-07. • Tim Corbin and Kevin O’Sullivan were on the same Tiger coaching staff for four seasons from 1999-02. • Erik Bakich (Michigan) was the volunteer assistant coach on Clemson’s 2002 College World Series team. • Tim Corbin, Kevin O’Sullivan and Erik Bakich were all assistant coaches on Clemson’s 2002 College World Series team under Jack Leggett. • Randy Mazey (West Virginia), a former Tiger player (1985-88), was a volunteer assistant (1990,91) and pitching coach (1992,93) at Clemson. • Jim Schlossnagle (TCU) was the volunteer assistant coach at Clemson in 1993 on the same staff with Randy Mazey. OXFORD REGIONAL STRONG • The four teams in the Oxford Regional have combined for 84 NCAA Tournament appearances (including 2019). • Clemson is making its 44th appearance, followed by 23 by Mississippi, 12 by Illinois and five by Jacksonville State. • The Oxford Regional’s 84 combined NCAA Tournament berths are fifth-most of any regional. • In both 2015 and 2016, Clemson played in a regional with the most combined appearances by the teams (2015 Fullerton, 2016 Clemson). • The 2017 Clemson Regional featured the third-most combined appearances, while the 2018 Clemson Regional was tied for third most. CLEMSON’S NCAA TOURNEY HISTORY • The Tigers play in their 44th all-time NCAA regional when it competes in the 2019 Oxford Regional. • The 44 appearances are fifth most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (59), Florida State (57), Miami (Fla.) (46) and Oklahoma State (45). • Clemson has been to the NCAA Tournament every year since 1987 except one (2008), or 32 of the last 33 years (including 2019). • Clemson is one of only five schools in the nation to play in the NCAA Tournament each of the last 11 seasons (including 2019). • The others are Florida, Florida State, Texas A&M and Vanderbilt. • Clemson has made nine super regional appearances, with its last in 2010. • The Tigers have made 12 trips to the College World Series, with its last in 2010. • Clemson has a 120-93 record (.563) in NCAA Tournament games. QUICK HITS • Clemson has a 9-7 record against top-25 teams, all of which have been in the top 16. The Tigers are also 6-3 against top-10 teams. • Sixteen of Clemson’s 24 losses have been by one run, two runs or in extra innings, including eight one-run losses. • A total of 25 Tigers have started at least one game in 2019. ACC TOURNAMENT RECAP • Clemson had a 1-1 record in the ACC Tournament at Durham, N.C., with games on May 21 and May 23. • Boston College defeated the Tigers 7-5 in 11 innings before Clemson downed No. 7 Louisville 7-1. • The Tigers hit .253 with a 3.15 ERA and .167 opponents’ batting average. • Mat Clark, who allowed just one hit, retired the first 22 batters and took a no-hitter into the ninth inning in the win over the Cardinals. • Clark was named to the All-ACC Tournament team as one of two starting pitchers. • Jordan Greene went 4-for-6 with an RBI, two runs and a walk in two games.
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