By Will Vandervort.
No one at Clemson right now is pleased with where the baseball program is at the midway point of the 2015 baseball season.
There was hope and optimism after last year’s turbulent end to the season that things might change in regard to the Tigers playing down to their competition, while losing multiple times to mid-major programs.
Well, as we all know, it has not happened. The Tigers have lost to Winthrop and Presbyterian already this season, plus defeats to non-traditional baseball programs such as Notre Dame, Michigan State and West Virginia.
Wake Forest, a program Clemson has traditionally owned, came into Doug Kingsmore last weekend and won two of three games – the first time that has happened.
The Tigers are 6-8 overall in home games this year, and the 14-14 record at the midway point marks the worst for head coach Jack Leggett in his 22 years as head coach. Actually, at this point in the year, it is the worst start to a season by a Clemson team in 51 years.
Obviously, the fans, alumni, athletic director Dan Radakovich, the players, the coaches and Leggett are not happy with the start.
“Every time you lose a game, you look and say, ‘What happened,” Leggett said recently. “Usually, we have four or five guys that have played really well and four or five that did not have a great day so it takes more guys in the order playing better – they are capable. They are great players, they’re great kids and they work extremely hard.
“I have a lot of confidence in them and they have a lot of confidence in themselves, it is just a matter of getting in that really good spot where everyone is starting to feel really good about themselves and we start to roll one after the other.”
But Clemson has not rolled off three consecutive or more wins since February when it won five straight games. Since then the Tigers are 7-11 and have won back-to-back games only twice. Presbyterian snapped their most recent two-game winning streak Wednesday night.
“Yes, we have not started the season the way we would have liked, but to me that means we have an opportunity and a challenge to do something special. We can look back and say, ‘We did not start out great, but look how we finished.’
“I think they buy into that and they are all loyal to each other. They’re a good bunch and I have a lot of confidence in them.”
First half of the season grades:
Hitting:
- Average: The Tigers are hitting .282 which ranks fifth in the ACC. Tyler Krieger, who is having an All-ACC caliber season at the plate, leads the team with a .391 average. Freshman Reed Rohlman is hitting .307, while junior right fielder Steven Duggar is starting to come on too as he has lifted his average .280. Grade: B
- RBIs: The Tigers have struggled with runners in scoring position all year and that came to ahead in Wednesday’s loss to PC. With the tying run at third in the bottom of the ninth and only one out, Clemson failed to produce one more run to extend the game or win it. The Tigers rank ninth in the ACC with runs batted in with 143. Catcher Chris Okey leads the team with four home runs and 27 RBIs. Rohlman is second with 19. Grade: D
- Runs: This goes hand-and-hand with RBIs, but putting pressure on pitchers with runners on base and executing small-ball has again been an issue at times this season. The Tigers have been caught stealing 14 times this year and they have issue laying down bunts and moving runners over. Clemson ranks No. 1 in the ACC when it comes to hitting into double plays – that is one of those stats you do not want to lead. Grade: D
Pitching:
- Starters: Matthew Crownover is having an All-ACC season. His 1.53 ERA ranks third in the ACC among all qualified pitchers and is second among full-time starters. He has a 4-1 record in seven starts and as a 47-15 strikeouts to walks ratio. Zack Erwin has come on the last couple of weeks and has improved his ERA to 3.05 in seven games. He only allowed one earned run in 7.1 innings in last week’s victory over Wake Forest. Brody Koerner has been a shell of himself after pitching a complete-game shutout in Columbia on March 1. Since then, he has had trouble getting people out and his ERA has ballooned to 6.06. The midweek starters have been hit and miss this season. But guys like Clate Schmidt and Jake Long have had their moments. Grade: C
- Bullpen: At one point this season, the Clemson bullpen was getting its job done. The Tigers’ bullpen had a streak of 22 scoreless innings in a row before Winthrop ended it on March 3. But injuries have set this group back and have forced some guys maybe that were not quite ready to have to pitch in difficult situations. Still, there have been some good performances from guys like Taylor Vetzel, Pat Krall, Drew Moyer, Alex Bostic and Schmidt. Grade: C
Fielding:
- This has not been that good and at times has cost the Tigers because of it (see Wake Forest and Notre Dame Series for examples). The Tigers have committed 40 errors this season and their .963 fielding percentage ranks in the bottom part of the ACC. Clemson has allowed 24 unearned runs already this year because of it. Grade: F
Coaching:
- This isn’t easy to grade because Leggett, hitting coach Bradley LeCroy and pitch coaching Dan Pepicelli, along with the rest of the staff, are working their butts off trying to figure out what is going on and how to correct all the inconsistency. Nobody wants to start winning more than these guys, but coaches have to be held accountable even more than the players and right now they, for whatever the reason, are not getting it done. The Tigers are off to their worst start in 51 years. They are having issues getting batters outs, they are not picking up the key hits when they need to and players are making too many mistakes in the field and I don’t just mean errors. Executing on the base pads has been an issue. The good news is these same coaches have been able to turn things around in the past when things were going wrong. Now the question is can they do it again? Or is it too late? Time is starting to run out. Grade: D