By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

Steve Wilkerson can’t remember having a day like he did on Saturday. The Clemson second baseman recorded five hits, drove in three runs and had his first home run of the season in the Tigers’ doubleheader sweep of Wright State at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“I guess I’m seeing the ball pretty well,” a modest Wilkerson said following Clemson’s 6-0 victory in the nightcap. “I’m just trying to make contact and put the ball in play.”

Wilkerson was 2-for-4 with two RBIs in leading Clemson to a 5-3 victory in Game 1. His home run to right center field in bottom of the third inning gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead at the time and energized his teammates for the rest of the day.

“He is feeling really good at the plate right now and has a real good focus on what he is doing,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “He is very confident and hopefully we can keep him in that zone.”

The junior stayed in that zone in the second game, as he rolled to a 3-for-4 afternoon, including a base hit to left centerfield in the bottom of the third that scored Thomas Brittle. That gave Clemson (4-1) a 2-0 lead at the time.

Playing in the number three slot in the lineup, Wilkerson welcomes the pressure that comes with it. So far he isn’t just welcoming it, he has embraced it. The second baseman is hitting .500 (10-20) with seven RBIs, both of which lead the team through the first five games.

“I didn’t know I was going to be hitting there until the day before the first game, and I have just been trying to keep my approach the same,” he said. “I’m trying to stay within myself and not put any added pressure on myself in the three-hole.”

Wilkerson says the first few weeks have definitely given him and the offense some confidence as they continue to find themselves as a team.

“Obviously, when you go up there hot, you have some confidence and you see the ball better,” he said. “It’s always better to hit with confidence and right now I’m feeling good up there.”

The Tigers banged out a combined 18 hits in the two games and a lot of those came with runners in scoring position.

“We got some timely hits and guys up and down the order all contributed and I thought we were aggressive,” Leggett said. “We made some mistakes on the bases, but we were aggressive and we caused some problems too.

“I thought it was a really good day for us and we played really well against a good team.”

Since the sixth inning in Game 3 of their 12-2 win over William & Mary last Sunday, Clemson has registered 32 hits and scored 23 runs.

“I think it got us going. I think so,” Wilkerson said. “The top of our lineup started hitting a little bit and people started feeling more comfortable up there. Once the top of the lineup gets going, then everyone else feeds off that.”

But on Saturday everyone was feeding off Wilkerson, especially when he hit the home run that put the Tigers on top to stay in the first game.

“I suppose it got them going,” he again said modestly. “Subconsciously, maybe it did.”

Clemson will go for the sweep against Wright State tomorrow when the two teams meet for a 1 p.m. start.