By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
If Jack Leggett was the head coach of an opposing team right now, he would not want to play his Clemson Tigers.
Though his 14th-ranked Tigers lost the final two games of the Florida State series to close out the regular season, Clemson’s head coach feels his squad is ready to make a run in the postseason. The postseason will begin Wednesday in the ACC Tournament when Clemson takes on No. 10 NC State at 7 p.m. from Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, NC.
“Early in the season I saw us as a pretty good team and late in the season, I see us as a much better team and team that I would not want to bump into if I was playing us,” Leggett said Monday. “I think that is kind of how I look at it.
“Hopefully, we can play well, but we have some really good baseball (games) ahead of us this weekend and a lot will tell how far we have come.”
The Tigers (39-17) have come a long way since April 1. On that day, they were 16-11 heading into Game 3 of their series at then top-ranked North Carolina. Clemson fought off the Tar Heels that evening in 11 innings to start an 11-game winning streak. Later on, it carried a nine-game winning streak which ended in Tallahassee, Fla., this past weekend.
Clemson closed the season by winning 23 of its last 29 games.
“Every team gets better and usually you play your best baseball at the end of the season, but this team in particular, because we have played so many young guys, has gotten better and better,” Leggett said. “You can probably see it more from the stands or (the press box). I can definitely see it as a coach. I see our players getting more mature and more confident.”
Now the question is has Clemson done enough to host a regional in next week’s NCAA Tournament?
“We need to win a game just to kind of keep the way we have been playing going,” catcher Garrett Boulware said. “Obviously, I think it will help. I don’t want to go up there and go (0-3) so if we could win one or two games that we would be really nice and that would make us feel a lot more comfortable about the whole regional situation.”
The Tigers appear to be in pretty good position to host a regional already. Clemson is ranked No. 12 in the latest RPI rankings and its strength of schedule is ranked seventh. Clemson also has 13 wins vs. top 50 teams and 20 against top 100 opponents.
Those numbers should only go up after the ACC Tournament. After playing NC State, the Tigers will take on No. 3 North Carolina on Friday and then Miami on Saturday. The Tar Heels have a No. 2 RPI ranking, while the Hurricanes are No. 20. NC State ranks No. 9 in the RPI standings.
In all, the ACC has seven teams in the top 20 of the RPI rankings and Georgia Tech stands at No. 22.
“Our (pool) is tough, but when you look at the other side, it is just as tough,” Boulware said. “The ACC as a whole this year is a good conference. You can’t pick an easier (Pool) because Virginia is really good and so is UNC. NC State is obviously a tough team and Miami gave us trouble when we were down there so there is really not an easy route in this tournament.
“It’s going to be a tough weekend.”
And that includes the teams that have to play Clemson. The Tigers had a combined record of 4-5 against NC State, UNC and Miami.
“It is strong, very strong. Both sides (of the tournament) are strong,” Leggett said. “There is no advantage from one to the other when we got NC State, North Carolina and Miami on our side, then you have to be on your toes.
“Obviously, we have played all three of them so we know what to expect, but at the same time they all have very good ball clubs.”