By Trey McCurry.
The Tigers travel to Blacksburg this weekend in search of their first ACC series win of the year. TCI previews this weekend’s series.
Clemson (9-10, 2-4 ACC) @ Virginia Tech (11-10, 4-2 ACC)
English Field v Blacksburg, VA
Friday, 5:30PM v Saturday, 2:00PM v Sunday, 1:00PM
Rankings: Clemson – NR Virginia Tech – NR
The Series
Meetings: 64 (first met in 1902)
Series Record: Clemson leads 39-23-2
Record at Va Tech: Virginia Tech leads 14-10-1
Last Meeting(s): Clemson swept three games at Clemson in 2014 (7-6, 12-2, 11-4)
vs. Leggett: Leggett leads 24-8 (23-6 at Clemson, 1-3 at Western Carolina)
The Tigers
2014 Record: 36-25 (15-14; T2nd in ACC Atlantic) – Nashville Regional – NR
Preseason: 3rd in ACC Atlantic Division (7 teams)
Road Record: 5-5…2-3 on road/3-2 neutral (2014: 14-13…11-9 on road/3-4 neutral)
Last week: Lost 9-5 at Coastal Carolina on Tuesday after dropping two of three home games to Notre Dame last weekend (6-1, 6-11, 1-5)
2015 Batting Stats: .289 (5.4 RPG) with 33 2B, 7 3B, 9 HR, 77 BB, 11 HBP, 134 K, 17-27 SB
2015 Pitching Stats: 3.95 ERA, .252 OBA (166 hits), 57 BB & 152 K in 171.0 innings
2015 Fielding Stats: .960 (29 errors in 724 chances)
The Hokies
Head Coach: Patrick Mason (2nd season at Virginia Tech)
2014 Record: 21-31-1 (9-21; 7th ACC Coastal) – no postseason – NR
Preseason: 6th in ACC Coastal Division (out of 7 teams)
Home Record: 4-2 (2014: 15-15)
Last week: Split midweek home games with Radford (won 18-8 Wednesday) and Liberty (lost 12-5 Tuesday) after sweeping three home games from #1 Virginia last weekend (2-1, 3-1, 6-5)
2015 Batting Stats: .259 (5.1 RPG) with 36 2B, 6 3B, 17 HR, 88 BB, 22 HBP, 145 K, 13-20 SB
2015 Pitching Stats: 4.48 ERA, .250 OBA (179 hits), 66 BB & 165 K in 187.0 innings
2015 Fielding Stats: .965 (28 errors in 808 chances)
Projected Starting Lineups
Clemson
C #25 Chris Okey (SO/.265 BA with 6 2B, 2 HR, & 11 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
1B #6 Andrew Cox (*SO/.266 BA with 4 2B, 1 RBI, & 6 R in 19 games in 2015)
2B #5 Chase Pinder (FR/.269 BA with 1 2B, 1 HR, & 9 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
SS #4 Eli White (SO/.304 BA with 4 2B, 2 3B, & 7 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
3B #8 Weston Wilson (SO/.254 BA with 1 2B, 4 HR, & 12 RBI in 18 games in 2015)
LF #26 Reed Rohlman (*FR/.380 BA with 5 2B, 2 HR, & 13 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
CF #18 Tyler Slaton (SR/.167 BA with 2 2B, 2 3B, & 4 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
RF #9 Steven Duggar (JR/.261 BA with 3 2B, 14 RBI, & 10 R in 19 games in 2015)
DH #3 Tyler Krieger (JR/.432 BA with 5 2B, 1 3B, & 11 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
Virginia Tech
C #30 Andrew Mogg (JR/.300 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 9 RBI in 19 games in 2015)
1B #34 Brendon Hayden (SR/.288 BA with 7 2B, 6 HR, & 20 RBI in 21 games in 2015)
2B #8 Alex Perez (SR/.317 BA with 4 2B, 3 HR, & 13 RBI in 21 games in 2015)
SS #2 Ricky Surum (SO/.094 BA with 1 HR, 3 RBI, & 5 R in 20 games in 2015)
3B #5 Erik Payne (*SR/.317 BA with 3 2B, 3 HR, & 15 RBI in 21 games in 2015)
LF #13 Miguel Ceballos (SO/.214 BA with 4 2B, 7 RBI, & 1 R in 14 games in 2015)
CF #18 Saige Jenco (*SO/.310 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 5 RBI in 21 games in 2015)
RF #24 Mac Caples (SO/.182 BA with 1 2B, 1 HR, & 3 RBI in 15 games in 2015)
DH #15 Phil Sciretta (JR/.256 OBA with 1 2B, 9 RBI, & 3 R in 15 games in 2015)
Projected Starting Pitchers
Game One
JR LHP #44 Matthew Crownover (1.36 ERA/4-0/5 starts/33.0 IP/.162 OBA (19 hits)/11 BB/35 K)
vs.
SR LHP #25 Sean Keselica (1.97 ERA/3-1/5 starts/32.0 IP/.214 OBA (25 hits)/5 BB/21 K)
Game Two
JR RHP #19 Brody Koerner (5.00 ERA/2-2/6 app/5 starts/27.0 IP/.280 OBA (30 hits)/10 BB/22 K)
vs.
SO RHP #31 Aaron McGarity (3.86 ERA/2-1/5 starts/32.2 IP/.228 OBA (28 hits)/9 BB/24 K)
Game Three
JR LHP #33 Zach Erwin (3.41 ERA/1-3/6 app/5 starts/29.0 IP/.262 OBA (32 hits)/5 BB/23 K)
vs.
*JR LHP #23 Jon Woodcock (3.99 ERA/2-1/5 starts/29.1 IP/.185 OBA (20 hits)/10 BB/33 K)
Worth Noting
- Clemson is 32-15 all-time on March 20 with a 16-12 mark on the road.
- The Tigers are 20-15-1 all-time on March 21 with a 9-11-1 mark on the road.
- Clemson is 25-18-2 all-time on March 22 with a 11-10-1 mark on the road.
- Since the Hokies joined the ACC, the Tigers lead the series 20-5, winning seven of eight three-game sets.
- Clemson is 8-5 against Virginia Tech away from home in ACC play, winning 8 of 12 games in Blacksburg (one sweep, winning two of three games twice, and winning one of three games once) and falling in an ACC Tournament game in Greensboro, NC.
Tiger Career Stats vs. Virginia Tech
Player AVG G-S AB R H RBI BB K HR Other
Weston Wilson .500 3-2 8 3 4 5 1 1 1
Chris Okey .455 3-3 11 2 5 5 2 1 0
Tyler Slaton .333 3-3 15 3 5 2 1 1 0 2B, 3B
Steven Duggar .300 3-3 10 3 3 2 2 2 0 2B, HBP, 1-1 SB
Tyler Krieger .273 3-3 11 4 3 2 0 0 0 SF, 2-2 SB
Mike Triller .250 3-2 4 2 1 0 0 2 0 2-2 SB
Andrew Cox .000 2-0 3 0 0 0 0 1 0
Eli White .000 2-0 2 0 0 0 1 1 0
Player ERA G-S W-L IP H R ER BB SO OBA
Brody Koerner 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Drew Moyer 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 1 0 0 1 0 .250
Wales Toney 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Zack Erwin 0.00 1-0 0-0 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 .000
Matthew Crownover 1.50 1-1 1-0 6.0 5 2 1 1 2 .208
Clate Schmidt 2.25 1-0 1-0 4.0 5 1 1 0 2 .357
Clay Bates 6.75 2-0 0-0 1.1 2 1 1 2 1 .333
Jake Long 9.00 1-1 0-0 3.0 4 3 3 4 2 .308
Patrick Andrews N/A 1-0 0-0 0.0 2 3 2 1 0 .667