By Trey McCurry.

The Tigers return to the field Tuesday afternoon when they travel to Western Carolina.  TCI previews today’s game.

Clemson (11-11) @ Western Carolina (9-11)

Tuesday, 5:00PM v Hennon Stadium v Cullowhee, NC

The Series

Meetings:                   73 (first met in 1974)

Series Record:            Clemson leads 57-16

Record at Western:     Clemson leads 16-11

Last Meeting(s):          Teams split two meetings in 2014 as each team won at home, Western winning 18-10 in Cullowhee and Clemson winning 11-3 at DKS.

vs. Leggett:                Leggett leads 31-11 (31-11 at Clemson…Leggett was 302-229 in 9 seasons as the head coach at Western Carolina, including a 3-15 mark against Clemson)

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:              7-6…4-4 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 before winning two of three games at Virginia Tech last weekend (4-0 in 10 inn, 15-8, 3-4 in 12 inn)

2015 Batting Stats:      .286 (5.7 RPG) with 40 2B, 9 3B, 12 HR, 93 BB, 14 HBP, 161 K, 24-37 SB

2015 Pitching Stats:     3.89 ERA, .252 OBA (196 hits), 67 BB, 177 K in 201.1 innings

2015 Fielding Stats:     .965 (30 errors in 857 chances)

The Catamounts

Head Coach:               Bobby Moranda (8th season at WCU)

2014 Record:               37-18 (20-6; 1st in SoCon) – no postseason – NR

Preseason:                 1st in SoCon Coaches & Media Polls (out of 9 teams)

Home Record:            6-4 (2014: 23-3)

Last week:                  Defeated Kennesaw State 5-4 at home on Wednesday before losing two of three games at UNC Greensboro last weekend (2-17, 17-6, 4-7)

2015 Batting Stats:      .286 (7.0 RPG) with 40 2B, 4 3B, 11 HR, 71 BB, 33 HBP, 150 K, 37-46 SB

2015 Pitching Stats:     6.10 ERA, .282 OBA (194 hits), 111 BB, 183 K in 174.0 innings

2015 Fielding Stats:     .954 (34 errors in 741 chances)

Projected Starting Lineups

Clemson

C        #25 Chris Okey (SO/.277 BA with 7 2B, 3 HR, & 18 RBI in 22 games in 2015)

1B      #15 Glenn Batson (*FR/.158 BA with 1 2B, 1 HR, & 6 RBI in 10 games in 2015)

2B      #5 Chase Pinder (FR/.272 BA with 2 2B, 2 HR, & 12 RBI in 22 games in 2015)

SS      #4 Eli White (SO/.284 BA with 4 2B, 2 3B, & 7 RBI in 22 games in 2015)

3B      #8 Weston Wilson (SO/.259 BA with 2 2B, 4 HR, & 14 RBI in 21 games in 2015)

LF      #26 Reed Rohlman (*FR/.369 BA with 7 2B, 2 HR, & 17 RBI in 22 games in 2015)

CF      #18 Tyler Slaton (SR/.160 BA with 2 2B, 3 3B, & 4 RBI in 22 games in 2015)

RF      #9 Steven Duggar (JR/.259 BA with 4 2B, 15 RBI, & 13 R in 22 games in 2015)

DH     #3 Tyler Krieger (JR/.420 with 6 2B, 1 3B, & 11 RBI in 22 games in 2015)

Western Carolina

C        #7 Danny Bermudez (JR/.301 BA with 4 2B, 4 HR, & 23 RBI in 19 games in 2015)

1B      #15 Caleb Robinson (FR/.250 BA with 3 2B, 6 RBI, & 11 R in 19 games in 2015)

2B      #1 Bradley Strong (SR/.357 BA with 9 2B, 1 HR, & 23 RBI in 20 games in 2015)

SS      #5 Brett Pope (FR/.313 BA with 2 2B, 6 RBI, & 22 R in 20 games in 2015)

3B      #9 Reece Strong (JR/.395 BA with 3 2B, 1 HR, & 11 RBI in 16 games in 2015)

LF      #12 Austin Atwell (*JR/.161 BA with 3 2B, 7 RBI, & 9 R in 18 games in 2015)

CF      #34 Matthew Koehler (FR/.176 BA with 1 RBI, 1 R, & 1 BB in 9 games in 2015)

RF      #2 Kramer Ferrell (JR/.306 BA with 6 2B, 2 HR, & 14 RBI in 20 games in 2015)

DH     #17 Matt Smith (SO/.301 BA with 5 2B, 2 HR, & 13 RBI in 20 games in 2015)

Projected Starting Pitchers

*SO RHP #41 Taylor Vetzel (0-0/6 app (0 GS)/1.69 ERA (5.1 IP)/.167 OBA (3 hits)/2 BB/4 K)

vs.

FR LHP #33 Corey Sikes (1-0/9 app (1 GS)/8.56 ERA (13.2 IP)/.295 OBA (18 hits)/4 BB/20 K)

Worth Noting

• Clemson is 28-20-1 all-time on March 24 with a 6-10 mark on the road.
• This is the second of five games against SoCon opponents for the Tigers in 2015. Clemson beat Wofford 11-5 at home on February 25 and will host Furman on March 31, host Western Carolina on April 14, and face Furman at Fluor Field on May 12.
• The Tigers are 404-135-6 all-time against current SoCon members (have not face Samford), including a 167-84-5 mark away from home (150-80-3 on road; 17-4-2 at neutral sites).
• Jack Leggett is 183-49 all-time against current SoCon members (has not faced Samford), including an 87-18 mark as Clemson’s head coach.
• Leggett won five consecutive SoCon titles (1985-89) in his nine seasons at Western Carolina while appearing in the conference tournament title game eight times in his nine seasons.

Tiger Career Stats vs. Western Carolina

Player                             AVG   G-S     AB      R        H       RBI     BB      K        HR     Other

Mike Triller            .667    3-0     6        1        4        2        0        0        0

Tyler Krieger          .462    3-3     13      3        6        4        2        1        0        2B, SF, 1-1 SB

Weston Wilson       .400    2-2     5        1        2        2        2        1        0

Tyler Slaton           .333    4-4     18      4        6        2        3        2        0

Steven Duggar        .313    4-4     16      7        5        2        3        4        0        2B, 2 SH, 3-3 SB

Chris Okey             .200    2-2     5        3        1        0        2        0        0        HBP

Eli White                .000    2-1     5        0        0        2        0        2        0        1-1 SB

Andrew Cox           .000    2-1     1        0        0        0        0        1        0

Maleeke Gibson      .000    1-0     2        0        0        0        0        1        0

Player                             ERA    G-S     W-L    IP       H       R        ER      BB      SO      OBA

Patrick Andrews     0.00    3-0     1-1     3.1     4        4        0        1        5        .267

Brody Koerner        0.00    2-0     0-0     2.2     2        0        0        3        5        .200

Jake Long              0.00    1-0     0-0     1.0     0        0        0        1        1        .000

Zack Erwin             5.40    4-2     2-0     16.2    14      11      10      6        19      .233

Clate Schmidt                  5.40    1-0     0-0     1.2     4        2        1        0        3        .400

Clay Bates              13.50  3-0     0-0     2.0     5        3        3        0        1        .455

Drew Moyer           21.60  2-0     0-0     1.2     4        4        4        3        2        .444

Alex Bostic             36.00  1-1     0-1     1.0     2        5        4        3        1        .400

Kevin Pohle            40.50  1-0     0-0     0.2     2        3        3        1        1        .500