By Trey McCurry.
Clemson travels to Fluor Field Tuesday night for the final regular season game in the Upstate. TCI previews tonight’s Palmetto showdown.
Clemson (27-25) @ Furman (23-28)
Tuesday, 7:00PM v Fluor Field v Greenville, SC
The Series
Meetings: 206 (first met in 1896)
Series Record: Clemson leads 145-57-4
Record at Furman: Clemson leads 28-28-2 (Clemson leads 8-0 at Fluor Field)
Last Meeting(s): Clemson won 5-4 at Clemson on March 31 after winning both meetings in 2014 (13-2 at Clemson, 7-2 at Fluor Field)
vs. Leggett: Leggett leads 55-12 (26-5 at Clemson, 29-7 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: 11-10…8-9 on road/3-2 neutral (2014: 14-13…11-9 on road/3-4 neutral)
Last week: Split two midweek games at Wofford (17-9 loss) and at home against College of Charleston (6-3 win) before winning two of three homes games against Georgia Southern last weekend (13-5, 5-4, 4-7)
2015 Batting Stats: .285 (6.2 RPG) with 95 2B, 11 3B, 31 HR, 229 BB, 41 HBP, 354 K, 54-74 SB
2015 Pitching Stats: 3.96 ERA, .255 OBA (465 hits), 164 BB, 424 K in 471.0 innings
2015 Fielding Stats: .961 (78 errors in 2016 chances)
The Paladins
Head Coach: Ron Smith (22nd season at Furman)
2014 Record: 26-33 (11-15; 8th in SoCon) – no postseason – NR
Preseason: 6th in SoCon Coaches Poll & 7th in SoCon Media Poll (out of 9 teams)
Home Record: 14-13…3-2 at Fluor Field (2014: 11-17…2-2 at Fluor Field)
Last week: Lost 7-5 (11 innings) at Charleston South on Wednesday before dropping two of three games at Wofford last weekend (6-4, 2-7, 2-3)
2015 Batting Stats: .292 (6.5 RPG) with 101 2B, 9 3B, 60 HR, 147 BB, 37 HBP, 332 K, 33-52 SB
2015 Pitching Stats: 5.75 ERA, .288 OBA (519 hits), 236 BB, 354 K in 455.2 innings
2015 Fielding Stats: .963 (74 errors in 2013 chances)
Projected Starting Lineups
Clemson
C #25 Chris Okey (SO/.325 BA with 13 2B, 10 HR, & 48 RBI in 52 games in 2015)
1B #15 Glenn Batson (*FR/.215 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 13 RBI in 28 games in 2015)
2B #3 Tyler Krieger (JR/.335 with 13 2B, 1 HR, & 31 RBI in 52 games in 2015)
SS #4 Eli White (SO/.297 BA with 6 2B, 4 HR, & 25 RBI in 52 games in 2015)
3B #8 Weston Wilson (SO/.250 BA with 6 2B, 5 HR, & 22 RBI in 48 games in 2015)
LF #26 Reed Rohlman (*FR/.345 BA with 13 2B, 2 HR, & 44 RBI in 52 games in 2015)
CF #18 Tyler Slaton (SR/.237 BA with 9 2B, 1 HR, & 19 RBI in 52 games in 2015)
RF #9 Steven Duggar (JR/.297 BA with 11 2B, 4 HR, & 37 RBI in 52 games in 2015)
DH #12 Robert Jolly (FR/.391 BA with 3 2B, 6 RBI, & 8 R in 16 games in 2015)
Furman
C #16 Cameron Whitehead (SO/.241 BA with 7 2B, 6 HR, & 24 RBI in 44 games in 2015)
1B #43 Brandon Elmy (FR/.257 BA with 8 2B, 5 HR, & 14 RBI in 36 games in 2015)
2B #27 Jordan Simpson (JR/.351 BA with 12 2B, 14 HR, & 43 RBI in 49 games in 2015)
SS #11 Matt Towarnicky (JR/.200 BA with 3 2B, 1 HR, & 11 RBI in 34 games in 2015)
3B #7 Chris Ohmstede (SR/.300 BA with 10 2B, 12 HR, & 50 RBI in 51 games in 2015)
LF #21 Griffin Davis (JR/.307 BA with 9 2B, 3 HR, & 26 RBI in 42 games in 2015)
CF #3 Sky Overton (SO/.265 BA with 5 2B, 1 HR, & 13 RBI in 40 games in 2015)
RF #6 Jake Jones (SR/.328 BA with 13 2B, 2 HR, & 24 RBI in 47 games in 2015)
DH #22 Blake Chisolm (FR/.354 BA with 13 2B, 3 HR, & 32 RBI in 47 games in 2015)
Projected Starting Pitchers
JR RHP #32 Clate Schmidt (2-3/16 app (5 GS)/3.38 ERA (50.2 IP)/.250 OBA (46 hits)/20 BB/30 K)
vs.
SR LHP #41 Ryan Morse (2-4/12 app (7 GS)/8.57 ERA (42.2 IP)/.209 OBA (40 hits)/25 BB/28 K)
Worth Noting
- Clemson is 28-18-1 all-time on May 12 with a 15-13 mark away from home (9-10 on road/6-3 at neutral sites).
- This is the last of six games against SoCon opponents for the Tigers in 2015. Clemson beat Wofford 11-5 at home on February 25, won 19-2 at Western Carolina on March 24, beat Furman 5-4 at home on March 31, defeated Western Carolina 14-2 at home on April 14, and lost 17-9 at Wofford on May 5.
- The Tigers are 16-6 all-time at Fluor Field. Clemson is 8-0 against Furman, 1-4 against South Carolina, 3-1 against Michigan State, 1-1 against Presbyterian College, and 1-0 against Elon, UNLV, & Wofford.
- Clemson is 407-136-6 all-time against current SoCon members (has not faced Samford), including a 168-85-5 mark away from home (151-81-3 on road/17-4-2 neutral).
- Jack Leggett is 186-50 all-time against current SoCon members (has not faced Samford), including a 90-19 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. Furman
Player AVG G-S AB R H RBI BB K HR Other
Weston Wilson .600 3-3 10 2 6 3 1 0 0 2B, 3-3 SB
Tyler Krieger .412 5-5 17 6 7 2 6 2 0 2B, 4-5 SB
Maleeke Gibson .400 2-2 10 3 4 4 0 2 0 3-3 SB
Mike Triller .333 3-0 3 2 1 0 2 2 0 1-1 SB
Steven Duggar .304 5-5 23 2 7 5 2 2 0 2B, SF, 3-4 SB
Tyler Slaton .200 7-5 15 6 3 4 4 4 0 2B, 3 HBP, SF, 2-2 SB
Chris Okey .167 3-3 12 1 2 3 1 3 1 3B
Andrew Cox .000 3-1 5 1 0 0 1 3 0
Eli White .000 2-1 5 0 0 0 0 4 0
Chase Pinder .000 1-1 4 0 0 1 0 1 0 HBP
Reed Rohlman .000 1-1 4 1 0 0 1 0 0
Player ERA G-S W-L IP H R ER BB SO OBA
Zack Erwin 0.00 2-0 1-0 8.2 3 0 0 3 6 .107
Brody Koerner 0.00 1-1 1-0 6.0 1 0 0 6 7 .056
Clay Bates 0.00 2-0 0-0 3.0 1 0 0 0 1 .111
Taylor Vetzel 0.00 1-0 1-0 2.2 2 0 0 0 4 .200
Jake Long ^ 0.00 2-1 0-0 2.0 3 1 0 3 4 .300
Drew Moyer 0.00 2-0 1-0 1.1 2 0 0 0 1 .400
Patrick Andrews 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 2 2 0 0 0 .333
Kevin Pohle 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 .333
Clate Schmidt 3.48 2-2 0-0 10.1 9 6 4 3 2 .231
Wales Toney 9.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 .200
Pat Krall N/A 1-0 0-0 0.0 0 0 0 1 0 N/A
^ – Long faced Furman while at East Tennessee State in 2012.