Clemson to host NCAA Regional
By: will-vandervort May 28, 2017

The Clemson Tigers were one of 16 programs selected to host an NCAA regional for the 71st-annual Division I Baseball Championship, announced Sunday night by the NCAA. The regional begins Friday (or Thursday if Brigham Young is in the Clemson Regional) at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Regional participants and game times will be announced on Monday at noon on ESPN2.

Clemson being named one of the regional sites was a surprise to many due to the fact the Tigers had lost 12 of their last 18 games to conclude the season, including a 10-2 loss to Virginia in the ACC Tournament on Friday. Many thought Virginia was a lock as a regional host after finishing up ACC play with a 42-14 overall record.

Not only did the Cavaliers beat Clemson in the tournament and have a better overall record, but they also finished the regular season strong and finished one game ahead of the Tigers’ in the ACC standings. They also finished No. 16 in the last RPI rankings by Warren Nolan.com.

However, the Tigers finished 12th in the last RPI rankings and did have a better strength of schedule rating than Virginia. Clemson was No. 13 and Virginia was No. 63.  Also, it not help Virginia’s case that it played 27 games  against teams with an RPI of 100 or greater. Twelve of those 27 had an RPI of 200 or greater.

Clemson also took 2 of 3 games from the Cavaliers during the regular season.

“Obviously I think we should be at home,” Clemson outfielder Weston Jackson said on Friday after the Tigers loss to Virginia. “Things haven’t been going our way and we haven’t been playing the best baseball lately, but I think I speak for everyone else on the team that we are not going to give in. We are not going to cash out the season.

“We are going to treat the next game no matter where we’re playing, just like we did the first game of the season. That’s something that we really can’t control. We will just go out there and play wherever they tell us to play?”

And that will be in Clemson.

Clemson (39-19) was one of five ACC schools chosen to host a regional, joining Florida State, Louisville, North Carolina and Wake Forest. Other host schools include Arkansas, Florida, Houston, Kentucky, Long Beach State, Louisiana State, Oregon State, Southern Mississippi, Stanford, TCU and Texas Tech.

It is the 15th time since 1980 that Clemson hosts a regional and the second year in a row. The Tigers will make their ninth NCAA Tournament appearance in a row, 30th in the last 31 years and 42nd overall.

The Tigers have not won a regional since the 2010 team went all the way to Omaha, Neb., for the College World Series.

Clemson hopes to turn its postseason slump and its current slump around. But one thing is for certain. The Tigers have to play better baseball than they have the last five weeks or this slump could send them into the off-season a whole lot earlier than they’ve planned for.

“The bottom line is you’ve got to get great starting pitching, you’ve got to play good defense and you’ve got to get timely hitting, and this team is capable of doing that,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee said.

“Wherever we go, we’ve shown in the past we can win on the road and it just takes us playing good baseball,” Lee continued. “So hopefully we can put our guys in the right mind frame, play good baseball and compete as hard as they can whatever the scenario is.”

Fans can visit the Clemson athletic ticket office online portal on ClemsonTigers.com to purchase tickets.

REGIONAL TICKET PRICES

  • All-games ticket – $60 (Games 1-6 and a potential Game 7)
  • Single-game adult ticket – $15
  • Single-game youth ticket – $10
  • Single-game general admission ticket – $10 (only available if all reserved seats sell out

2017 NCAA Baseball Tournament Regional sites:

Oregon State (Corvallis, Ore.)

North Carolina (Chapel Hill, N.C)

LSU (Baton Rouge, La.)

Clemson (Clemson, S.C.)

Louisville (Louisville, Ky.

Texas Tech (Lubbock, Texas)

Florida (Gainesville, Fla.)

TCU (Forth Worth, Texas)

Stanford (Silicon Valley, Calif.)

Southern Miss. (Hattiesburg, Miss)

Arkansas (Fayetteville, Ark.)

Kentucky (Lexington, Ky.)

Long Beach State (Long Beach, Calif.)

Florida State (Tallahassee, Fla.)

Houston (Houston, Texas)

Wake Forest (Winston-Salem, N.C.)