CLEMSON — Erik Bakich does not want the storyline regarding Friday’s opening day to be about having to start the season on Feb. 16, when he feels the college baseball season can start just as easily in March.
Bakich’s 10th-ranked Clemson Tigers start the new season on Friday when they host Xavier in Game 1 of a three-game set at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Though pushing the start of the season back would benefit the game’s pitchers, it could also help crossover basketball and baseball fans decide what they want to see and help with travel expenses for programs in the North and Midwest, who play a lot of their games in the South or the southern West Coast this time of the year.
“As part of that proposal years ago to move the season back, I still stand by that proposal to get the college baseball season out of February,” Bakich said.
Bakich is excited about his 2024 Clemson Baseball team and cannot wait to play Xavier. Once again, Doug Kingsmore Stadium is expected to have a packed house for Game 1 of the three-game slate this weekend, but as he mentioned, Clemson’s and Xavier’s pitching staff will not be at full strength.
“The format of college baseball, with only a few weeks of ramp time, when you open the season the same week as Valentine’s Day, it does not lend itself to pitchers being built up,” Clemson’s head coach said. “It just creates a situation where you are fortunate you have depth and can use a lot of pitching on opening week.
“We are fortunate to be in that situation where we do have a lot of depth. So, it is a benefit for us that we do get to use a lot of guys.”
Bakich was not ready to release who will get the baseball first on opening day and which three pitchers will get the start. However, he did say, “We will not overextend anyone this weekend. We will keep guys on a strict pitch count.”
Clemson, and all of college baseball, started preparation for the 2024 season on Jan. 26, three weeks before first pitch.
“I don’t know how far back we will go in March, but college baseball season should start in March,” Bakich said. “The fact college baseball gets less ramp time than professional baseball does not make a whole lot of sense.”
Some proponents will also use the weather as a reason for moving the season back a few weeks, but in Bakich’s mind that is not as big of an issue. As Michigan’s former head coach, he has a pretty good idea on how weather can affect baseball in the North.
“When we were at Michigan, we did not complain about the weather,” he said. “The weather is the weather, but it is basketball season, and we have a lot of great Clemson fans and I hope we have an awesome crowd here on opening day. I think the more you can separate basketball and baseball season, the better it is for our sport.
“And then you do have half the country that is spending the money to travel these next few weeks, so it would certainly help their bottom lines financially if they did not have to do that, so there are a lot of benefits to it.”
Clemson opens the new season on Friday. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
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