CLEMSON — Thanks to Clemson basketball’s run in the NCAA Tournament, Clemson baseball quietly ran its record to 25-3 in the first half of the season.

At the midway point, the Tigers are ranked No. 2 nationally in all the major college baseball polls, while their 25-3 record is the program’s best since it went 26-2 to start the 2002 campaign. Of course, that Clemson team went on to the semifinals of the College World Series and finished ranked third in the nation.

Can this year’s Clemson team do the same or even better?

There is still a lot of baseball to be played, including a three-game series this weekend in South Bend, Ind., as the Tigers visit Notre Dame.

How are the Tigers off to such a good start? They are good at everything, that is how.

Clemson is averaging 8.4 runs per game and is hitting .294 as a team. The defense has been solid, while the pitching staff has a 3.49 ERA and is allowing opponents to bat just .231. They have a 2.5 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

The Tigers also have Erik Bakich as their head coach. He is the common denominator between the 2002 team and this year’s squad. Bakich was Jack Leggett’s volunteer coach in 2002.

Leggett now serves as Bakich’s program development coach.

“It is about being consistently good, and that is what great teams are,” Bakich said following Tuesday’s 11-1 win over USC Upstate at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C.

Clemson has been consistently good from the start. The Tigers have won every season-series this year (11), including wins over nationally ranked teams such as South Carolina, Duke and Florida State.

The also became the first team in nearly three years to win a baseball series at Miami and they swept NCAA Tournament teams in Xavier and UNC Greensboro, while also taking two of three from Kennesaw State, another program that made last year’s tournament.

The Tigers currently rank No. 1 in the latest baseball RPI. They have the No. 2 strength of schedule, and they have a 9-2 record against Quad 1 opponents and a 6-1 mark against Quad 2 teams.

Clemson’s 15 combined Quad 1 and 2 wins rank first nationally and are six more than the second closest team (Arkansas).

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