Clemson baseball fans long for the day the Tigers make it back to Omaha and the College World Series.

If the first two seasons under head coach Erik Bakich are any indication, the Tigers have a realistic shot this season. Each of the past two years, Bakich has led Clemson to a national seed, and last season he led the Tigers to the Super Regionals for the first time since 2010. That was also the last time the program appeared in the College World Series.

Veteran outfielder Cam Cannarella, who is a projected first-round pick in the 2025 MLB Draft, is back, as is ace pitcher Aidan Knaak. Being able to build a team around those two players gives Bakich a lot of confidence as the Tigers inch closer to the season opener.

“Having those two guys as the headliners, and then we have some great pieces,” Bakich told D1 Baseball’s Daron Vaught. “It’s hard to talk about what the newcomers are going to do because they haven’t done it yet. But some transfers have some credentials from their previous schools. Then we have plenty of other guys that are coming back that have put up numbers here in the past. So we feel good about our depth and feel good about our chances.”

Bakich feels really good about his pitching staff, which will obviously be headlined by Knaak. With pitchers like Jacob McGovern, Justin Leguernic, Ethan Darden, Drew Tittsworth and Casey Tallent all returning, as well as transfer Michael Gillen being added to the mix, the head coach should have plenty of options for his starting rotation.

“Feel really good about our pitching staff, especially knowing that we have a true number one,” Bakich said. “Then we have options to piece it together after that.”

Bakich is also overly excited about the depth his team has. Andrew Cuifo, Jarren Purify, Jacob Jarrell, Jack Crighton and Tristan Bissetta are all back, He also added high-profile transfers Luke Gaffney, Dominic Listi and Collin Priest. Not to mention a couple of freshmen that might be hard to keep off the field, including Josh Castellani, who showed a lot of promise in fall ball.

“We were counting out and there are about 14 guys that really deserve to be in a 9-man lineup,” Bakich said. “For us, it’s going to be figuring out that revolving door of how to keep everybody happy and to keep everybody in there. But there’s some really good hitters on this team that are going to be sitting on the bench at times. Wish we could hit more than nine but we’ll have some figure it out moments in the early goings of the season to get a lot of guys some action.”

In year one under Bakich, the Tigers hosted a regional. In year two, the program hosted a Super Regional. The next logical step would be for his team to make it to Omaha in year number three, and that is exactly the expectation Bakich has in place.

“Should be a team that has no excuses of why we can’t be competing to be one of the last teams standing.”

Clemson will open the season by playing in the Shriner’s Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas on Feb. 14 against Oklahoma State. The following day the Tigers will face off with Arizona, before finishing with Ole Miss that Sunday.

A limited number of signed replica road signs from Cade Klubnik are available!  Visit Clemson Variety & Frame or purchase online!