ARLINGTON, TX. — For the first time in two decades, the Clemson Baseball team will open the season away from the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The No. 15 Tigers arrived in Arlington on Wednesday ahead of Friday’s season opener against No. 17 Oklahoma State in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown. First pitch is set for noon (EST).

After watching Florida celebrate a walk-off win in the Super Regional in Clemson last year, it’s been a long offseason. For that reason, there is a chip firmly in place on the shoulders of this team.

Throughout fall ball and into the preseason, head coach Erik Bakich has seen his team use the way last season ended as motivation to begin another run to the postseason this weekend in Arlington.

“Excited for Team 128,” Bakich said. “They’ve been preparing, working hard, doing all the things you would expect a high-level team to do. Very consistent. Consistent chip on the shoulder. A bad taste in their mouth the way the last season ended.”

Opening in Arlington means playing at Globe Life Field, home of the Texas Rangers. Playing in a venue that holds more than 40K fans will be new to many of the players on the Clemson roster.

For that reason, Bakich was planning to have the team take in the stadium after arriving on Wednesday. Part of that plan included what he called a “Hoosiers moment,” a throwback to the wildly successful movie released in 1986.

In that movie, a small-town high school in Indiana made an improbable run to the state title game. Gene Hackman, who played the part of coach Norman Dale, famously broke out a tape measure to show his team the baskets were still 10 feet high after they were awestruck due to the larger arena.

“I guess we’ll probably have them kind of take it in as a fan for a minute, and just kind of that cool factor of, ‘Wow, this is a childhood dream to play in a Major League stadium,'” Bakich said. “But then we’ll also kind of that Hoosiers moment. It’s still 60 feet, six inches. Still 90-foot bases. It’s still baseball between the white lines.”

“So, let’s just keep it about baseball and make it about how we play during the game and between the lines. Not get caught up in this is one of the most biggest, grandiose stadiums in the country. Just make it about baseball once the game starts.”

However, whether his team opens at home or halfway across the country, the goal remains the same. That is to guide this Clemson program to its first appearance in the College World Series since 2010.

“These guys are about all the right things and it certainly feels like we are on the right track to have a great season,” Bakich said. “But we do it because we want all this preparation to earn the opportunity to get hot at the end and get past where we left off and eventually compete to bring Clemson its first national championship.”

Clemson opens against No. 17 Oklahoma State on Friday (noon EST), then will play No. 21 Arizona on Saturday (noon EST), before finishing up with Ole Miss on Sunday (3:30 pm EST).

The Tigers will be without Bakich for the first two games as he serves a suspension due to his ejection in the season finale last season. Assistant Nick Schnabel will serve as head coach in his place.