When Cole Cinnamond and his father visited Clemson last weekend, he wasn’t expecting to leave campus having committed to the Tigers.

However, that is exactly how things played out, as the two-way star, out of Great Bridge High (VA), realized playing for Erik Bakich was an opportunity he could not pass up.

Being one of the Top 50 players in the 2027 recruiting class, Cinnamond was working with a list of finalists that included Florida, Virginia, Duke and Georgia Tech, along with Clemson. Each school got visits, with the Tigers getting the final one.

“The original plan going in was, ok, last visit, we are going to wait until after this one to make our decision,” Cinnamond told The Clemson Insider. “Then I just fell in love with it. It felt like home. It just felt right. Called my mom why we were down there, and we made our decision there.”

Bakich’s players’ first mentality, along with the culture he has created inside the program, really resonated. Not only does he already feel like family with Bakich, but he’s also formed the same kind of relationship with most of the members of the staff, including pitching coach Jimmy Belanger.

“Really, just the atmosphere with Coach Bakich,” he said. “Just creating the family atmosphere, creating a family away from your own. If you need a home-cooked meal, you can go to his house. You can go to Belly’s house. You can go to any of the coaches’ houses. The amount of hard work they put into it and put into the players, especially. I knew this was the last visit. I was going on five visits, and this was the last one.”

Seeing Bakich pushing the envelope with things like the exhibitions against the Savannah Bananas also captivated Cinnamond.

“What he does for the program is amazing,” Cinnamond said. “I love it. Being able to do different things while still playing baseball and still competing — obviously, the standard is still the same, you are just going to have a little more fun. You are going into the Banana Ball atmosphere. I feel like it is breaking down a barrier.”

On top of being one of the Top 50 players in his class, Cinnamond is as good as any left-handed pitching prospect in the country. His fastball is already topping out in the mid-90s, and he has a really good breaking ball that he consistently throws for strikes. Add in that he swings a big stick as a left-handed hitter, and it is easy to see why he was so coveted.

Being a player of that caliber, Cinnamond is quite familiar with the money aspect that comes with a pitcher of his stature. Hearing Bakich’s comments regarding the transfer portal and not being willing to pay a transfer more than the players already on the roster also struck a chord.

Cinnamond believes there is nothing bigger than the chemistry in the dugout, and he loves that Bakich places a premium on it.

“That is massive. There are schools that offer a ton of money, and not losing the locker room is the biggest thing,” Cinnamond added. “And that can happen when you offer guys who have never stepped foot on campus too much money.”

Cinnamond is also the kind of prospect that will undoubtedly catch the eyes of the Major League scouts. While it is an avenue that he can’t completely rule out due to the unknowns at this point, Cinnamond maintains that as of now, the plan is to go to school and play for Bakich at Clemson.

“We have thought about it definitely,” Cinnamond said. “Because next year is the draft year. But the goal is to definitely go to college. If I get good enough to the point where the draft is a real possibility, I know even EB would push towards it. But the goal has always been to get a full ride. To go to school and get school paid for. That has been the goal from the very beginning. My parents never really spoke about the draft or any of that stuff. It was just work hard. Head down, work hard, and let the results come to you. I mean, we have thought about it a little bit, but not as much as some would say.”