By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
DURHAM, N.C. – Now all 14th-ranked Clemson can do is wait.
Needing only one win in the ACC Tournament this past week to perhaps solidify a home regional in the NCAA Tournament next weekend, the Tigers must wait around all day Sunday, while watching other teams determine if they will be home in the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium or on the road when they begin their journey to Omaha and the 2013 College World Series.
Clemson (39-20) went 0-3 in the ACC Tournament this past week and placed itself on the bubble of being one of the 16 regional sites select by the NCAA host committee for the 2013 NCAA Baseball Tournament. The 16 sites will be announced tonight at 9 p.m.
The Tigers, along with Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Arkansas and South Alabama, are being considered for one of the final two spots.
“It is frustrating not having control over it,” Clemson catcher Garrett Boulware said. “We needed to have one (win) this weekend to solidify it, now it is kind of up in the air. It’s frustrating, but we are going to go wherever we go and play the same game we have played all year.”
If Virginia Tech (38-19) is able to knock off No. 3 North Carolina in the ACC Championship game today, then Clemson may already know its fate before the regionals are officially announced tonight. The Hokies are almost a lock to host if they win the ACC title, but a loss could put Clemson back in contention.
As of this morning, the Tigers and Hokies are comparable when it comes to things like RPI, strength of schedule and wins vs. top 50 teams. Where Virginia Tech has an advantage is on the field, where it has won 13 of its last 14 games and comes into today’s ACC Championship game on an eight-game win streak.
Though the Tigers had won 23 of 27 games from April 1-May 16, they have stumbled in the last two weeks and are on a five-game losing streak—their longest of the year—heading into the NCAA Tournament.
Where Clemson has the advantage is Doug Kingsmore Stadium where it is more equipped to handle the mass media that descends on an NCAA Regional as well as more guaranteed money for the NCAA than Virginia Tech will have at English Field.
Clemson drew an average paid attendance of 4,741 fans for its 35 home games this year, which ranks seventh nationally, while the Hokies averaged nearly 3,000 less per game. Doug Kingsmore Stadium can hold 6,346 fans.
“We will figure out where we go and what we will do and that kind of thing. If we are at home or away, we just have to do whatever happens,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said.
Though he would prefer to play at home and he thinks his team’s overall body of work should out way what happened in the three games at the ACC Tournament, Leggett’s main concern is making sure they are ready for whatever regional they will play in.
“We are not going to let the last three games define what we have accomplished all season long,” he said. “We still have some games ahead of us and we will be looking forward to playing those and we will be in a good frame of mind when it comes about.
“We had a rough weekend, but we are a good ball club. We have to regroup, go back and take a few days off and get ourselves in the right frame of mind. We have to get some rhythm and timing back and get a little confidence going, again. We will be where we need to be next week.
“I would not want to play us next weekend.”