Clemson battles Notre Dame this weekend in a crucial ACC series in South Bend.
The Clemson Insider previews the three-game series in this edition of Countdown to First Pitch. Game 1 starts today at 1 p.m.
Sophomore Jacob Hennessy will start Game 1 for the Tigers.
No. 6 Clemson (23-6, 8-4 ACC) at Notre Dame (12-16, 4-8 ACC)
Sixth-ranked Clemson travels to South Bend to take on Notre Dame in a three-game ACC series this weekend. The series at Frank Eck Stadium has had some schedule changes with Saturday’s first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m. followed by a Sunday doubleheader (game times to be announced).
The Series
Meetings: 13 (first met in 1994)
Series Record: Clemson leads 8-5
Record at ND: Clemson leads 4-2
Last Meeting(s): Clemson swept three games at Clemson in 2017 (4-1, 6-5, 4-0)
- Lee: Lee leads 6-0 (6-0 at CU)
Worth Noting
- Clemson is 35-21-1 all-time on April 6 with a 14-8-1 mark on the road.
- The Tigers are 41-21-1 all-time on April 7 with a 16-12 mark on the road.
- Clemson is 44-17 all-time on April 8 with a 14-10 mark on the road.
- The Tigers have won six in a row against Notre Dame after the Fighting Irish won five of the first seven meetings in the series.
- While 12 of the 13 all-time meetings have come as ACC foes, the initial meeting in 1994 was an 8-1 Notre Dame win in the NCAA East Regional at Clemson.
The Tigers
2017 Record: 42-21 (17-13; 3rd Atlantic) – Clemson Regional – 22 USA, 23 BA, 24 D1, 25 CB
2018 Preseason: 3rd in ACC Atlantic Division (7 teams)
Road Record: 3-3 (11-8 in 2017)
Last Week: Beat #18 Coastal Carolina 6-1 at home on Tuesday after sweeping three home games from Boston College (10-2, 9-4, 8-3) over the weekend
2018 Batting Stats: .249 (6.1 RPG) with 41 2B, 1 3B, 39 HR, 164 BB, 20 HBP, 242 K, 18-27 SB
2018 Pitching Stats: 3.11 ERA, .234 OBA (228 hits), 105 BB & 247 K in 260.2 innings
2018 Fielding Stats: .974 (29 errors in 1100 chances)
The Fighting Irish
Head Coach: Mik Aoki (8th season at NC)
2017 Record: 26-32 (10-20; 7th Atlantic) – N/A – NR
2018 Preseason: 7th in ACC Atlantic (out of 7 teams)
Home Record: 4-3 (18-9 in 2017)
Last Week: Beat Chicago State 18-4 at home on Tuesday after being swept in a three-game road series at #13 Duke (4-5, 3-6, 4-16) last weekend
2018 Batting Stats: .268 (5.7 RPG) with 46 2B, 8 3B, 17 HR, 126 BB, 38 HBP, 197 K, 35-46 SB
2018 Pitching Stats: 5.44 ERA, .258 OBA (237 hits), 160 BB & 188 K in 246.1 innings
2018 Fielding Stats: .974 (27 errors in 1024 chances)
Projected Starting Lineups
Clemson
C 10 Kyle Wilkie (SO/.226 BA with 4 2B, 14 RBI, & 13 BB in 28 games in 2018)
1B 27 Chris Williams (SR/.278 BA with 6 2B, 7 HR, & 30 RBI in 29 games in 2018)
2B 9 Jordan Greene (JR/.300 BA with 1 2B, 2 HR, & 4 RBI in 16 games in 2018)
SS 8 Logan Davidson (SO/.275 BA with 5 2B, 4 HR, & 13 RBI in 29 games in 2018)
3B 25 Patrick Cromwell (SR/.253 BA with 3 2B, 2 HR, & 13 RBI in 29 games in 2018)
LF 12 Robert Jolly (SR/.275 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 16 RBI in 28 games in 2018)
CF 13 Drew Wharton (SR/.223 BA with 7 2B, 4 HR, & 24 RBI in 29 games in 2018)
RF 28 Seth Beer (JR/.286 BA with 4 2B, 10 HR, & 25 RBI in 29 games in 2018)
DH 4 Grayson Byrd (*JR/.260 BA with 1 2B, 4 HR, & 13 RBI in 22 games in 2018)
Notre Dame
C 3 David LaManna (FR/.242 BA with 1 2B, 1 HR, & 7 RBI in 28 games in 2018)
1B 31 Daniel Jung (SO/.202 BA with 7 2B, 2 HR, & 7 RBI in 28 games in 2018)
2B 7 Nick Podkul (JR/.347 BA with 7 2B, 3 HR, & 22 RBI in 28 games in 2018)
SS 6 Cole Daily (JR/.293 BA with 9 2B, 1 HR, & 15 RBI in 28 games in 2018)
3B 16 Jared Miller (FR/.185 BA with 4 RBI, 7 R, & 5 BB in 22 games in 2018)
LF 39 Jake Johnson (SR/.297 BA with 2 2B, 1 HR, & 14 RBI in 21 games in 2018)
CF 24 Matt Vierling (JR/.292 BA with 2 2B, 4 HR, & 23 RBI in 28 games in 2018)
RF 15 Eric Gilgenbach (JR/.224 BA with 4 2B, 5 HR, & 20 RBI in 20 games in 2018)
DH 8 Alex Kershner (SR/.338 BA with 7 2B, 2 3B, & 11 RBI in 25 games in 2018)
Projected Starting Pitchers
Game One
SO LHP 32 Jacob Hennessy (3-1/7 app/7 GS/1.94 ERA (41.2 IP)/.197 OBA (30 hits)/11 BB/40 K)
GR LHP 38 Scott Tully (3-1/7 app/7 GS/3.03 ERA (38.2 IP)/.172 OBA (23 hits)/21 BB/21 K)
Game Two
JR RHP 19 Brooks Crawford (2-1/7 app/7 GS/3.16 ERA (31.1 IP)/.273 OBA (33 hits)/9 BB/22 K)
FR LHP 40 Tommy Sheehan (1-2/7 app/7 GS/5.40 ERA (31.2 IP)/.248 OBA (27 hits)/27 BB/11 K)
Game Three
*SO LHP 24 Jake Higginbotham (3-1/7 app/7 GS/4.11 ERA (35.0 IP)/.241 OBA (32 hits)/7 BB/27 K)
SO RHP 32 Cameron Junker (0-2/8 app/7 GS/6.57 ERA (24.2 IP)/.281 OBA (27 hits)/17 BB/28 K)
Tiger Career Stats vs. Notre Dame
Player AVG G-S AB R H RBI BB K HR Other
Chris Williams .227 6-6 22 4 5 6 3 3 2 2B, HBP
Seth Beer .190 6-6 21 5 4 3 5 4 0 2B, 2 HBP
Patrick Cromwell .167 3-2 6 0 1 0 1 2 0 SH
Jordan Greene .167 3-2 6 0 1 0 2 2 0
Logan Davidson .111 3-3 9 0 1 1 4 2 0 0-1 SB
Robert Jolly .000 3-2 5 1 0 1 2 0 0 SF, 1-1 SB
Grayson Byrd .000 2-2 4 0 0 0 1 4 0 SH
Drew Wharton .000 1-0 1 0 0 0 1 1 0
Adam Renwick N/A 1-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0
Player ERA G-S W-L IP H R ER BB SO AB
Jacob Hennessy ^ 0.00 1-0 0-0 2.2 0 0 0 0 3 .000
Ryan Miller 0.00 1-0 0-0 2.0 2 0 0 1 1 .250
Brooks Crawford 2.25 3-0 2-0 8.0 6 2 2 1 4 .194
Alex Schnell 9.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 2 2 1 0 1 .500
^ – has one save.