By Trey McCurry.
Clelmson hosts Furman Saturday night at Doug Kingsmore. TCI preview’s the Palmetto showdown.
Furman (12-14) @ Clemson (13-13)
Tuesday, 6:30PM v Doug Kingsmore Stadium v Clemson, SC
The Series
Meetings: 205 (first met in 1896)
Series Record: Clemson leads 144-57-4
Record at Clemson: Clemson leads 78-26-1 (Clemson leads 29-5 at DKS)
Last Meeting(s): Clemson won both meetings in 2014…13-2 at Clemson & 7-2 at Fluor Field
vs. Leggett: Leggett leads 54-12 (25-5 at Clemson, 29-7 at Western Carolina)
The Paladins
Head Coach: Ron Smith (22nd season at Furman)
2014 Record: 26-33 (11-15; 8th in SoCon) – no postseason – NR
Preseason: 6th in SoCon Coaches Poll & 7th in SoCon Media Poll (out of 9 teams)
Road Record: 5-6…4-5 on road/1-1 neutral (2014: 15-16…11-13 on road/4-3 neutral)
Last week: Lost 7-4 at home to Gardner-Webb on Wednesday before dropping two of three home games to Mercer last weekend (5-9, 1-11, 8-4)
2015 Batting Stats: .288 (5.7 RPG) with 57 2B, 6 3B, 20 HR, 66 BB, 16 HBP, 148 K, 22-31 SB
2015 Pitching Stats: 5.35 ERA, .274 OBA (248 hits), 122 BB, 196 K in 235.2 innings
2015 Fielding Stats: .969 (32 errors in 1033 chances)
The Tigers
2014 Record: 36-25 (15-14; T2nd in ACC Atlantic) – Nashville Regional – NR
Preseason: 3rd in ACC Atlantic Division (7 teams)
Home Record: 5-7 (2014: 22-12)
Last week: Won 19-2 at Western Carolina on Tuesday before dropping two of three games at home to Wake Forest last weekend (2-8, 3-7, 6-2)
2015 Batting Stats: .286 (6.0 RPG) with 48 2B, 10 3B, 15 HR, 106 BB, 19 HBP, 188 K, 30-43 SB
2015 Pitching Stats: 3.87 ERA, .252 OBA (231 hits), 82 BB, 213 K in 237.1 innings
2015 Fielding Stats: .964 (36 errors in 1004 chances)
Projected Starting Lineups
Furman
C #16 Cameron Whitehead (SO/.269 BA with 2 2B, 1 HR, & 6 RBI in 20 games in 2015)
1B #43 Brandon Elmy (FR/.232 BA with 6 2B, 5 RBI, & 5 R in 19 games in 2015)
2B #27 Jordan Simpson (JR/.380 BA with 6 2B, 7 HR, & 22 RBI in 24 games in 2015)
SS #11 Matt Towarnicky (JR/.227 BA with 3 2B, 1 HR, & 10 RBI in 20 games in 2015)
3B #7 Chris Ohmstede (SR/.294 BA with 8 2B, 4 HR, & 22 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
LF #21 Griffin Davis (JR/.366 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 12 RBI in 20 games in 2015)
CF #3 Sky Overton (SO/.247 BA with 4 2B, 1 3B, & 8 RBI in 24 games in 2015)
RF #6 Jake Jones (SR/.345 BA with 6 2B, 2 HR, & 8 RBI in 24 games in 2015)
DH #22 Blake Chisolm (FR/.384 BA with 9 2B, 1 3B, & 17 RBI in 24 games in 2015)
Clemson
C #25 Chris Okey (SO/.277 BA with 8 2B, 3 HR, & 22 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
1B #6 Andrew Cox (*SO/.274 BA with 4 2B, 3 RBI, & 7 R in 23 games in 2015)
2B #3 Tyler Krieger (JR/.382 with 6 2B, 1 3B, & 12 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
SS #4 Eli White (SO/.309 BA with 5 2B, 1 HR, & 12 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
3B #8 Weston Wilson (SO/.245 BA with 2 2B, 4 HR, & 15 RBI in 25 games in 2015)
LF #26 Reed Rohlman (*FR/.354 BA with 8 2B, 2 HR, & 19 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
CF #18 Tyler Slaton (SR/.184 BA with 3 2B, 1 HR, & 8 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
RF #9 Steven Duggar (JR/.273 BA with 5 2B, 1 HR, & 18 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
DH #5 Chase Pinder (FR/.283 BA with 3 2B, 2 HR, & 13 RBI in 26 games in 2015)
Projected Starting Pitchers
SO RHP #33 Matthew Quarles (2-1/8 app (0 GS)/6.28 ERA (14.1 IP)/.317 OBA (19 hits)/4 BB/10 K)
vs.
JR RHP #32 Clate Schmidt (0-1/7 app (1 GS)/3.50 ERA (18.0 IP)/.292 OBA (19 hits)/11 BB/14 K)
Worth Noting
- Clemson is 37-14 all-time on March 31 with a 23-4 mark at home.
- This is the third of five games against SoCon opponents for the Tigers in 2015. Clemson beat Wofford 11-5 at home on February 25 and won 19-2 at Western Carolina on March 24. The Tigers will host Western Carolina on April 14 and face Furman at Fluor Field on May 12.
- Clemson is 405-135-6 all-time against current SoCon members (has not faced Samford), including a 237-51 mark at home.
- Jack Leggett is 184-49 all-time against current SoCon members (has not faced Samford), including an 88-18 mark as Clemson’s head coach.
- Leggett won five consecutive SoCon titles (1985-89) in his nine seasons at Western Carolina while appearing in the conference tournament title game eight times in his nine seasons.
Tiger Career Stats vs. Furman
Player AVG G-S AB R H RBI BB K HR Other
Weston Wilson .714 2-2 7 2 5 3 0 0 0 2B, 1-1 SB
Maleeke Gibson .400 2-2 10 3 4 4 0 2 0 3-3 SB
Steven Duggar .333 4-4 18 2 6 5 2 1 0 2B, SF, 3-4 SB
Mike Triller .333 3-0 3 2 1 0 2 2 0 1-1 SB
Tyler Krieger .231 4-4 13 5 3 1 5 2 0 2-3 SB
Tyler Slaton .167 6-4 12 4 2 4 2 3 0 2B, 3 HBP, SF, 2-2 SB
Chris Okey .125 2-2 8 0 1 0 0 2 0 3B
Andrew Cox .000 2-0 1 1 0 0 1 1 0
Eli White .000 1-0 1 0 0 0 0 1 0
Player ERA G-S W-L IP H R ER BB SO OBA
Zack Erwin 0.00 2-0 1-0 8.2 3 0 0 3 6 .107
Brody Koerner 0.00 1-1 1-0 6.0 1 0 0 6 7 .056
Clay Bates 0.00 2-0 0-0 3.0 1 0 0 0 1 .111
Jake Long ^ 0.00 2-1 0-0 2.0 3 1 0 3 4 .300
Drew Moyer 0.00 1-0 1-0 1.1 0 0 0 0 1 .000
Patrick Andrews 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 2 2 0 0 0 .333
Kevin Pohle 0.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 .333
Clate Schmidt 2.25 1-1 0-0 4.0 5 2 1 1 1 .294
Wales Toney 9.00 1-0 0-0 1.0 1 1 1 1 1 .200
^ – Long faced Furman while at East Tennessee State in 2012.