After winning two of three last weekend in the Shriners Children’s College Showdown, the Clemson baseball team will play its home opener on Friday against VCU in the first game of the Clemson Invitational.

Aidan Knaak will take the mound for the Tigers, as the right-handed sophomore looks to be firmly entrenched in that Friday slot.

After being named Freshman Pitcher of the Year by the NCBWA a season ago, Knaak was named a preseason All-American by multiple outlets ahead of the 2025 campaign, meaning expectations are high for the sophomore hurler.

Knaak embraces those expectations with open arms and is fully aware that improving upon his impressive numbers from a season ago won’t be easy.

“There’s a lot of things to take from last year that I did well that I will continue to keep doing,” Knaak said ahead of the season. “A lot of other things I can take and keep improving. So that has kind of been the whole focus from the end of last year, carrying through the fall.”

Last season, Knaak finished 5-1 with a 3.35 ERA in 83.1 innings pitched. He struck out 108 hitters while walking just 29.

One thing Knaak has done over the offseason is add to his repertoire. He has added a couple of new pitches, including a cutter. With his excellent command, that could mean trouble for opposing hitters.

However, just because he’s added new pitches doesn’t mean he’ll abandon the old ones. Just look at his first start of the season last weekend against Oklahoma State. While he did run into some trouble over his final two innings, Knaak still struck out the first six hitters he faced, relying heavily on that changeup that served him so well as a freshman.

“They call it the air-bender,” head coach Erik Bakich said of Knaak’s changeup. “He’s added pitches this year. Added a sinker and a slider and a cutter. So he’s got a unique arsenal, which is going to serve him very well this year for being able to get different types of hitters out. Aiden’s an outlier kid with outlier stuff.”

Clemson hosts VCU at 4 pm at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Friday. The game will be streamed on ACCNX.