Clemson Baseball Heads To #2 Virginia
CLEMSON, S.C. (CU SID) — The Tigers hit the road to face the Cavaliers in Charlottesville this weekend in a matchup of top-15 teams. SERIES SETUP “¢ Who – Clemson (20-12, 9-5 ACC) vs. Virginia (28-5, 12-3 ACC) “¢ Rankings – CU – No. 14 BA, No. 22 CB, No. 14 USA; UVA – No. 2 BA, No. 3 CB, No. 2 USA “¢ When – Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (2:30 p.m.), Sunday (1 p.m.) “¢ Where – Charlottesville, Va. (UVa Baseball Stadium) “¢ Listen – TigerCast, Clemson Tiger Sports Network “¢ Live Stats – ClemsonTigers.com “¢ Social Media – Twitter/Instagram (@ClemsonBaseball) SPORTSMANSHIP WEEK IN THE ACC “¢ The ACC is sponsoring “ACC Sportsmanship Week” from April 7-13. The two teams will shake hands prior to each game this weekend. SERIES HISTORY “¢ Overall Record – Clemson leads 103-50 (1955-13) “¢ Record at Virginia – Clemson leads 40-27 (1956-12) STARTING PITCHERS “¢ Friday – LHP Matthew Crownover (CU) vs. LHP Nathan Kirby (UVA) “¢ Saturday – TBA (CU) vs. RHP Josh Sborz (UVA) “¢ Sunday – TBA (CU) vs. LHP Brandon Waddell (UVA) CLEMSON OVERVIEW “¢ The Tigers are coming off a 6-2 loss at home against Georgia on Tuesday night. “¢ The Tigers are averaging 6.5 runs per game and hitting .292 with a .361 on-base percentage and 57 stolen bases. “¢ The pitching staff has a 4.17 ERA, .245 opponents‘ batting average and 2.15 strikeout-to-walk ratio and Clemson is fielding .957. VIRGINIA OVERVIEW “¢ Virginia, who is 18-1 at home in 2014, is led by 11th-year Head Coach Brian O‘Connor. “¢ The Cavaliers defeated James Madison on the road 9-3 Tuesday. They are hitting .283 and have a 2.01 ERA and .987 fielding percentage. “¢ Mike Papi is hitting .330 and leads the team in runs (33), homers (6), RBIs (30) and walks (31). QUICK HITS “¢ Virginia is holding ACC opponents to a .177 batting average and only 16 extra-base hits in 15 games. “¢ Virginia has allowed more than four runs in a game only two times in 2014. Three of its five losses have been by one run as well. “¢ In its first 30 games, Clemson had three outfield assists. In the last two games, it has four outfield assists. ROCK SOLID ROTATION “¢ The regular weekend rotation of Daniel Gossett, Matthew Crownover and Jake Long has been a bright spot of the pitching staff in 2014. “¢ The trio has combined for an 11-2 record, a 2.72 ERA and 112 strikeouts and has allowed just 102 hits in 119.1 innings pitched. “¢ Gossett is 3-0 with a 2.25 ERA, Crownover is 6-2 with a 2.23 ERA and Long is 2-0 with a 4.06 ERA. “¢ In ACC games, the trio has combined for a 7-1 record, 2.49 ERA and 64 strikeouts and has allowed just 52 hits in 72.1 innings pitched. “¢ In ACC games, Gossett is 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA, Crownover is 4-1 with a 2.05 ERA and Long is 1-0 with a 4.40 ERA.
