Monte Lee and Clemson baseball are now 7-0 on the season after a series sweep over the Dallas-Baptist University Patriots this past weekend. Lee says he knew he had an offense coming into this season after the teams outings in fall ball but said in Saturday's postgame that, "When the spring rolled around, it's like our pitching staff did a 180. I'm very proud of our pitching staff. We just run strike thrower after strike thrower out there."
In the Tigers first series of the season, vs William & Mary, the Tigers pitching was the story coming out of the weekend. It took some bottom of the ninth, two out heroics to erase a three run deficit on opening day. Down 4-1, with two outs, the Tigers tied things up before ultimately winning the game in the bottom of the tenth with a Chris Williams walk-off single. Clemson outscored William & Mary in the series, 14-11, winning all three games by just one run.
They went on to beat Furman in their first midweek game of the year, 12-4. Chris Williams was the hero in this game, going two-for-four hitting with a home run, a double and six runs batted in. This past weekend the Tigers would sweep their second straight series vs the Patriots of Dallas-Baptist University. They won the Friday night game, 12-1, and both games on Saturday with a combined overall score of 12-3 (9-1, 3-2). They decided late Friday evening to move Sunday's game to an hour after Saturday's originally scheduled game due to impending inclement weather.
Clemson pitchers have combined for 76 strikeouts and only 17 walks. They have a team ERA of 2.391 and .922 WHIP. In 64 total innings pitched, Tiger pitchers have thrown for 28 "1-2-3" innings (3 up, 3 down) and 64% of their total pitches have been strikes and we all know how Monte Lee preaches on pounding the strike zone.
Let's look into some of Clemson's key stats from this season so far and see what has helped get the Tigers to a 7-0 mark, with a big inner-state rivalry series coming up this weekend vs South Carolina:
PITCHING: (* indicates weekend rotation starters)
*Jake Higginbotham: 12.1 innings pitched in 2 starts. He is 2-0 for the season. | 10 strikeouts, 0 walks, 7 hits, 2 runs (1 earned) | .730 ERA | .568 WHIP | 42 batters faced, 154 total pitches (101 strikes, 53 balls); 66% strikes, 27 first pitch strikes (64%), 93% FPSO (retired batters faced with a first pitch strike) | averages 12.5 pitches per inning, 3.7 pitches per batter faced; 21 batters retired in three pitches or less (50%) | 11 leadoff outs, 9 innings with first two batters out, 9 '1-2-3' innings
*Jacob Hennessy: 11 innings pitched in 2 starts. He is 1-0 for the season. | 14 strikeouts, 2 walks, 9 hits, 3 runs (3 earned) | 2.46 ERA | 1.000 WHIP
*Brooks Crawford: 9 innings pitched in 2 starts. He is 1-0 for the season. | 9 strikeouts, 0 walks, 8 hits, 2 runs (2 earned) | 2.000 ERA | .889 WHIP
Ryley Gilliam: 4 innings pitched in 3 games played. He is 1-0 for the season. 2 saves. | 9 strikeouts, 1 walks (1 HBP), 3 hits, 1 run (1 earned) | 2.25 ERA | 1.000 WHIP
Spencer Strider: 6 innings pitched in 2 games played. He is 1-0 for the season. 1 save. | 11 strikeouts, 4 walks (2 HBP), 4 hits, 5 runs (5 earned) | 7.500 ERA | 1.333 WHIP
BATTING:
#12 Robert Jolly: 10/20, .500 avg | .630 obp | .650 slg | 7 RBI, 6 runs | 7 walks, 2 strikeouts | .900 contact rate | 13 total bases
#25 Patrick Cromwell: 8/20, .400 avg | .571 obp | .450 slg | 3 RBI, 7 runs | 8 walks, 4 strikeouts | .800 contact rate
#27 Chris Williams: 10/26, .385 avg | .467 obp | .769 slg | 2 HR | 12 RBI, 11 runs | 3 walks (1 HBP), 1 strikeout | 4 doubles | .963 contact rate | 20 total bases
#28 Seth Beer: 7/23, .304 avg | .485 obp | .652 slg | 2 HR | 4 RBI, 8 runs | 7 walks, 4 strikeouts | .826 contact rate | 15 total bases
#13 Drew Wharton: 6/22, .273 avg | .360 obp | .682 slg | 3 HR | 11 RBI, 3 runs | 2 walks, 3 strikeouts | .864 contact rate | 15 total bases
NEXT GAME: vs Winthrop, 2.27.18 (Tuesday) at 4:00pm @ Doug Kingsmore Stadium