Tenth-ranked Clemson welcomes first-time opponent Kennesaw State to Doug Kingsmore Stadium today at 6:30 p.m.

The Series

The Tigers and Owls have never met on the diamond.

Worth Noting

• Clemson is 34-23-2 all-time on April 24 with a 20-9-1 mark at home.
• Kennesaw State assistant head coach Kevin Erminio was a volunteer assistant coach at Clemson from 1996-1998.
• The Tigers are 15-4 all-time against current Atlantic Sun programs, including an 11-1 record at home. Clemson has faced Florida Gulf Coast, Jacksonville, Stetson, and USC Upstate while missing Kennesaw State, Lipscomb, NJIT, and North Florida.
• Coach Monte Lee has faced two current Atlantic Sun programs (Jacksonville and USC Upstate). Lee is 16-2 all-time against the two programs with all the meetings coming during him time at College of Charleston.

The Owls

Head Coach:                Mike Sansing (27th season at Kennesaw State

2017 Record:               25-32 (10-11, 5th A-Sun) – N/A – NR

Preseason:                   4th in Atlantic Sun (out of 8 teams)

Home Record:              5-7 (12-12 in 2017)

Last Week:                   Won two of three home games over Lipscomb (5-6, 5-1, 8-6) over the weekend after losing 17-7 at Georgia Tech last Wednesday

2018 Batting Stats:      .289 (6.9 RPG) with 82 2B, 7 3B, 36 HR, 166 BB, 36 HBP, 320 K, 31-47 SB

2018 Pitching Stats:     5.06 ERA, .253 OBA (339 hits), 191 BB & 334 K in 356.0 innings

2018 Fielding Stats:     .970 (45 errors in 1514 chances)

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)

Home Record:              19-5 (29-11 in 2017)

Last Week:                   Swept a three-game series at Wake Forest (7-5, 4-3, 9-4) over the weekend after losing 6-1 at then-#12 Georgia last Tuesday

2018 Batting Stats:      .246 (5.9 RPG) with 54 2B, 2 3B, 56 HR, 213 BB, 36 HBP, 336 K, 28-40 SB

2018 Pitching Stats:     3.44 ERA, .239 OBA (323 hits), 139 BB & 326 K in 360.2 innings

2018 Fielding Stats:     .976 (37 errors in 1515 chances)

Projected Starting Lineups

Kennesaw State

C        34 Griffin Helms (SR/.316 BA with 12 2B, 4 HR, & 28 RBI in 31 games in 2018)

1B      7 AJ Willoughby (JR/.243 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 18 RBI in 23 games in 2018)

2B      11 Grant Williams (SR/.319 BA with 13 2B, 4 HR, & 34 RBI in 40 games in 2018)

SS       18 David Chabut (JR/.286 BA with 8 2B, 14 RBI, & 27 R in 39 games in 2018)

3B      2 Tyler Simon (FR/.353 BA with 9 2B, 3 HR, & 23 RBI in 31 games in 2018)

LF       14 LaDonis Bryant (*SR/.345 BA with 6 2B, 1 HR, & 16 RBI in 35 games in 2018)

CF      9 Jake Franklin (JR/.290 BA with 8 2B, 7 HR, & 34 RBI in 39 games in 2018)

RF      6 Terence Norman (SO/.338 BA with 6 2B, 2 HR, & 28 RBI in 37 games in 2018)

DH      3 Jaylen Smith (JR/.274 BA with 3 2B, 3 HR, & 15 RBI in 16 games in 2018)

Clemson

C        10 Kyle Wilkie (SO/.252 BA with 6 2B, 2 HR, & 21 RBI in 39 games in 2018)

1B      27 Chris Williams (SR/.252 BA with 6 2B, 11 HR, & 43 RBI in 40 games in 2018)

2B      9 Jordan Greene (JR/.250 BA with 1 2B, 4 HR, & 12 RBI in 27 games in 2018)

SS       8 Logan Davidson (SO/.247 BA with 8 2B, 6 HR, & 18 RBI in 40 games in 2018)

3B      25 Patrick Cromwell (SR/.248 BA with 5 2B, 4 HR, & 17 RBI in 40 games in 2018)

LF       13 Drew Wharton (SR/.231 BA with 9 2B, 6 HR, & 30 RBI in 40 games in 2018)

CF      1 Kier Meredith (FR/.267 BA with 1 2B, 1 HR, & 3 RBI in 9 games in 2018)

RF      28 Seth Beer (JR/.291 BA with 7 2B, 10 HR, & 28 RBI in 40 games in 2018)

DH      4 Grayson Byrd (*JR/.281 BA with 1 2B, 6 HR, & 16 RBI in 28 games in 2018)

Projected Starting Pitchers

*SO LHP 41 Nathan Dupree (1-0/11 app/2 GS/7.00 ERA (18.0 IP)/.343 OBA (24 hits)/16 BB/17 K)

FR LHP 22 Sam Weatherly (0-0/5 app/3 GS/4.91 ERA (11.0 IP)/.286 OBA (12 hits)/8 BB/12 K)