Countdown to First Pitch: Pittsburgh

No. 4 Clemson (40-13, 19-8 ACC) @ Pittsburgh (27-22, 11-16 ACC)

Fourth-ranked Clemson travels to Pittsburgh for just the second time in program history (previously in 2014) to take on Pittsburgh in a three-game ACC series to wrap up the regular-season. Games times at Charles L. Cost Field are 6:00 p.m. on Thursday, 3:00 p.m. Friday, and a Saturday finale of 1:00 p.m.

 

The Series

Meetings:                     6 (first met in 2014)

Series Record:              Clemson leads 4-2

Record at Pitt:             Clemson leads 2-1

Last Meeting(s):           Clemson won two of three games at Clemson in 2016 (14-6, 5-15, 4-3)

  1. Lee: Lee leads 2-1 (2-1 at CU)

 

Worth Noting

  • Clemson is 18-11 all-time on May 17 with a 7-6 mark on the road.
  • The Tigers are 16-10 all-time on May 18 with a 1-5 mark on the road.
  • Clemson is 12-12 all-time on May 19 with a 4-5 mark on the road.
  • Despite the Tigers winning both series against the Panthers, Pittsburgh has actually outscored Clemson 39-33 in the series. In 2014, the Tigers won 3-2 (11 innings) and 3-0 while Pittsburgh won 13-4 while in 2016 Clemson won 14-6 and 4-3 while losing 5-15.
  • When the Tigers visited the Panthers in 2014, the two teams set the Charles L. Cost Field (opened in 2011) single games attendance record with a crowd of 986 in the middle game of the series (April 19, 2014).

 

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)

Road Record:               12-5 (11-8 in 2017)

Last Week:                   Won 7-2 at Kennesaw State on Tuesday after taking two of three home games from Austin Peay (3-6, 10-1, 3-2 in 11) last weekend

 

2018 Batting Stats:      .256 (6.2 RPG) with 76 2B, 2 3B, 79 HR, 290 BB, 48 HBP, 444 K, 47-62 SB

2018 Pitching Stats:     3.41 ERA, .233 OBA (418 hits), 194 BB & 442 K in 483.2 innings

2018 Fielding Stats:     .974 (52 errors in 2017 chances)

 

The Panthers

Head Coach:                Joe Jordano (21st season at Pittsburgh)

2017 Record:               23-30 (9-21; T-6th Coastal) – N/A – NR

2018 Preseason:           7th in ACC Coastal (out of 7 teams)

Home Record:              11-9 (12-12 in 2017)

Last Week:                   Swept at home by Louisville (3-6, 5-6, 5-8) last weekend

 

2018 Batting Stats:      .240 (5.3 RPG) with 70 2B, 11 3B, 36 HR, 253 BB, 46 HBP, 443 K, 48-64 SB

2018 Pitching Stats:     4.27 ERA, .247 OBA (410 hits), 188 BB & 448 K in 436.0 innings

2018 Fielding Stats:     .976 (45 errors in 1847 chances)

 

Projected Starting Lineups

Clemson

C        10 Kyle Wilkie (SO/.308 BA with 8 2B, 4 HR, & 32 RBI in 52 games)

1B      27 Chris Williams (SR/.249 BA with 8 2B, 14 HR, & 52 RBI in 53 games)

2B      9 Jordan Greene (JR/.245 BA with 4 2B, 5 HR, & 16 RBI in 38 games)

SS       8 Logan Davidson (SO/.304 BA with 16 2B, 11 HR, & 35 RBI in 53 games)

3B      25 Patrick Cromwell (SR/.243 BA with 5 2B, 5 HR, & 21 RBI in 48 games)

LF       5 Sam Hall (FR/.267 BA with 2 2B, 1 HR, & 6 RBI in 16 games)

CF      13 Drew Wharton (SR/.234 BA with 12 2B, 6 HR, & 35 RBI in 53 games)

RF      28 Seth Beer (JR/.286 BA with 7 2B, 16 HR, & 41 RBI in 53 games)

DH      4 Grayson Byrd (*JR/.248 BA with 2 2B, 9 HR, & 26 RBI in 41 games)

 

Pittsburgh

C        43 Cole MacLaren (JR/.207 BA with 6 2B, 20 RBI, & 38 BB in 49 games)

1B      6 Caleb Parry (*SR/.189 BA with 6 2B, 9 RBI, & 10 BB in 32 games)

2B      11 Liam Sabino (*JR/.299 BA with 16 2B, 15 HR, & 43 RBI in 49 games)

SS       24 David Yanni (*SO/.244 BA with 7 2B, 5 HR, & 35 RBI in 49 games)

3B      29 Nick Banman (SR/.187 BA with 9 2B, 4 HR, & 23 RBI in 47 games)

LF       17 Chris Cappas (FR/.250 BA with 2 2B, 12 RBI, & 10 BB in 32 games)

CF      3 Frank Maldonado (*SR/.295 BA with 8 2B, 5 HR, & 38 RBI in 48 games)

RF      5 Connor Perry (JR/.214 BA with 5 2B, 2 3B, & 9 RBI in 43 games)

DH      23 Ron Washington, Jr. (FR/.282 BA with 7 2B, 5 HR, & 29 RBI in 48 games)

 

Projected Starting Pitchers

Game One

FR RHP 29 Spencer Strider (4-1/19 app/3 GS/3.67 ERA (41.2 IP)/.195 OBA (29 hits)/28 BB/60 K)

SO RHP 18 Dan Hammer (2-4/14 app/9 GS/6.79 ERA (51.2 IP)/.281 OBA (57 hits)/26 BB/51 K)

 

Game Two

JR RHP 19 Brooks Crawford (7-2/13 app/13 GS/3.60 ERA (65.0 IP)/.242 OBA (60 hits)/12 BB/47 K)

*SR RHP 41 Matt Pidich (5-1/13 app/13 GS/2.74 ERA (82.0 IP)/.236 OBA (74 hits)/23 BB/88 K)

 

Game Three

*SO LHP 24 Jake Higginbotham (6-1/13 app/13 GS/3.39 ERA (66.1 IP)/.233 OBA (57 hits)/25 BB/52 K)

Pittsburgh has not announced a starter for Game Three

 

Tiger Career Stats vs. Pittsburgh

Player                              AVG    G-S     AB      R        H        RBI     BB      K          HR      Other

Seth Beer                .417   3-3     12      5        5        4        2        1        1          2B

Jordan Greene        .364   3-3     11      1        4        3        1        2        0          HBP, 0-1 SB

Chris Williams         .333   3-3     12      1        4        3        0        5        0          3B, SF

Robert Jolly            .000   2-2     6        1        0        1        3        1        0

 

Player                              ERA    G-S     W-L    IP       H        R        ER      BB          SO      AB

Alex Schnell            0.00   1-0     0-0     2.0     3        0        0        1        2          .333

Brooks Crawford     21.60  1-0     0-0     1.2     3        4        4        2        2          .429