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The Stretch
We all knew the 2008 Clemson baseball team was extremely young and had a bunch of holes to fill. We knew this team would struggle at times but there was hope that the team could grow up and be ready to take the next step by the time post-season play gets here. Rebuilding was never mentioned by Coach Leggett. Instead he talked a young team growing up. Well, now is the time because the schedule is about to get brutal.

In Clemson’s first 26 games they have played only three games against teams ranked in last week’s Baseball America Top 25. The Tigers dropped two games to South Carolina but beat Coastal Carolina.

The schedule could not be much more difficult starting Tuesday night with a trip to Athens, GA to face UGA. Wednesday night the Bulldogs return the favor by coming to Clemson. This weekend Clemson faces Coastal Division leading Miami for a three game series. The Canes are 9-1 in the ACC and ranked in the top five in the country.

Next week things don’t get any easier as the Tigers go to South Carolina on Wednesday before hosting top-five North Carolina for the weekend set. The following week Clemson hosts Western Carolina on Tuesday then wraps up the USC series with a home game on Wednesday.

In the first half of April Clemson will play 11 games against teams that are usually NCAA tournament teams including eight against teams currently ranked in the top 10.

I have not written too much about this team because I wanted to give it some time and see where things stood. Also the success of the basketball team took a lot of attention on the blog but today is opening day in major league baseball and this is a huge week in Clemson baseball.

I expected this team to struggle and it has at times but when it plays fundamentally sound baseball this team has been pretty good. This past weekend was a great example of what we have seen so far from this group of Tigers. In the two wins over Maryland, Clemson pitched well, played good defense and had some timely hitting. In the one loss in College Park, it was a couple of errors that opened the flood gates to aid in the Terps’ win.

Clemson is 18-8 overall and 6-6 in the ACC but the next 16 days will tell us much more about this team. If the Tigers can play well in the upcoming two weeks things do get a little easier. Duke is 4-7 in the ACC and Virginia Tech is winless in its 12 ACC games so far this season.

Florida State has a five game lead over the Tigers in the Atlantic Division of the ACC but Clemson is alone in second place in the division. The tougher Coastal Division has Miami, North Carolina, Virginia and Georgia Tech playing well.

Mike Freeman has been on fire at the plate at it will be interesting to see how he reacts against his former University of Georgia teammates. Kyle Parker has been very steady offensively as well.

The pitching staff held up well over the weekend with the new rotation of D.J. Mitchell on Friday, Graham Stoneburner on Saturday and Ryan Hinson on Sunday. The key weekday series will be tests but Brian Gullickson has pitched well so far early in his career.

Tigernet active chat will be buzzing and wccpfm.com will carry every game but I am looking forward to seeing a lot of you guys in Doug Kingsmore Stadium in the next two weeks. Is this team ready for this kind of stretch in the schedule? Has the inexperienced group matured into a team that is ready to play well against this kind of competition? The next 16 days will give us a better idea about the 2008 team. Is this an ACC contender? Is this an Omaha contender? Is this a rebuilding year? Ask me on April 17.

Hoops Recruiting
I was pulling for Davidson Sunday with almost as much energy as I normally pull for Clemson on the hardwood. However, in the end Kansas was too much and too talented. On this morning’s radio show we looked at each of the Final Four teams and how talented each is because of recruiting.

I was not surprised to find out North Carolina, UCLA, Kansas and Memphis average eight players that came out of high school as four star or five star players. There will be over 30 players in the Final Four that were four or five stars in high school.

Clemson does not have a four star player on its current roster and will finally add one with Catalin Baciu next year.

South Carolina has Devon Downey who was a four star but that is the only player in our state with that high of a ranking.

In the end, talent wins out and Clemson is involved with more top players in the junior and sophomore classes. Devin Booker is a four star forward and hopefully Clemson will get a commitment soon from Milton Jennings, another four-star in-state star.

Oliver Purnell has built the program at a steady pace but the next step will be recruiting players like the ones you will see in the Final Four this coming weekend. As he continues to build the program don’t put it past him.

Recruiting
Speaking of recruiting, I have already written a blog on football recruiting for next season. The Tigers are in great shape with a ton of prospects at this point so check in tomorrow for a big football recruiting blog.

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Comments:

Football recruiting: The following is great news about Tigers recruiting, and the only other place that I have read positive statements like this was about the real USC (Carroll) practices: (From the Kornbutt column no less)
Defensive back Tarry Shankle (6-0, 173) of Norwood, N.C., was at Clemson’s practice last Wednesday. “I saw how the players fit in,” Shankle said. “They have fun, the coaches have fun, they aren’t uptight.”
Wow! Has anybody read a comment like this about Clemson's practices and coaches before? I think it is a great new step displaying the coaches's confidence in the loads of talent we have. GO TIGERS! HAVE FUN WITH NO EXCUSES!

Posted by captron on March 31, 2008 at 03:02 PM EDT #