Clemson jumps up Baseball America rankings

Lucas Mahlstedt built on his comfortable ACC-save lead (14) and moved to within one of tying a Clemson single season record.

Brandon Rink - Assoc. Editor / Staff Writer - Monday, April 21 2025

Clemson baseball jumped four spots to No. 2 overall for Baseball America after a ranked ACC series win over Louisville last week.

"Clemson climbs to No. 2 after a hard-fought series win over No. 17 Louisville that included a pair of one-run victories," said the outlet. "The Cardinals jumped ahead with a three-run first inning in Friday’s opener, but the Tigers responded, taking the lead in the seventh on a three-run homer by Jack Crighton that proved to be the game-winner. Clemson clinched the series Saturday behind a Jacob Jarrell solo homer and a Luke Gaffney RBI double, with Lucas Mahlstedt earning the save in both wins to push his season total to a nation-leading 14. Drew Titsworth added six shutout innings on Friday. Clemson now faces a challenging week with a top-10 midweek clash at No. 8 Georgia followed by a road series at NC State."

Texas paces the Top 25 ranks after a 4-0 week in an otherwise topsy-turvy week at the top of the SEC. UNC moved to No. 3 and Florida State rounds out ACC reps in the Top 10 (10).

D1Baseball also slotted the Tigers to No. 2 overall. Clemson also remained No. 2 with Perfect Game.

Tuesday home opponent Georgia (8 p.m./ESPNU) went 1-3 with a sweep at the hands of Vanderbilt in Nashville and fell to 33-8 overall and just inside the Top 10 nationally (9 for BA; 10 for D1Baseball).

In the ACC stats, Clemson's bats are 12th in slugging percentage (.446) and batting average (.277) but second in walks (284) and first in hit batters (79) to a fourth-place spot in on-base percentage (.419) and fifth in runs (316).

Clemson's pitching staff is fourth in team ERA (4.43) with the third-most strikeouts (406) and fourth-best opposing batting average (.227).

Lucas Mahlstedt is the runaway ACC leader in saves (14; next ACC relievers have six each) and just one from tying a single-season Clemson record. Other Tiger hurlers with ACC top 10 spots include Aidan Knaak (first in strikeouts, 74; fifth in wins, 6; 6th in opposing batting average, .195) and B.J. Bailey (9th in ERA, 3.07).

Dominic Listi is second in on-base percentage (.518) with a No. 2 spot in walks (46) and No. 3 spot in being hit by a pitch (18). Luke Gaffney leads the ACC in sacrifice flies (8).

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