Inside Clemson Baseball: Streaking Tigers begin ACC Tournament Play

In the midst of a six-game winning streak and victorious in 17 of their last 19 contests Clemson rolls into the ACC Tournament (loose term) on Wednesday in a pod that includes Miami and Notre Dame. Last night, the Hurricanes opened the pod winning 6-2 over the Fighting Irish.

Clemson's Pod

The interwebs are rife with commentary that today's game with Notre Dame is "meaningless".  While it's true that this game will not factor into advancement in the ACC tournament, it very well could determine whether or not the Tigers get that coveted Top 8 seed.

How?

There are those that believe Clemson hasn't yet done enough to have assured themselves of a Top 8 seed and a loss to a sub-.500 Notre Dame team (that the Tigers have already lost to once) will be more fodder for their cannon. 

So, yes, it meaningless as far as advancement in the ACC tourney (beat Miami tomorrow and the Tigers advance by having equal records and the higher seed), but it could have major implications on selection Sunday.

In my mind, this game means something. Not everything, but something, and I'm pretty sure Monte Lee would agree.

The Tigers are 3-3 against their pod-mates on the season, including getting shut down by Notre Dame's Scott Tully (who pitched last night against Miami) and with a series loss to Miami marked by blowing an 8 run ninth inning lead in game 1.

Miami's opened the tourney on a 10 game winning streak (now at 11) themselves, though only the first of those 10 came against a team with a winning record.

Notre Dame was swept by Louisville in the Irish's most recent ACC series.

The numbers below are pre-ACC tournament

Tale of the Tape

While none of the three teams in Clemson's pod is tearing the cover off the ball, the Tigers have far and away the most power and are scoring at a higher rate.

Brooks Crawford had another nice outing in Pittsburgh, while Spencer Strider did enough to earn his 5th win in the series opener where Jacob Hennessy typically pitches.  Jake Higginbotham looked just a tick off on Saturday, though he didn't give up a run in 4 1/3 innings.

If Clemson makes the semi-final and or final of the ACC tourney it'll be interesting to see who takes the mound first for the Tigers.

Pitching

The incredible work from this bullpen continues, specifically the trio of Ryley Gilliam, Carson Spiers, and Ryan Miller.

Leading Off

For most of the season, it was generally considered Seth Beer was having an "off" season. After destroying Pitt pitching Beer finds himself at the top of the batting averages, 19 home runs and an OPS of 1.100,

We'll be begging for such an off year next season.

Batting

Batting with RISP

Hitting for a high average is one thing, and it's obviously important to get on base, but high leverage situations are something the coaching staff pays close attention to and I've added this metric below.

Seeing these detailed numbers can assist in understanding the lineup moves made by the staff depending on the pitcher.

Quality At Bats

This metric is calculated in different ways by different teams and at times can be subjective depending on who is measuring the at-bat. The goal was to capture as much data as possible to better understand decisions made by the coaching staff.

Stats Overload? Check out our "Snapshot"

Too many numbers and charts?  We've created this snapshot of both batters and pitchers for easy reference, and you can dig into the detail later.

Actual vs. Expected Record

A 14-4 record in one-run games has the Tigers 4 games over the expected record.

It's important to note that the expected record doesn't look at the schedule ahead and assign wins and losses, but predicts the number of wins and losses based on runs scored and runs given up and assumes the current rate of runs scored and given up will continue through the year.

Resume 

An RPI of 11 and 43 wins has the Tigers on the cusp of a top 8 seed.  That said, there is competition for that 8th spot and the ACC tourney will be the committee's last memory of this team. 

Upcoming Schedule

Clemson takes on Notre Dame and Miami in their two scheduled ACC Tournament games in Durham and the results of those games will decide if their is a third and, potentially, fourth game.

*Baseball resume information via WarrenNolan.com.