Sports News

Clemson is rising under Monte Lee, but toughest games ahead

Clemson has won 27 of its last 32 games and is No. 2 in the RPI and as high as No. 3 in the major polls this week

ERIC OLSON

April 24, 2017 5:23 pm

3 min read

Clemson coach Monte Lee measures his baseball team in 10-game segments, and the records of 7-3, 9-1, 9-1 and 8-2 are more than satisfying to him.

“Up to this point,” he said Monday, “I don’t know if I could have asked for more out of my team.”

The 40-year-old Lee was hired two years ago to bring new energy to a program that seemed to have hit a ceiling under Jack Leggett. The Tigers haven’t made it out of NCAA regionals since they reached the College World Series in 2010. Last year, Lee’s first Clemson team was bounced from a home regional by Oklahoma State, which went on to the CWS.

He brought back six starting position players, including star Seth Beer , and has one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top weekend rotations in Charlie Barnes, Alex Eubanks and converted reliever Pat Krall.

Clemson (33-8, 16-5) has won 27 of its last 32 and on Monday was No. 2 in the RPI behind Oregon State and as high as No. 3 in the major polls.

Reed Rohlman hit .591 last week (13 for 22) to raise his batting average to .400 and his on-base percentage to .482. Chase Pinder is batting .320 with a .445 on-base percentage. Beer, who last year became the first freshman to win the Dick Howser Trophy as the nation’s top player, has been getting pitched around. He still has 11 doubles, 38 RBIs and a team-best 12 homers to go with a nation-high 42 walks. His .455 on-base percentage overshadows his .277 batting average.

“Batting average is not the biggest indicator of success for an offensive player,” Lee said. “People are careful with him. A guy who gets on base 45 percent of the time, that’s a really good offensive player.”

The schedule is about to ramp up. The Tigers’ next two ACC series are against Coastal Division leader North Carolina on the road and against Atlantic Division leader Louisville at home. College of Charleston, the team Lee left in 2015 and the only one to beat the Tigers in a midweek game since he took over, visits Tuesday.

“When you look at playing the teams we have to play down the stretch,” Lee said, “I don’t know if we could have asked for a tougher challenge in terms of the quality of opponents to get us ready for postseason play.”

___

A look around the country:

AUBURN GETTING OFFENSIVE

Auburn batted .355 with 15 doubles and five homers while winning two of three against Arkansas. Josh Anthony was 11 for 16 in four games last week, and Auburn is batting .314 with 38 extra-base hits over its last eight games. The Tigers are one game behind first-place Mississippi State in the SEC West. The teams meet this week in Starkville.

HERE COME THE GATORS

Florida has bounced back from its 5-6 start in SEC play and returned to the top 10 in the major polls. The Gators have won seven of nine overall and five of seven in conference games. They took two of three against South Carolina, starting with Alex Faedo’s 8 2/3 scoreless innings in a 1-0 win and ending with a 7-5 win on JJ Schwarz’s eighth-inning grand slam. Florida (27-13, 10-8) sits two games behind first-place Kentucky in the SEC East.

SHOWDOWN IN LUBBOCK

Texas Tech faces two straight pivotal series starting this weekend at home against Big 12 leader TCU. The Red Raiders (33-10, 9-6) fell two games behind TCU after losing a series to seventh-place Oklahoma State. Next week the Raiders travel to West Virginia (23-15, 9-6), which is tied with them for second.

SLUGGING SYCAMORE

Indiana State’s Dane Tofteland hit two grand slams and a three-run homer and drove in a national season-high 11 runs in a 17-8 win over Northern Illinois last Tuesday. Coming into the game, the sophomore first baseman was batting .217 in 10 games, with one RBI and no home runs.

NINE HORNET HOMERS

Alabama State set the national season high with nine home runs in a 16-4 win over Grambling on Sunday. Cage Cox went deep three times, Joseph Estrada and Carlos Ocasio two times each and Hunter Allen and Joshua Dunson once.