No. 13 Notre Dame baseball welcomes struggling Clemson for three-game ACC series
It’s been a year of streaks for the Notre Dame (17-5, 5-4 ACC) and Clemson (19-9, 2-6 ACC) baseball teams, and now the ACC foes are set to square off for three contests in South Bend this weekend.
The 13th-ranked Irish have a pair of ACC sweeps under their belt against NC State and Florida State, but they were also swept at Louisville in March. Those three losses, combined with a home loss to Virginia Tech, comprised the longest losing streak Irish head coach Link Jarrett has had while at the helm in South Bend.
Turning to the Tigers, Clemson’s season has effectively been two long streaks. The Tigers began the year 14-0, and they are 5-9 since with zero ACC series wins.
Given the teams are on two different trajectories at this point, does Notre Dame feel like they have a target on their backs with a desperate ACC foe coming to town? Nope.
“We don’t look too much at how things are going for any given team when they come in here,” Jarrett said on Thursday. “You know enough data and information that gives you trends statistically on what’s going on and who’s hot, but we really don’t talk a lot about what’s going on with other teams (as a whole). It’s more how we have to prepare our guys.”
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Tigers have multiple big bats
Clemson’s two best batters are Cooper Ingle and Benjamin Blackwell, who rank in the top 15 in the ACC in batting average at .387 and .376, respectively. Max Wagner, who sits just behind in the batting average category at .348, leads the Tigers in home runs with eight.
When asked about Clemson, Jarrett added yet another Tigers batter to the mix who is a cause of concern for Notre Dame.
“They’ve got three or four guys in their lineup that are that are very dangerous hitters,” Jarrett said. “They have Caden Grice, who’s one of the most powerful bats in the conference.”
The 6-6, 240-pound sophomore is batting .223 on the year with 25 hits, 17 RBIs and four home runs in 28 games started. He was named a freshman All-American by several outlets last season, including D1 Baseball. The South Carolina native launched 15 home runs in 2021.
Clemson-Notre Dame Preview
Where: Frank Eck Stadium (South Bend, Ind.)
When: Friday at 4 p.m. ET (Note: This is a change from 5 p.m. ET), Saturday at 2 p.m. ET, Sunday at 1 p.m. ET.
Watch: All games are on ACCNX.
Probable pitchers: Friday: RHP Mack Anglin (4-2, 3.86 ERA) vs. LHP John Michael Bertrand (4-0, 1.81 ERA); Saturday: RHP Nick Hoffmann (3-3, 5.29 ERA) vs. RHP Austin Temple (2-0, 3.29 ERA); Sunday: RHP Nick Clayton (0-1, 5.70 ERA) vs. TBA
Noting Clemson: Clemson has played just four road games this season, and they are 2-2 in those contests; The Tigers have a team ERA of 4.12, which is eighth in the ACC; Clemson has posted at least 10 runs eight times this season; Clemson ranks third in the ACC in walks per game at 5.93.
Noting Notre Dame: The Irish have the best fielding percentage (.989) in the country, having committed just nine errors in 601 putout opportunities this season; Notre Dame currently ranks seventh in the country in WHIP (1.18); they are also seventh in strikeouts per nine innings (11.5).
