Latest NCAA Regional projections for Clemson with three weekends to go

Cam Cannarella and the Tigers seek another strong finish to the season and a high national seed spot.

by Brandon Rink - Staff Writer - Wed May 08 14:34:20 GMT-04:00 2024

Exams are in the books, and the final stretch is here for college baseball, where Clemson's Tigers enter in a really good position.

Erik Bakich's boys (37-10) are ranked as high as No. 2 going into the weekend series at preseason No. 1 and now No. 12 Wake Forest (32-16).

Baseball America projects Clemson to stay in the top tier as the No. 3 national seed, hosting UNC-Wilmington, UNC-Greensboro and Army. The outlet pits the Tigers against the Athens Regional for a possible Super Regional rematch with the Georgia Bulldogs.

D1Baseball predicts Clemson as a No. 4 national seed and hosting Oregon, Coastal Carolina and Sacred Heart. They have the Durham Regional opposite Clemson, with Duke, UC Irvine, and Florida as the prominent programs there.

Clemson is No. 4 in the RPI rankings with a No. 12-ranked strength of schedule. The Tigers' next four games are against Top 30 RPI foes, with the series at Wake Forest (11) and then a trip to Coastal (30). Clemson heads home next week for a series starting on Thursday versus Boston College (76), hoping to wrap up a No. 1 overall seed in the ACC Baseball Championship in Charlotte for the following week.

The Tigers are even with UNC for the best record in the league (17-7). The teams do not have a head-to-head meeting this year, so the Tar Heels currently have the edge due to sweeping a common opponent in Georgia Tech (highest-ranked common opponent after NC State for both, which they both went 1-2 versus; Clemson went 2-1 over the weekend against the Yellow Jackets). A higher-finishing Duke could replace that head-to-head tiebreaker when the Tar Heels play them to close the regular season (Clemson went 2-1 vs. Duke).

After getting swept by Wake Forest to start April last season, the Tigers won 22-of-26 ACC games to close the campaign with an ACC title and a No. 4 national seed. The program is still seeking a first advancement out of a regional since 2010, which was also Clemson's last College World Series appearance.