Furman
Furman won two out of three from La Salle over the weekend before losing to USC Upstate 13-2 on Tuesday. The Paladins will hit Jordan Starkes in the lead off spot. He went 4-15 in the first 4 games, but has also struck out 5 times.
Trent Alley (DH/1B) will be the player to watch in this game for Furman. He had a good first weekend at the plate for the Paladins and will most likely hit in the 3-hole. Furman has struggled offensively in the first four games and look to turn that around against the Tigers.
I would imagine Clemson sends true freshman Mack Anglin to the mound tonight, which is a reason to tune in to the game or make it to Doug Kingsmore. Anglin is a highly recruited freshman that the Clemson coaching staff have raved about for his performance in the fall and preseason.
I expected to see Carter Raffield originally in this spot which would also be welcoming, but yesterday’s postponement could change that.
Stony Brook
Clemson goes in to the second weekend series of the year facing the Stony Brook Seawolves. Stony Brook is coached by Matt Senk, who is in year 30 as the head coach there.
The Seawolves won the America East in 2019, but lost a lot of talent that’s going to be hard to replace in 2020. For big college baseball fans, Stony Brook is remembered as the team that made it to Omaha in the 2012 College World Series by beating LSU in Baton Rouge in the Supers after winning the Miami Regional. Let’s take a in depth look at this team.
Offense
Stony Brook lost their top three hitters from 2019, which means there is a lot of offensive production to be replaced. That was evident in their series against Texas St.
They failed to score over 3 runs and got blanked in one game of the series. They are led by their left-handed hitting, senior first baseman, Chris Hamilton (6-2 ,210). In 2019 Hamilton hit for .325, with 8 home-runs and an OPS of .930.
Hamilton had a tough first weekend at the plate, but is someone that Stony Brook will lean on throughout their season for a lot of their run production. This is the guy that you can’t let beat you if you are Clemson.
Evan Giordano (So.) will also hit at the top of the order for the Seawolves. Giordano led the team this past weekend going, 7-14 and compiled an OBP of .563. Other names to keep your eye on are Cristian Montes, Shane Paradine, and John Tuccillo.
Pitching
Along with departed hitters, Stony Brook also lost a lot of their innings from 2019. However, they all pitched well in their 4-game series against Texas St. All their starters aren’t big strikeout pitchers but will not walk you and make you earn your way on base.
Friday- Jared Milch: Milch is the tall and lanky senior lefty that Stony Brook will rely on due to his experience. In 2019, Jared pitched 37 innings, giving up 55 hits in those innings, with 34 earned runs (8.27 ERA). He also walked 14 batters while striking out 26. Stony Brook is going to need him to rebound from last season and be a reliable starter for them this year. He started off the year on a good note, going 5 innings while allowing 0 earned runs.
Saturday- Sam Turcotte: Turcotte is a 6’5” senior RHP out of Ontario, Canada. He worked out of the bullpen in 2019 and is moving into a starter role this year. He also went 5IP against Texas St, giving up 2 ER.
Sunday- Nick DeGennaro: DeGenarro is a sophomore RHP from Toms River, NJ. He seems to have the best all around stuff on the team. He went 7IP with 6K’s, while giving up 2ER in his 2020 debut.
Relievers: Against Texas St, the starters kept them in the game, but the relievers couldn’t keep their end of the bargain. Nick Fero will be one of the first guys out of the bullpen along with Brian Morrisey, Brandon Bonnano, and Brendan Disonell.
Prediction: It should be another good weekend in Tiger Town. Stony Brook is a capable team, but is not better than the Liberty team that Clemson faced this past weekend. The Tigers should have the opportunity to get the bats going again this weekend against this pitching staff, while the pitchers should also get opportunities to continue to develop and build confidence as we move towards a important series against South Carolina. I’m going to go with a sweep in Clemson’s favor. The Tigers pitching will be too much to handle and the offense should get ample opportunities against this Stony Brook pitching staff.
I’ll be closely watching Weatherlys command on Friday night. I just wonder how long Clemson will keep him in that role if he goes back to back starts with a lack of command. I’ll also be watching how Monte handles first base (Fairey, Hawkins, Sharpe) and the outfield this week (Brewer, Bo, Teodosio).
