Monte Lee and His Clemson Tigers Still Clawing

The one thing some thought may hurt the Tigers could end up saving them after all.

The weekend series in Charlottesville did not end the way Clemson had hoped, losing two of three. But they came out of the weekend just ahead of Duke for the final spot in the ACC Tournament with a .385 winning percentage while the Blue Devils, who also lost their series with NC State, ended the weekend with a .370 winning percentage.

Clemson began its series on Friday night off to a great start only to see the game halted due to weather and resumed on Saturday morning. They ended up losing that game 11-6. They then found out that the final two games would be played on Sunday. They took the second game 8-2 and then were told that the third game that was suppose to start at 2pm would not begin until 8:30pm. The Tigers lost the rubber game 6-3 leaving town with an overall record of 30-20 and 10-16 in ACC play.

Some were a little concerned that the game that was cancelled in Pittsburgh back in March could come back to hurt the Tigers chances, but now it may work out helping them. Monte Lee’s club now ends their ACC schedule at Doug Kingsmore against the ACC’s last place Boston College Eagles who are 19-30 overall and 5-22 in conference play this coming weekend after a matchup at Coastal Carolina (33-16-1, 19-7-1) on Tuesday at 6 p.m.

The Tigers exited the weekend No. 22 in the RPI. That makes any bid into the ACC tournament very important if they want to make the NCAA Tournament. Not making it to Charlotte could very easily keep Clemson out of regional play, despite the strong RPI.

After starting conference play the way they did and still be in the driver’s seat headed into the final weekend of play is impressive to say the least. Barring a major letdown against the only team eliminated from the the ACC Tournament this weekend, Clemson will hopefully continue to be the only charter school in the league to appear in every conference tourney.