Division Atlantic Head coach Jack Leggett | 2010 record 45-25 (18-12 ACC) Home stadium Doug Kingsmore Stadium | |
Conference Atlantic Coast Conference | ||
The 2010 Clemson Tigers baseball team represented Clemson University in the 2010 NCAA Division I baseball season. The team played their home games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson, SC.
Contents
The team was coached by Jack Leggett, who completed his seventeenth season at Clemson.
Preseason
On January 28, 2010, the coaches in the ACC picked Clemson to finish second in the Atlantic Division behind Florida State. Overall, the Tigers were picked third behind defending ACC champion Virginia and Florida State, respectively.
Regular season
Clemson played Wright State and Dayton for the first time ever on the baseball diamond. The Tigers went 4-0 against the Dayton, OH schools, sweeping Wright State in a three game series before winning a mid-week contest against Dayton in 10 innings.
Clemson won its annual series against archrival South Carolina for the first time since 2006 by taking two of three games against the Gamecocks. OF/DH Chris Epps won the Bob Bradley Award as the Tigers' MVP of the series, going 7-for-14 with two home runs, a double, six RBIs, six runs, two walks, and one steal. The March 6 contest at Fluor Field was the first game between both schools at that stadium and the 1st game played in Greenville since the 1990 season.
On April 21, 3B John Hinson tied a school record by hitting three home runs in a game during the Tigers' 22-4 victory over USC-Upstate.
Clemson played its first four game weekend series since 1996 when they hosted Florida Gulf Coast, the first meeting between the schools. After dropping the first game in the series, the Tigers took the final three games from the Eagles.
On May 22, Clemson completed a three game sweep of eventual ACC champion Florida State to win their second ACC Atlantic Division title. Both teams finished with an 18-12 conference record, but the Tigers won the tiebreaker due to winning the head-to-head matchup with the Seminoles.
Overall, Clemson played 9 schools that would eventually make the 2010 NCAA Tournament (Coastal Carolina, Elon, Florida State, Georgia Tech, N.C. State, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, Virginia Tech). The Tigers compiled a 14-13 record against these 9 schools. Outside of conference play, Clemson played 4 schools that had won a conference regular season or tournament championship (Charlotte, Coastal Carolina, Florida Gulf Coast, Wright State). The Tigers compiled a 6-3 record against these four schools.
ACC Tournament
Clemson entered the ACC Tournament as the #2 seed by virtue of winning the ACC Atlantic Division (Virginia claimed the #1 seed by virtue of winning both the Coastal Division and the ACC regular season). The Tigers competed in the Pool B of round robin play, which included #3 seed Georgia Tech, #6 seed Virginia Tech, and #7 seed N.C. State. The Tigers would drop their first two games against the Wolfpack and Hokies (both were teams that the Tigers swept in the regular season) before winning their final game against the Yellow Jackets (who swept the Tigers during the regular season) to finish the tournament with a 1-2 record. Florida State, whom the Tigers swept to win the Atlantic Division crown, would defeat N.C. State in the championship game to win the ACC Championship.
With their victory over Georgia Tech, Clemson would become the first team to win 100 games in ACC Tournament history.
NCAA Tournament
Clemson was awarded the #2 seed in the Auburn Regional of the 2010 NCAA tournament. On June 4, the Tigers opened regional play with #3 seed and Conference USA champion Southern Miss. The Tigers totaled 12 hits and used 6 runs in the sixth inning to top the Golden Eagles, 10-1. On June 5, Clemson would face #1 seed and host Auburn in a match-up of conference division champions (Clemson having won the ACC Atlantic title, while Auburn won the SEC West title). The ACC Tigers would prevail over the SEC Tigers, 5-2, behind a complete game performance by pitcher Casey Harman. The following night, however, Auburn would win 11-10, using a three run home run by Creede Simpson in the 9th inning to rally past Clemson and force a deciding championship game. On June 7, Clemson would prevail, using clutch hitting and timely plays on defense to defeat Auburn, 13-7, and win the Auburn Regional Championship. In the 1st inning of the championship game, two-sport standout Kyle Parker hit his 20th home run of the season, becoming the 1st Division I athlete to throw 20 touchdown passes in football and hit 20 home runs in baseball in the same academic year.
Clemson was named one of the eight schools to host a Super Regional, as the Tigers would be paired up against Atlanta Regional champions, Alabama. The Crismon Tide knocked off #8 national seed (and Tiger ACC rival) Georgia Tech, which gave the Tigers the opportunity to receive its 1st super regional bid since 2006. In the 1st game of the super regional, the Crimson Tide used two errors in the 3rd inning to score 4 runs and jump out to a 5-0 lead, then held on to claim a 5-4 victory over the Tigers. In the 2nd super regional game, however, the Tigers jumped out to a 6-0 lead and never looked back, tallying 20 hits and 9 walks against Alabama's pitching staff in a 19-5 victory to force a deciding game 3 for a CWS berth. In game three, Clemson erased an early 1-0 deficit to take an 8-1 lead into the ninth inning and held of an Alabama rally to win 8-6 and earn a College World Series bid, the Tigers' eleventh overall and first since 2006.
College World Series
By virtue of the Super Regional win against Alabama, Clemson joined Arizona State, Florida, Florida State, Oklahoma, South Carolina, TCU, and UCLA in the 2010 College World Series. Clemson was the only team to advance to the CWS that was ranked lower than a #1 seed during regional play. On June 21, the Tigers defeated #1 national seed Arizona State, 6-3, in a game that was delayed to a 10:00 A.M. (CST) start time due to rain and lightning the previous evening. The Tigers would use strong pitching performances by Casey Harman and Alex Frederick, along with great play on defense, to hold the Sun Devils to only three runs. Offensively, the Tigers would take advantage of a poor outing by ASU starting pitcher Scott Blair and several defensive miscues en route to scorig 6 runs and totaling 14 hits. On June 22, the Tigers would take on the Oklahoma Sooners. The Tigers would secure a 6-1 lead after 5 innings against the Sooners before play was stopped at 10:08 P.M. (CST) due to inclement weather. The game would resume the following afternoon, with Clemson holding off a late Sooner rally to win 6-4. Clemson then went on to face in state rival South Carolina, dropping the next two games to the Gamecocks 5-1 and 6-4 to be eliminated from the tournament. South Carolina ultimately went on to win the tournament by beating UCLA twice in the finals.
Honors and awards
All-ACC 1st Team
All-ACC 2nd Team
Auburn Regional All-Tournament Team