Clemson Welcomes Georgia Tech to Town for Critical ACC Series

Time is beginning to run out on the Clemson baseball team.

After getting swept at Louisville last weekend, the Tigers return home to face No. 21 Georgia Tech. Due to final exams, Monte Lee's team had the luxury of having the week off before facing the Yellow Jackets, in what could easily be described as a must-win series for the Tigers.

SERIES SETUP
• Who - Georgia Tech (27-18, 12-12 ACC) vs. Clemson (28-17, 6-14 ACC)
• When - Friday (7 p.m.), Saturday (3 p.m.), Sunday (1 p.m.)
• Where - Clemson, S.C. (Doug Kingsmore Stadium)
• Watch - ACC Network (Friday), ACC Network Extra (Saturday, Sunday)

Outside of Friday starter Mack Anglin, Clemson has not announced any starting pitchers. Geoffrey Gilbert has started the past two Saturday contests, with freshman Billy Barlow getting the nod on Sunday's the past two weekends. Prior to that, Barlow had been the midweek starter. However, neither were able to make it out of the second inning against the Cardinals last weekend.

STARTING PITCHERS
• Friday - RHP John Medich (GAT) vs. RHP Mack Anglin (CU)
• Saturday - TBA (GAT) vs. TBA (CU)
• Sunday - TBA (GAT) vs. TBA (CU)

After having all week off, it will be interesting to see if Lee decides to do something different this weekend, as starting pitching has been one of the team's biggest issues all season, and Georgia Tech is one of the ACC's best hitting teams.

The Yellow Jackets come in batting .322 overall, good for second-best in the conference, and scoring more than nine runs per game. Their 85 home runs are tied with Wake Forest for most in the league.

SERIES HISTORY
• Overall Record - Clemson leads 116-114-3 (1902-2021)
• Record at Clemson - Clemson leads 51-26-1 (1904-2018)

The Tigers, who find themselves almost a full percentage point behind Duke and North Carolina for the 12th and final spot in the ACC Tournament, are 20-8 at Doug Kingsmore this season, while Georgia Tech is 6-8 on the road. There are just 11 games remaining in the season, nine of which are conference games.

CLEMSON OVERVIEW
• The Tigers are averaging 7.7 runs per game and hitting .282 with a .482 slugging percentage, .387 on-base percentage and 23 steals.
• The pitching staff has a 4.45 ERA, .254 opponents’ batting average and 2.19 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Clemson is fielding .972.

GEORGIA TECH OVERVIEW
• The Yellow Jackets won two games over Miami (Fla.) last weekend. They are hitting .322 and have a 6.43 ERA and .969 fielding percentage.
• Chandler Simpson is hitting .440 with 15 steals, Kevin Parada is batting .381 with 23 homers and 74 RBIs and Andrew Jenkins is hitting .380.

QUICK HITS
• Due to the shortened season in 2020, Georgia Tech has not played at Clemson since 2018, when the Tigers swept the three-game series.
• Clemson is 22-3 when not being outhit in 2022.
• Clemson is hitting .299 with a .507 slugging percentage, .412 on-base percentage and 8.8 runs per game at home in 2022.

SLUGGING TIGERS
• Clemson has a .482 slugging percentage in 2022, its highest mark since 2010 (.488) and the second-highest mark since 2002 (.533).
• The Tigers have totaled 76 home runs in 45 games, good for 1.7 homers per game, the second-highest mark in school history (1962, 2.0).
• In the last 11 games (7-4 record), Clemson has totaled 31 homers and a .603 slugging percentage.
• Clemson hit a season-high six homers at No. 10 Louisville on May 1. The Tigers have hit exactly five homers in four other games.
• Clemson has hit a home run in 32 of the 45 games. The Tigers are 6-7 in games in which they do not hit a home run.
• Max Wagner, the ACC Player of the Week the past two weeks, leads the team with 21 home runs, including 11 long balls in the last 11 games.

Clemson Athletics Communications contributed to this story.

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