Justin Sarratt
Clemson baseball SID Brian Hennesy released the final notes for the Clemson baseball team this afternoon. You can read a portion of them here or go to the Tigers homepage to see all of them.
Tigers Earned 36th NCAA Tournament Bid
Clemson played in its 36th all-time NCAA Regional in 2011. The 36 appearances are tied for fifth-most in NCAA history, trailing only Texas (55), Florida State (49), Miami (FL) (40), and Oklahoma State (38).
Clemson Regional Recap
The Tigers hosted the 2011 Clemson Regional and went 2-2, finishing in second place behind regional champion Connecticut, who went 4-1. Clemson defeated Sacred Heart and Coastal Carolina before falling twice to the Huskies.
Clemson batted .314 with a .486 slugging percentage and .414 on-base percentage in the four regional games. The team also totaled 30 runs, 44 hits, seven doubles, one triple, five homers, 24 walks against only 21 strikeouts, and five stolen bases. John Hinson (3B), Will Lamb (OF), and Phil Pohl (DH) earned all-tournament honors as well.
Clemson’s NCAA Tournament Leaders
John Hinson led the Tigers in the Clemson Regional by going 8-for-17 (.471) with seven runs, one double, two homers, six RBIs, three walks, and two stolen bases. Will Lamb was 6-for-15 (.400) with six runs, one triple, one homer, two RBIs, and two walks. Phil Pohl went 7-for-18 (.389) with two runs, three doubles, and one RBI. Jason Stolz and Richie Shaffer both went 5-for-13 (.385), while Shaffer added one double, two homers, five RBIs, four walks, and one steal.
Worth Noting
• The 2011 season marked Clemson’s 47th consecutive winning season.
• Clemson won seven weekend series in a row to close the regular season. The Tigers, who were 2-1 in the ACC Tournament, also won each of their last six ACC series and seven of the 10 ACC series in 2011.
• Clemson lost its 20 games by a combined 67 runs (3.4 runs per loss). The Tigers won their 43 games by a combined 269 runs (6.3 runs per win). That was a big reason Clemson was fifth in the nation in scoring margin (+3.2), trailing only Virginia, Vanderbilt, Stony Brook, and Mercer.
• Clemson hit .336 with runners in scoring position.
• Fourteen Tigers combined for a .321 batting average off the bench. Meanwhile, Clemson opponents had a .177 batting average off the bench.
• All of Clemson’s nine regulars in the field batted .282 or better, including six starters who batted .315 or better.
• Clemson relievers combined for a 2.69 ERA and .225 opponents’ batting average.
• Clemson pitchers combined for a 1.52 ERA and .188 opponents’ batting average along with 61 strikeouts in 53.1 innings pitched in the ninth inning.
Polls
The Tigers ended the year at #16 in the final Sports Weekly coaches poll after going 2-2 in four games in the Clemson Regional to close their season. Clemson also finished at #21 in the Baseball America rankings and #21 in the Collegiate Baseball poll. Clemson has had at least one final top-25 ranking in 15 of Head Coach Jack Leggett’s first 18 seasons in Tigertown. The Tigers have also been ranked #1 for 20 weeks by at least one of the three major polls under Leggett. Their last #1 ranking came on February 12, 2007 by both Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball.
ACC Standings
The Tigers finished in second place in the ACC Atlantic Division standings with a 17-13 league record in 2011. In the division, Florida State finished in first place with a 19-11 record, while N.C. State and Wake Forest tied for third at 15-15. Virginia and Georgia Tech tied for the best overall ACC record (22-8). In the overall ACC standings, Clemson finished in sixth place.
Clemson #9 in the Nation in Average Home Attendance
A total of 158,154 fans were in attendance for Clemson’s 36 home dates in 2011, an average of 4,393 per date. That figure was #9 in the nation and second-best in the ACC in 2011. It was also the sixth-highest figure in Tiger history for a season. Through the 2011 season, Clemson has a top-20 national figure in attendance for 18 straight seasons and a top-10 national figure in attendance for 10 years in a row.
28
That’s how many of Clemson’s 63 games were against teams that played in the 2011 NCAA Tournament, which equates to over 44 percent. Clemson had a 13-15 record against the teams in the field. The Tigers played 10 different teams that were in the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson played four of the top-five national seeds in Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Florida State for a total of 13 games. The Tigers were 3-10 in those 13 contests, but only four of those games were played at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Tigers were 6-11 against #1 seeds, 0-2 against #2 seeds, 6-2 against #3 seeds, and 1-0 against #4 seeds.
NCAA Stat Finishes
Clemson finished in the top 25 in the nation in 11 statistical categories in 2011. The Tigers were second in sacrifice flies (2), fifth in hits (687), and sixth in both batting average (.318) and walks (304).
The Tigers were also 11th in the country in runs (449), 14th in slugging percentage (.460), tied for 14th in steals (106), 15th in runs per game (7.1), 23rd in hits allowed per nine innings pitched (8.00), 25th in steals per game (1.68), and tied for 25th in doubles (127).
Brad Miller finished in the top 25 in the nation in two statistical categories. He was 16th in on-base percentage (.498) and 25th in batting average (.395). Spencer Kieboom was tied for 25th in the nation in sacrifice flies (7) as well.
Strength of Schedule #6
In 2011, Clemson had an unofficial strength of schedule of #6 according to WarrenNolan.com. There were 300 schools that played Division I baseball in 2011.
Clemson Led the ACC in Batting Average
Clemson led the ACC in batting average at .318, 14 points higher than second-place Virginia (.304). The .318 batting average was Clemson’s best mark since 2002, when that team, with the likes of Khalil Greene, Jeff Baker, and Michael Johnson, batted .324.
The Tigers, who also led the ACC with 106 stolen bases, were fifth in the ACC in ERA (3.32). The 3.32 ERA was Clemson’s best mark since 2006.
