After 1st losing season since 1957, 11-0 Clemson riding high
Clemson's 11-0 start following a three-game sweep of in-state rival South Carolina has quickly put the Tigers' first losing season since 1957 in the rearview mirror.
The Tigers are out to their best start since Jack Leggett's 2002 team opened 13-0 and finished 54-17 with two wins in the College World Series.
The Tigers were 25-27 last season and picked fifth this year in the seven-team ACC Atlantic Division. They opened with an impressive sweep of Indiana, but they emerged nationally over the weekend with wins of 3-2, 10-5 and 5-2 over the Gamecocks.
"To find a way to sweep the Gamecocks is just one of those things I'll never forget," coach Monte Lee said. "Just a special moment in the program."
The sweep was Clemson's first in a series of three or more games against South Carolina since 1996, when the Tigers took four straight.
The Tigers have been solid offensively and defensively, They're batting .309, have drawn an ACC-high 85 walks and average 9.8 runs per game. Cooper Ingle is batting .463 and has a .603 on-base percentage.
Mack Anglin is allowing 1.69 hits per nine innings to rank third nationally, the team ERA is 2.34 and Ryan Ammons is fourth nationally with four saves. Clemson's fielding percentage is a tidy .986.
The Tigers entered the national rankings this week as high as No. 19. They will be tested again this weekend with three home games against Northeastern. The Huskies raised eyebrows this past weekend with a three-game sweep at a ranked North Carolina State.
IN THE POLLS
The top three teams in the D1Baseball.com rankings were unchanged. No. 1 Texas (11-1) lost for the first time, to UCLA at the Shriners College Classic in Houston. No. 2 Mississippi (10-1) took two of three from Central Florida. No. 3 Arkansas (7-3) bounced back from a Friday loss against Southeastern Louisiana to win the three-game series.
Baseball America's top three teams also remained the same, with Texas followed by Stanford and Notre Dame. Stanford (8-3) won two of three over Cal State Northridge and the Irish (8-1) beat Illinois, Michigan State and Minnesota at the Cambria College Classic in Minneapolis.
Collegiate Baseball newspaper's top three are Texas, Vanderbilt and Tennessee. Vandy (10-2) won four straight at Hawaii and the Volunteers (10-1) lost to Texas and beat Baylor and Oklahoma in Houston.
SIMS INJURED
Mississippi State has not provided an update on ace Landon Sims, who was injured during a dominant performance against Tulane on Friday.
Sims struck out 10 of the 11 batters he faced and had not allowed a base runner before leaving the game with two outs in the fourth inning. The defending national champion Bulldogs won 19-2 but lost the other two games to the Green Wave and dropped to 6-6.
PIMENTEL POWER
Brandon Pimentel is feeling right at home at Texas-Rio Grande Valley after spending the previous two years at Mississippi State.
The junior left fielder homered four times and drove in nine runs in a four-game sweep of Youngstown State and at one point reached base eight straight times. He's batting a team-leading .489 and slugging 1.022 with seven homers and three doubles.
BIG TEN BULLIES?
Purdue has the best record in the nation at 12-0 and is ranked as high as No. 21 even though it hasn't beaten an opponent with a higher RPI than 111. The Boilermakers are four wins short of matching their 2021 total of 16.
Maryland (9-2) is the only other ranked Big Ten team, as high as No. 22, though the Terrapins lost two of three over the weekend, including 7-4 to Michigan.
Rutgers (9-1) is out to its best start since 1962 and has outscored its opponents 91-33. The Scarlet Knights are No. 4 in the RPI but do not appear in the polls.
BERKMAN'S BOYS
First-year coach Lance Berkman and Houston Baptist picked up the program's first series win over a ranked opponent when it took three of four at Sacramento State.
Houston Baptist lost the series opener 21-4 to drop to 2-8. The Huskies then won three straight over the Hornets, who were as high as No. 23 last week. Previously, Houston Baptist hadn't won a game over a ranked opponent since 2017.