Baseball America ranks every team 1-64 entering 2025 NCAA Tournament: Where is Clemson?
Baseball America ranks every team 1-64 entering 2025 NCAA Tournament: Where is Clemson?
After a five-year drought, the Clemson Tigers are hosting an NCAA Tournament regional for the third consecutive season and will face No. 4 seed USC Upstate in its regional opener Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
The Tigers (44-16 overall), ranked No. 12 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll and No. 11 by the NCBWA, have the same win total entering the tournament as they finished with in each of the previous two seasons. USC Upstate (36-23) clinched its first NCAA regional bid by winning the Big South conference tournament, 14-2, over Charleston Southern.
The No. 24 West Virginia Mountaineers (41-14) and Kentucky Wildcats (29-24) are also in Clemson's regional as the Nos. 2 and 3 seeds, respectively.
How dangerous is Clemson entering the 2025 NCAA Tournament? Baseball America analyst Peter Flaherty ranked all 64 teams in the field earlier this week. Flaherty has Clemson in his 10 best teams at No. 10.
"Head coach Erik Bakich has done a remarkable job since taking the reins of the program prior to the 2023 season. After not hosting a regional since 2018, 2025 marks the third consecutive season that the Tigers have accomplished that feat. Clemson was one game away from hoisting the ACC tournament championship for the second time in three seasons, and its 21 total conference victories marked the third-straight season it's won 20 or more ACC games. The Tigers' 24 Quadrant 1 and 2 wins are also an impressive mark. They haven't made it to the College World Series since 2010, though this could be the year they break down the door to Omaha."
Baseball America ranked the Tigers one spot below the streaking Ole Miss Rebels (40-19), the SEC Tournament runner-up. Clemson was ranked one spot ahead of the Georgia Bulldogs (42-15), a team they blanked 3-0 in midweek play on April 22 after Georgia had been near the top of the top 25 polls.
Is Clemson on upset alert entering 2025 NCAA Baseball Tournament?
The Tigers' regional includes the Big 12 regular season champion, an SEC team that had series wins over fellow NCAA tournament teams Tennessee and Oklahoma during the regular season, and a USC Upstate team that scored 34 runs over three games to win the Big South championship.
Baseball America listed six teams on upset watch entering the tournament. A team from South Carolina made the list, but it wasn't Clemson. No. 11 Coastal Carolina (48-11), who defeated the Tigers twice in the regular season in midweek play, was named a team to watch for an upset, along with No. 6 Georgia and No. 8 Florida State (38-14).
First pitch for Clemson vs. USC Upstate Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium is scheduled for 6 p.m. ET. The game will be televised on ACC Network.
Contact us @Clemson_Wire on X, and like our page on Facebook for ongoing coverage of Clemson Tigers news and notes, plus opinions.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Fox Sports
an hour ago
- Fox Sports
Levu's 3-run HR helps UCLA beat UC Irvine 8-5 to sweep Los Angeles Regional
Associated Press LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mulivai Levu hit a three-run home run, Dean West and Payton Brennan added two RBIs apiece and UCLA jumped to a big lead and then held on to beat UC Irvine 8-5 on Sunday night and win the Los Angeles Regional. UCLA (45-16) clinched its first trip to the super regionals since 2019. UC Irvine (43-17) beat Arizona State 11-6 in a loser-out game earlier Sunday. The Anteaters made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since they went to six straight tourneys from 2006-11. Roman Martin's RBI single off Finnegan Wall (0-1) in the first inning made it 1-0 and the Bruins led the rest of the way. Cashel Dugger hit a single in the second that drove in Brennan, who doubled to lead off the inning, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Roch Cholowsky to make it 3-0. Dugger and Phoenix Call drew back-to-back walks to lead off the fourth and West followed with a bunt single to load the bases. Dugger scored on another sacrifice fly by Cholowsky and, after Levu's homer, Brennan added a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0. James Castagnola and Alonso Reyes each had an RBI for the Anteaters in the fourth, Anthony Martinez hit a two-run double in the fifth and Reyes hit a lead-off home in the sixth to cap the scoring. Chris Grothues (3-1) came on in relief of starter Wylan Moss with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth. Grothues got Reyes to groundout, driving in Martinez, and struck out Blake Penso to limit the damage. Easton Hawk pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season. ___ AP college sports: in this topic
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
Levu's 3-run HR helps UCLA beat UC Irvine 8-5 to sweep Los Angeles Regional
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mulivai Levu hit a three-run home run, Dean West and Payton Brennan added two RBIs apiece and UCLA jumped to a big lead and then held on to beat UC Irvine 8-5 on Sunday night and win the Los Angeles Regional. UCLA (45-16) clinched its first trip to the super regionals since 2019. Advertisement UC Irvine (43-17) beat Arizona State 11-6 in a loser-out game earlier Sunday. The Anteaters made back-to-back NCAA Tournament appearances for the first time since they went to six straight tourneys from 2006-11. Roman Martin's RBI single off Finnegan Wall (0-1) in the first inning made it 1-0 and the Bruins led the rest of the way. Cashel Dugger hit a single in the second that drove in Brennan, who doubled to lead off the inning, and then scored on a sacrifice fly by Roch Cholowsky to make it 3-0. Dugger and Phoenix Call drew back-to-back walks to lead off the fourth and West followed with a bunt single to load the bases. Dugger scored on another sacrifice fly by Cholowsky and, after Levu's homer, Brennan added a sacrifice fly to make it 8-0. James Castagnola and Alonso Reyes each had an RBI for the Anteaters in the fourth, Anthony Martinez hit a two-run double in the fifth and Reyes hit a lead-off home in the sixth to cap the scoring. Advertisement Chris Grothues (3-1) came on in relief of starter Wylan Moss with one out and the bases loaded in the fourth. Grothues got Reyes to groundout, driving in Martinez, and struck out Blake Penso to limit the damage. Easton Hawk pitched a 1-2-3 ninth for his sixth save of the season. ___ AP college sports: The Associated Press
Yahoo
2 hours ago
- Yahoo
UCLA baseball defeats UC Irvine to advance to NCAA super regionals
UCLA left fielder Dean West, shown here hitting against Fresno State on Friday, had two hits and scored twice in the Bruins' 8-5 victory over UC Irvine in the Los Angeles Regional final Sunday night. (Carlin Stiehl/Los Angeles Times) UCLA baseball is one step closer to earning a trip to Omaha. The Bruins continued to roll in every facet of the game in the Los Angeles Regional final, scoring early and trusting their bullpen to defeat UC Irvine 8-5 on Sunday night. The Bruins advance to the super regionals of the NCAA tournament for the first time since 2019 and will host the Texas San Antonio at Jackie Robinson Stadium this week. Advertisement UTSA defeated Texas 7-4 in the Austin Regional final, taking down the national second-seed Longhorns to advance to its first-ever super regional. If UCLA beats UTSA, it'll advance to the College World Series in Omaha for the first time since 2013. Read more: UC Irvine showcases its power, eliminating Arizona State in NCAA baseball tournament UCLA's offense was just as ready to explode — like they did versus Fresno State and Arizona State — against a depleted UC Irvine pitching staff (with high-leverage bullpen arms Ricky Ojeda and David Utagawa unavailable after pitching earlier Sunday). Rallying for six hits across the first two innings, the Bruins put together three runs thanks to RBI singles from Roman Martin and Cashel Dugger, and a sacrifice fly from Roch Cholowsky. Advertisement UCLA first baseman Mulivai Levu helped place the game in blowout territory — an 8-0 lead — when he connected for a three-run home run in a five-run fourth inning. Much like UCLA had done all weekend, the lineup kept on churning. Freshman Wylan Moss set the tone for UCLA's combined pitching effort. Moss, who entered the contest with a 2.25 earned-run average and an All-Big-Ten Freshman Team recognition, was as good as advertised to stymie UC Irvine, which came off an 11-run offensive showing earlier in the day. The 6-foot-3 righty struck out the top of the Anteaters lineup — Will Bermudez, Chase Call and Jacob McCombs — swinging on change ups. Moss, who had yet to pitch in the NCAA Tournament, was lying in wait for a game of magnitude. He pitched 3 ⅓ innings, giving up two runs and two hits, while walking three and striking out four. From there, a five-pitcher bullpen effort kept Irvine at bay, pitching 5 ⅔ innings of five-run ball the rest of the way to wrap up regional action in Westwood. Advertisement Things got more complicated for UCLA in the sixth, when freshman right-hander Cal Randall gave up a solo home run to UC Irvine designated hitter Alonso Reyes to make it a three-run game, but right-hander Jack O'Connor entered to extinguish the threat — and set down UC Irvine outfielder Chase Call on a fielder's choice to close out the inning. Read more: UCLA baseball crushes Fresno State behind 22-hit barrage in NCAA regional opener It wasn't easy sailing for the Bruins in the late innings. Graduate student right-hander August Souza bailed UCLA out of a bases-loaded jam by freezing the potential go-ahead run, Blake Penso, on a full-count, 87-mph fastball in the seventh. Advertisement When the Bruins needed it the most, Souza struck out two in a scoreless eighth, putting metaphorical champagne on ice in Westwood. Freshman right-hander Easton Hawk tossed a perfect ninth, striking out James Castagnola to end it, prompting the Bruins to run onto the field in celebration. UCLA owned the Los Angeles Regional title. Postseason baseball will remain in Jackie Robinson Stadium for at least one more weekend. Levu led all Bruins with three RBIs, while Cholowsky went one for three with two RBIs from sacrifice flies. Get the best, most interesting and strangest stories of the day from the L.A. sports scene and beyond from our newsletter The Sports Report. This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.
