I think the headline says it all: #20 Tigers Explode for 12-2 Win at South Carolina.

It’s gonna be a good day, Tater.

Woe is the baseball team the last few weeks. I’m hardly even keeping up with the results and they’re almost too much to bear.

Western Carolina hit two homers on its way to a 6-2 win over Clemson on Tuesday night in front of 3,674 fans at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Catamounts improved to 17-18, while the Tigers dropped to 18-18.

That would be the 10th loss in a row. So much for my thought earlier in the week that, “well at least we’re playing a nobody on Tuesday and we can end the skid.”

No, seriously. CHECK IT OUT. Imagine the luck!!! If he makes the dough off the land and plays for the big leagues he will be living a dream for sure. I think Clemson stands a good chance of landing some of that change as well. WEZ anyone? Or maybe Kingsmore upgrades to get us better chances at regionals in a few years!!!

• Barry Richardson has been named a first-team All-American by Lindy’s. That’s good to hear. Hopefully Lindy can declare us official pre-season national champions so that I don’t have to have 13 hear-attacks this fall.
• Golfer Kyle Stanley is now the #1 ranked amateur in the country, not bad for someone who just finished his freshman year.
• Cliff Hammonds is joining Athletes in Action to play for the Jones cup in Taipei, Taiwan.
• In a case of, “what the fuck?” Instructor Bryant Smith is teaching a hip hop & leadership class which, “attempts to provide students with the basic historical framework of hip hop as a culture. It uses past and present icons in hip hop culture to demonstrate youth leadership, and empowerment.” Of course when I think of hip hop and youth leadership — actually I rarely put those two thing together, I think of what’s-his-name? and his “vote or die” campaign.
  
  Vote or die. A campaign of America’s leaders, for America’s leaders.
• Finally, let me end on a non-Clemson note. Unfortunately I was unable to attend any Clemson baseball games this season. I was, however, able to see Oregon State twice when they played at Georgia and twice more in the Charlottesville regional. And I saw both their Super Regional games and all their CWS games. They may have faltered in conference play, but at the end of the season they were awesome. The Beavers took care of business and played very good, fundamental baseball that was a joy to watch. And I must say, it was enjoyable to see them easily put away opponent after opponent, particularly the implosive UNC Tar Heels.

Unlike our feathered friends to the south, the title of this post carries a meaning completely different from their seemingly eternal optimism. Despite the baseball team’s less than satisfying loss in the Super Regional, it looks like things could get worse.

So, when it’s all said and done, the Tigers could lose their entire outfield, their top two starters, their top two relievers, their catcher, centerfielder [presumably already counted among the "entire outfield"], a very important assistant coach and four singees [sic].

Scout has more of the gory details, but it looks like there not be much left next year other than a well-picked over skeleton of a team. We shall see.

The Tigers are going to continue their season at Mississippi State. It looked like the Tigers had the advantage for winning the bid based on their play. However, based on media reports, the NCAA didn’t give a crap about any of that. Instead the decision was based on “other factors” such as “the respective bids and what programs have had to travel more this year and in recent years” [emphasis mine]. Since the Cowbelled Ones came to Clemson last year, Clemson has to go Mississippi this year.

Sources: Read the rest of this entry »

I didn’t have to listen to today’s game long to know that it was a blowout. The final score was 15-3 and the Chanticleers were never close after Clemson’s 5-run third inning.

Clemson beat Coastal twice in the Regional. And in case you forgot, Coastal was the more highly ranked team. They were 10 and the Tigers 13.

The Tigers will go on to play Mississippi State, the surprise winner of the Tallahassee regional. State managed to be FSU twice in Tallahassee. The location will be determined Monday night. There’s a good chance that the Super Regional will be held in Clemson.

And on a side note, I made it to tonight’s Oregon State-Virginia game. The Beavers took the W on a pair of lead-off home runs and numerous errors committed by the Cavaliers. The result was a come-from-behind 5-3. The defending CWS Champions stay alive to face Virginia for the 3rd time tomorrow at noon.

Sources: Read the rest of this entry »

The Tigers decided to turn the heat up in Jacksonville last night as they once again dismantled the Florida State Seminoles in a 5-1 win. This is the 3rd loss for the Seminoles to the Tigers this season (FSU was the home team every time), too bad it came in a showdown for a chance at the ACC title game. It looked as if the Tigers had a handle on the game from the get go and never looked back. Their determination payed off as they now have a chance to play in the title game against the same team that knocked them out of the CWS last year; UNC. That all depends on how the Miami vs Wake Forest game plays out on Saturday. By the way, if you’re a Tiger fan, you will be rooting for the ‘Canes.

In other news, the football team just picked up a huge commitment in the verbal of the number 1 running back in South Carolina, Andre Ellington for the class of 2008. The short of it is he runs a 4.4 40 and had 1600 rushing yards and 15 TD’s his Junior year. He says that his verbal commitment is firm and that he wanted to get the decision out of the way before he underwent his senior season. This takes care of one of the two RB holes for next years class, let’s hope that the Tigers can pick up another stellar one to continue the RB lineage that James, CJ and Reggie have established in The Valley.