The Road to Omaha begins on the road

FULLERTON, Calif. — Some times fans and the media make more of a big deal when it comes to playing home games than the actual people playing in the games do.
There are cases when a team is really good at home and defends its home turf, and then there are those were a ball club enjoys getting on the road and bonding with one another. That seems to be the case for this year’s Clemson baseball team, who has won two more games away from Doug Kingsmore Stadium than it has playing there.
The Tigers are 17-13 this season away from The Doug, where they were just 15-14.
“I always like going on the road,” Clemson pitcher Matthew Crownover said. “In high school, when I was a sophomore, we were a three seed, and we went all the way through the playoffs going on the road.”
Now a junior in college, Crownover and the Tigers will more than likely have to do the same as his Ringgold High School team did five years ago. Clemson begins the Road to Omaha at Goodwin Field tonight (6 p.m. EST) in Fullerton, Calif., when they open the Fullerton NCAA Regional against No. 2 seed Arizona State.
If the Tigers (32-27) can get out the Fullerton Regional, they are likely headed to Louisville to face the Cardinals, the No. 3 overall seed. So in other words, to get to the College World Series for the first time since 2010, Clemson is going to have to keep winning on the road.
“I always like playing in other environments,” said Crownover, who will get the start in tonight’s game against the Sun Devils. “I love playing at home, but it is more fun to play on the road and play against different teams on their field.”
Crownover has been rising to the occasions most of his career at Clemson. In his 21 career starts on the road, the lefty has led the Tigers to 12 victories, including a 5-2 record this season.
“It’s huge,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “When you have a guy like Crownover going on the mound, it’s a big boost. Now nothing is guaranteed. He has to go out there and earn it just like he has every time out on Fridays.
“I’m sure their kid will be thinking the same thing. He is a Friday night guy for them. It will be a good challenge for our hitters and a good challenge for Crowney. This is a good challenge for our team.”
Arizona State (34-21) is likely to go with Ryan Kellogg on the mound. The lefty had an 8-2 record in the regular season, which included a 3.67 ERA. He had 86 strikeouts and 19 walks in 108 innings. The Tigers have to get to Kellogg if they are to win their first game because closer Ryan Burr has 13 saves this year.
Clemson has not won the first game of a regional since 2012, when it beat Coastal Carolina, 11-3, in the first game of the Columbia Regional. The last two years, the Tigers opened with a loss to Liberty, 8-3, in the 2013 Columbia Regional and then to Oregon, 18-1, in the first game of the 2014 Nashville Regional.
The Tigers enter this year’s Fullerton Regional as winners in eight of their last 11 games, including a three-game sweep of Florida State in Tallahassee and a victory over Louisville in the ACC Tournament.
“We just have to keep playing with the same fire we have been playing with,” Clemson All-American catcher Chris Okey said. “We have been competing and we have been battling our butts off. People have been stepping up lately and we need to keep stepping up. We are going to keep playing hard and hopefully we will come out of here with a couple of more wins.”
Crownover, who was named a First-Team All-American by Collegiate Baseball on Thursday, brings in 1.59 ERA and a 10-2 record into the Fullerton Regional after striking out 99 batters and walking 36 in 102 innings of work. He will face an ASU team that is hitting .297 as a team and is averaging 5.5 runs per game.
“I know that our guys will rise to the occasion,” Crownover said.

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The Road to Omaha begins on the road
Source: The Clemson Insider