\t\tWith the way his team ended the regular season, Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said on Monday his team is worthy of playing in the NCAA Tournament.
\nThe Tigers ended the regular season by winning seven of their last eight games, including an unprecedented three-game road sweep at No. 8 Florida State this past weekend. That followed a 23-run outburst at Greenville\u2019s Fluor Field last Wednesday and three wins over No. 18 College of Charleston and Georgia Southern the week before.
\n\u201cWe just have to keep on winning,\u201d Leggett said. \u201cI think we are in pretty good shape with the way we finished in the conference. We finished fifth and really finished a half a game out of third place. I like the way we finished up.
\n\u201cWe played really well this past weekend at Florida State and yes, I think we are NCAA Tournament worthy. I think we will be a tough team to play in the NCAA Tournament. We have one of the better one-two punches pitching wise in the conference, I think, and certainly (Matthew) Crownover gives you a chance every single time in the first game of a series.\u201d
\nLeggett told the media as part of the ACC teleconference to preview this week\u2019s ACC Baseball Tournament that Crownover will get the start for Clemson when it opens Wednesday\u2019s pool play against No. 4 Florida State.
\nCrownover (10-1 with a 1.42 ERA) beat the Seminoles last Thursday as he allowed just one run on five hits in seven innings of work in a 4-1 victory. Leggett says Zack Erwin will go against No. 1 seed Louisville on Wednesday and Jake Long will face the winner of the North Carolina\/Virginia Tech play-in game on Friday.
\nLeggett says Long\u2019s return to the mound has played a big role in why the Tigers have become more consistent on weekends and have one of the best rotations in the ACC. The righty allowed just one run on four hits in six innings of work in earning his second victory of the season in Saturday\u2019s 9-6 victory over Florida State.
\nLong was injured the first half of the season and the Tigers did not get him back until mid-April. Just recently, he worked up the arm strength to earn a spot back in the weekend rotation.
\n\u201cThat was a big deal for us,\u201d Leggett said.
\nThe bigger deal is that it took pressure of Clemson\u2019s offense and now those players in the lineup are more relaxed and are swinging the bats better than they have at any other time this season. They know now they have the pitching to match their hitting.
\nSince April 5, the Tigers (31-25) have scored six or more runs in 16 of the last 26 games. Last week, they scored 43 runs. Left fielder Reed Rohlman had nine hits in 15 at-bats (.600) with a home run, four doubles and 11 RBIs, including 7 of 11 (.636) hitting against FSU which included a home run, three doubles and seven RBIs.
\n\u201cWe are swinging the bats from top to bottom a lot better,\u201d Leggett said. \u201cWe have more guys contributing to the order and playing pretty well offensively.\u201d
\nSince the midway point of the season, Leggett claimed his team was close to putting it all together and going on a run. So does this past week\u2019s performance against Furman and Florida State mean the Tigers have arrived?
\n\u201cWe played better really well this past weekend. We played well for the last month and a half,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m not sure we have arrived, but at the same time we are playing or have recently played as well as anybody.
\n\u201cI think it is just a matter of us hanging with it, staying positive and everybody remaining loyal and everybody working hard together and that is what has come out here at the end, I think.\u201d
\nNow can Clemson continue its magical ride in the ACC Tournament? And will all of this be good enough to get them into the NCAA Tournament. Currently, the Tigers sit at No. 55 in Warren Nolan.com\u2019s latest RPI rankings with strength of schedule of 17.
\nMany of the so-called experts have Clemson on the outside of the tournament looking in, but they believe wins over the Seminoles (14 in the RPI) and Louisville (11 in the RPI) in the ACC Tournament would get them in a regional and any two wins might be enough.
\nBut of course winning the ACC Tournament and earning the league\u2019s automatic bid would end all the speculation and scoreboard watching over the next four or five days.
\n\u201cOur goal is to play our best baseball. That\u2019s what it has been all along,\u201d Leggett said. \u201cWe had a little trouble with that earlier and, like I said, getting Jake back has helped take some pressure off. At the same time we are churning a little bit better on offense.
\n\u201cI think it is just a matter of getting the confidence going and getting a few more guys to play a little better and just getting on a little bit of a roll.\u201d<\/p>\n