Why Monte Lee's biggest concern this week isn't the teams Clemson will face
Clemson coach Monte Lee has said throughout the year that one of the biggest reasons for Clemson’s success this season is that the Tigers have had a consistent routine.
That routine is being put to the test this week.
Rain forced Clemson to practice inside Monday and Tuesday as the Tigers prepare to host a regional this weekend at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
The forecast for the rest of the week is not much better. There are expected to be thunderstorms all day Wednesday, as well as Thursday afternoon.
“My biggest concern, quite frankly this week, is the weather,” Lee said Monday. “It’s just being able to prepare our team for this weekend. It rained (Monday), we were inside. It looks like we may be inside for three days in a row.”
Clemson is playing, perhaps, its best baseball of the season entering the NCAA Tournament.
The Tigers have won eight of their past nine games and have not lost a weekend series since losing two of three to Miami in mid-April.
Clemson won a pair of ACC tournament games last week, including defeating Notre Dame 21-4 in seven innings, before falling 5-4 to Florida State in the semifinals.
But Lee is concerned that the weather could halt Clemson’s momentum. The Tigers are hosting a regional for the third consecutive season under Lee. They failed to advance to a Super Regional each of the previous two years.
“We’ve been a very consistent ballclub all year. We’ve had our ups and downs, but we’ve had a whole lot more ups than we have downs ... I felt like we played really good baseball in the ACC tournament. So we’re in good shape right now, so I feel very good about this week,” Lee said. “The biggest concern for me as the head coach is just trying to do everything that I can to prepare our team for this weekend with a limited ability in terms of being able to get on the field and really practice the way that we would want to practice in preparation for a regional.”
Clemson is familiar with the other teams in its regional as No. 2 seed Vanderbilt and No. 3 seed St. John’s were in Clemson’s regional last season.
The Commodores ended up winning the regional, defeating the Tigers 8-0 in a winner-take-all game on Monday.
But this Vanderbilt team is entirely different from a year ago. Vandy lost four of its top five hitters from last season, is hitting .264 as opposed to .280 and has a team ERA of 4.17 as opposed to 3.71.
“Every year is a different year. Every team is a different team. Regardless of the fact that we have St. John’s and Vanderbilt back in our regional again, they’re different clubs this year than they were last year, and we’re a different team than we were last year,” Lee said. “So I don’t put a whole lot of stock into that, but we’re just excited again for the opportunity to be here at home and see if we can play good baseball.”
Friday Clemson regional schedule
No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 3 St. John’s, noon (SEC Network)
No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 Morehead State, 6 p.m. (WatchESPN)
Tickets info: All-session and single-session tickets will be available for all fans at 8 a.m. Wednesday. All-session ticket is $60 (Games 1-6 and a potential Game 7). Single-session adult ticket is $15. Single-session youth (ages 17 and younger) ticket is $10. And single-session general admission ticket is $10 (only available if all reserved seats sell out).
This story was originally published May 29, 2018 at 4:54 PM with the headline "Why Monte Lee's biggest concern this week isn't the teams Clemson will face."