What we learned from Clemson’s opening weekend sweep of a solid Liberty team
It is common for Power 5 baseball programs to open the season against a lesser opponent — a team to beat up on so everyone feels good after the first weekend of the year.
You could make the argument before the season that Clemson would benefit from playing such a team opening weekend, as the Tigers lost their top three hitters from last year’s squad and were picked to finish fourth in the ACC Atlantic Division in 2020.
Instead, Clemson went a different route, opening with a Liberty team that won 43 games a season ago and reached the NCAA Tournament. As it turned out, upping the competition worked out just fine for Monte Lee’s squad.
Clemson completed a three-game sweep of Liberty with a 6-2 victory over the Flames on Sunday afternoon at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Liberty, the preseason favorites to win the Atlantic Sun Conference, did not get swept in a three-game series in all of 2019.
“It would have been real easy after winning the series on Saturday to just kind of relax ... just the mentality and the approach and the competitiveness of our ball club really showed today,” Lee said Sunday. “It was a great series win, there’s no doubt about it, to beat a quality team like Liberty three games this weekend.”
Liberty returned its entire weekend rotation from 2019 and six of its position starters, but the Flames struggled all weekend against Clemson, particularly at the plate.
The Tigers held Liberty to five runs over the three games: Clemson earned a 5-3 win Friday and a 1-0 victory on Saturday, in addition to Sunday’s 6-2 contest.
“The difference for me the whole weekend was the pitching. I thought Clemson’s arms were really good. And some different looks. That’s about as much of a different look as you’re going to get on a weekend as far as a right-handed cutter guy, a left-handed cutter guy, and some power,” Liberty coach Scott Jackson said. “Everybody came out of there pretty sharp. Credit to them, they did a great job.”
Perhaps the most welcomed sight for Lee on Sunday was the return of pitchers Spencer Strider and Carter Raffield. The two missed last season with Tommy John surgery and both appeared in a game for the first time since 2018.
Strider got the start and pitched three scoreless innings without allowing a hit, while Raffield retired all three batters he faced, with a pair of strikeouts.
“How awesome was it to see two guys pitch for us today that didn’t get a chance to pitch for us last year due to injury. I don’t know if I’ve seen two guys work as hard as Spencer Strider and Carter Raffield have to get back to this point to be ready for the season,” Lee said.
Clemson used 10 pitchers over the entirety of the weekend, and seven of the 10 didn’t allow a run. Liberty hit just .156 as a team during the three games as Clemson starters Sam Weatherly, Davis Sharpe and Strider got the Tigers off to good starts and the bullpen had plenty of success as well.
Mat Clark, Clemson’s ace from last season, allowed a pair of runs in three innings of work Sunday. But he’s another guy Clemson trusts to get big outs in big spots.
Jackson singled out Sharpe and Clark as two guys who stood out over the course of the weekend thanks to their ability to use both sides of the plate.
“I think Sharpe and Clark are tough. I mean, the power arms are great. It’s great to have that,” Jackson said. “But you don’t get anything straight from either one of those guys. I really think it’s a tough at bat with both of them. It’s both sides of the plate. It’s command over power.”
Clemson also had plenty of guys step up offensively, including Elijah Henderson, Adam Hackenberg, Kier Meredith and James Parker. Those four are hitting at least .385 after the opening weekend.
“We’ve got some tough kids, we really do. Elijah Henderson, Kier, Parker, Hack, these guys are tough,” Lee said. “Every guy that we play does a good job of competing, but certainly some of these new guys that don’t have a lot of starting experience, after the first weekend, really proud of the way they played the game this weekend.”
Clemson will return to action Tuesday when it hosts The Citadel at 4 p.m.
This story was originally published February 16, 2020 at 3:49 PM.
