Why Clemson baseball is opening the season away from home for the first time in 20 years
Three years ago, Erik Bakich and Michigan had a “fantastic” time competing in the second-ever Shriners Children’s College Showdown.
About four months later, Bakich was named Clemson’s next baseball coach.
Upon hearing that news, it was only natural for Jared Schrom’s ears to perk up. Schrom is the senior vice president of REV Entertainment, the official events partner of the MLB’s Texas Rangers. One of his most important jobs is scheduling teams for the Shriners event, one of the top early-season showcases in the country.
Schrom already had a good relationship with Bakich from coordinating and executing Michigan’s 2022 visit to Globe Life Field in Arlington. Now he had a perfect opportunity to get Clemson, one of the sport’s winningest programs with a rich baseball culture, into REV’s opening weekend event ... at some point.
Bakich was officially hired as Clemson’s coach on June 16. Schrom figured he’d let the dust settle on the hire before he reached out.
Instead, Bakich reached out to him the next day.
“Let us know when Clemson can come,” Bakich said.
“Well, I wasn’t gonna bother you with that right now,” Schrom said.
Not a problem, Bakich said.
A few weeks later, “we had them penciled in for 2025,” Schrom told The State.
Now the 2025 Shriners Children’s College Showdown is here. Clemson is one of six teams competing at Globe Life Field — home of the Rangers, and the newest stadium in Major League Baseball — and will play three games in three days.
The preseason No. 15 Tigers open their season against No. 17 Oklahoma State on Friday before playing No. 21 Arizona on Saturday and Ole Miss on Sunday. No. 19 Texas and Louisville are also participating but aren’t scheduled to play Clemson.
The Rangers’ home locker room itself is unavailable for use this weekend, Schrom said, since the team hasn’t fully transitioned to 2025 spring training.
But Clemson and the other teams on site get to use professional batting cages, auxiliary locker rooms and weight rooms — and play three games apiece in a major league ballpark that seats 40,300 people.
No offense to Binghamton and Xavier, who visited Clemson for opening weekend series during Bakich’s first two years at coach in 2022-23, but things are a little bigger this time around.
“There’s a lot of value in playing good competition and getting challenged out of the chute,” Bakich told reporters this week.
How Clemson landed showcase event
The Rangers and REV Entertainment have been putting on the Shriners Children’s College Showdown at Globe Life Field since 2021 and gotten “really aggressive” in pursuing some of the best and most recognizable teams in college baseball to participate, Schrom said.
Clemson certainly qualifies. The Tigers have not advanced to the College World Series in Omaha in 15 years, yet they still rank among the top 10 nationally in CWS appearances with 12 and routinely make the NCAA Tournament and draw big crowds to Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Schrom’s team had been interested in featuring Clemson in its event for a while. He’d reached out to the Tigers a few times late in Monte Lee’s coaching tenure (2016-22) about them participating but “didn’t have a ton of luck,” he said.
“Erik made it easier,” Schrom said.
Still, there was a waiting game involved.
Most college baseball teams, just like college football teams, schedule games out years in advance. And most power conference teams in the Southeast open with home series against small-school opponents (often from up North, where the weather isn’t as suitable in February).
In Clemson’s case, the 2025 season was the first time it didn’t already have an opening weekend series on the books. The Tigers were locked in to play Binghamton at home in 2023 and Xavier at home in 2024. They hadn’t opened a season away from home since 2005, when they played in a four-team event in Myrtle Beach.
This is also Clemson’s first time playing a regular-season game outside of the Eastern time zone since 2005, when it played a weekend series at Auburn.
“It was wanting to jump on that (opportunity) and give our players the experience of playing in a major league stadium and in an environment like that,” Bakich said.
There was a financial incentive, too. Schrom said each team received a competitive, up-front payment from REV Entertainment upon officially agreeing to participate.
“Everybody needs additional revenue for travel and all of those things,” he said.
Tigers ‘super pumped’
Clemson has been a top 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons under Bakich, who landed a big contract extension this summer, and won its first regional since 2010 last season.
The Tigers return All-American outfielder Cam Cannarella and right-handed pitcher Aidan Knaak, among others, and again have their sights set on a return to Omaha.
Bakich said opening the season against “some of the best teams in the country” will be a big benefit to Clemson, which plays rival South Carolina in their annual three-game Palmetto Series in two weeks and begins ACC play in mid-March.
“It’s finding those moments of adversity where you get knocked down, get punched in the mouth and get exposed in certain areas,” Bakich said. “I hope we win all the games, but I also hope we come back from this trip with, you know, some targeted, specific things to learn and grow from.”
Funny enough, Bakich isn’t allowed to coach, or even be in the stadium, for the first two of Clemson’s three games this weekend.
Bakich was ejected in the Tigers’ season-ending loss to Florida in Game 2 of the Clemson Super Regional last June, which triggered an automatic two-game suspension.
So when Clemson plays Oklahoma State and Arizona, associate head coach Nick Schnabel will be the acting head coach. Bakich will watch the games from Clemson’s team hotel and join the team’s radio broadcast remotely as an analyst.
That hasn’t dulled the team’s excitement. Outfielder Tristan Bissetta said Clemson’s team was “super pumped” for its weekend in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.
The Tigers arrived in Texas late Wednesday night for what Schrom described as a college football “bowl weekend feel” leading into the games, which includes spending time with Shriners Children’s hospital patients and, of course, swag bags.
Then, some high-quality baseball at a high-quality stadium awaits.
“We want these guys to feel major league,” Schrom said.
Clemson baseball 2025 opening weekend
All games at Globe Life Field and televised on FloSports (subscription required)
- Friday Feb. 14: vs. No. 17 Oklahoma State, noon ET
- Saturday Feb. 15: vs. No. 21 Arizona, noon ET
- Sunday Feb. 16: vs. Ole Miss, 3:30 p.m. ET
