Clate Schmidt on track to be Clemson’s Friday night starter

In Monte Lee's first fall baseball season as Clemson head coach, his philosophy was simple: Keep the game simple.

"Our offensive approaches were simple. Our defensive approaches were simple. Pitching philosophies pretty simple for the fall," Lee said. "The guys did a really good job of buying into all of it."

The Tigers, who rebooted the program by hiring Lee to replace longtime coach Jack Leggett in June, completed the fall portion of their season with a three inter-squad games.

Lee began putting his lineup and rotation together for the 2016 season. Clate Schmidt, who battled and beat a form of Hodgkin lymphoma in the offseason, is back to 100 percent, Lee said, and is on pace to be the Friday starter after several good fall outings. Sophomore lefty Charlie Barnes is pushing for one of the other two open weekend rotation spots; several freshmen are also in that competition.

Lee said Adam Renwick, who will start at third base, was the MVP of the fall; he hit .417 with two doubles, one triple and six runs scored in the final three scrimmages.

Jackson Campana, a pitcher and first baseman who missed all of last year while rehabbing from Tommy John surgery, was the MVP of the three-game series and is slated to be more of a hitter than a pitcher in 2016, although he could work some out of bullpen. Campana hit .500 with two doubles, a home run, three RBIs and three runs in the series.

Lee said shortstop Eli White had a "tremendous" fall offensively and improved his defense while Weston Wilson has moved from third to second base and looks more comfortable in the middle infield. Lee also praised Maleeke Gibson, K.J. Bryant, Chris Williams and Robert Jolly for their fall performances.

"I think we have a chance to be very good offensively," Lee said. "I don't know how much power we've got, but we've got a lot of guys that hit gap to gap."