NCAA Regional Profile: #11 National Seed Clemson hosts in Clemson, SC

(NCAA photo/CBC image)

By College Baseball Central writers Micah Beutell, Bo Carter, Noah Darling, Caleb Donnelley, Mark Garland, Andrew Kube, Doug Kyle, Jake Mastroianni, Jake McKeever, Andrew Riedell, and Colton Watson

Host: Clemson Tigers (Doug Kingsmore Stadium)

1. Clemson (44-16, 18-12 Atlantic Coast Conference)

2. West Virginia (41-14, 19-9 Big 12 Conference)

3. Kentucky (29-24, 13-17 Southeastern Conference)

4. USC Upstate (26-23, 19-5 Big South Conference)

#1 Clemson

RPI* 9  SOS 16  Record vs Q1: 10-10 Q2: 14-5

Clemson has consistently been one of the top teams in the ACC all season, and they have handled adversity well throughout the year. Clemson has won in different ways this season, but even when Clemson is losing, you just can’t count the Tigers out. They’ve been a pesky team all season, with multiple late-inning comebacks. One example of this was at the beginning of May, when trailing 3-1 entering the 8th, the Tigers scored 5 runs in their last 6 outs to win it 6-3. 

Lucas Mahlstedt has been incredible out of the bullpen for Erik Bakich this season, with a career high 15 saves in 45.1 innings of work. Mahlstedt has also struck out 59 batters and has walked only 7 this season, The Tigers certainly feel confident when he is in the game.

Dominic Listi has held down the top of the order for the Tigers this season. Entering the regionals, Listi has a .504 on-base percentage, working 55 walks and getting hit by a pitch another 26(!) times.

First Team All-ACC Starting Pitcher Aidan Knaak has been exactly what the Tigers need out of their Friday night starter. Knaak is 9-1 with a 4.05 ERA, a 1.09 WHIP, with an 11.3 K/9 rate this season. Cam Cannarella hasn’t necessarily had the type of season he may have wanted, but you can never count him out to make a big play in this regional.

#2 West Virginia

RPI* 28  SOS 99  Record vs Q1: 5-8 Q2:11-3

West Virginia got off to a hot start at the beginning of its season, reaching 13-0 and winning 18 out of the first 19 games the Mountaineers played, with three games lost to weather as well.

Big 12 play started a bit slowly, with a home series loss to Arizona, but the team won a road series at BYU, swept Utah at home, swept a road series at Houston, made it three sweeps in a row over Cincinnati at home, then four straight sweeps at Central Florida. The Mountaineers cooled off slightly by taking only two at home over Texas Tech, but about the time a frenzy got going about possibly hosting a regional, misfortune fell.

They lost a road series at Kansas State, then got swept themselves at home the final weekend of the regular season. A 1-1 showing at the Big 12 Tournament resulted in West Virginia still making a regional, just not hosting one.

West Virginia sports a .298 team batting average and has six regulars hitting .300 or better: Kyle West (.354, 35 RBI, 10 HRs), Sam White (.353, 41 RBI, 4 HRs), Jace Rinehart (.324, 50 RBI, 8 HRs), Chase Swain (.313, 29 RBI, 2 HR), Skylar King (.310, 29 RBI, 3 HRs), and Gavin Kelly (.301, 32 RBI, 1 HR)

The pitching leaders in innings pitched are Jack Kartsonas (6-3, 2.90 ERA), Griffin Kirn (5-2, 3.32 ERA), and Reese Bassinger (6-1, 3.88, 5 saves).

#3 Kentucky

RPI* 38  SOS 8  Record vs Q1: 8-19 Q2: 4-1

Coming off a magical run in 2024 that saw the Wildcats reach Omaha for the first time in school history, many knew the club might take a step back in 2025. That’s exactly what we saw, but they still managed to hold their own and remain competitive.

They breezed through their non-conference slate to begin the year and enter the back-half of the top 25 in most polls, but then they dropped four of their first five SEC series and were swept in two of their last three. 

The pitching became the calling card for Kentucky in 2025 led by Ben Cleaver, Nic McCay and Nate Harris in the rotation. As a staff, they finished the regular season ranked 8th in the SEC in team ERA at 4.55. However, their 4.18 BB/9 was a little high and their 9.34 K/9 a little low compared to other SEC squads. What made the biggest difference, is they did a good job keeping the ball in the yard allowing the fourth fewest home runs in the conference.

Offensively, they did a lot of the things that made them so successful in 2024 as they led the SEC in stolen bases with 120 (only one other team had over 100), sacrifice hits with 41, and sacrifice flies with 31. They hit a solid .270 as a team with a .393 on-base percentage, but what really hurt them was the lack of home runs and walks. They finished tied with Missouri for the fewest home runs in the SEC, and they had the second-fewest walks.

Tyler Bell was as advertised being named to the All-SEC Freshman team, and he was on the short list to be named SEC Freshman of the Year batting .311 with 17 doubles, 10 home runs, and 11 stolen bases during the regular season. Transfers Luke Lawrence and Cole Hage were big additions to the lineup. Devin Burkes didn’t take the step forward as a senior many hoped he could, but provided steady leadership behind the plate.

Kentucky has the pitching to give a regional host team fits. But whether or not they have the offensive firepower to work their way through the loser’s bracket of a regional is a real question.

Fighting their way on base and putting pressure on the defense by continuing to bunt, steal, and play mind games may help them slide past West Virginia, but will it work against Clemson? UK struggled against its NCAA tournament counterparts in the SEC not named Tennessee and Oklahoma.

Regardless, Nick Mingione has a great idea of what it takes to win at Kentucky and knows the right pieces to make it all fit together.

#4 USC Upstate

RPI* 87  SOS 117  Record vs Q1: 1-1 Q2: 5-13

South Carolina Upstate isn't afraid of competition, the Big South member bringing in for its season opener a series with Boston College that weather reduced to a 1-1 split. During the season, Upstate also took on NCAA host Clemson, Sun Belt power Troy, and SEC member South Carolina.

Despite the high level tuneup, conference play started poorly, getting swept at home by Radford. But, that was promptly negated, mathematically and perhaps mentally, by a road sweep over Charleston Southern. A road series win at High Point followed, then a home sweep over Winthrop, a road sweep over Gardner-Webb, a series win at home over Longwood, and yet another sweep, over Presbyterian.

Upstate could do no wrong as the regular season ended, collecting another sweep on the road over UNC Asheville. Of course, in the conference tournament, three more consecutive wins led to getting the automatic NCAA bid.

On the mound, Upstate is led by Chris Torres (8-4, 4.72 ERA) and Amp Phillips (7-2, .358 ERA, 2 saves). There's a three-way tie for saves between Phillips, Cooper Ellingworth, and Braden Consaul.

At the plate, Upstate boasts a .319 team batting average, with seven regulars hitting .300 or better: Scott Campbell (.400, 54 RBI, 11 HRs), Henry Zenor (.367, 40 RBI, 7 HRs), Johnny Sweeney (.351, 81 RBI, 17 HR), Preston Lucas (.339, 61 RBI, 5 HRs), Vance Sheahan (.331, 57 RBI, 12 HRs), Gage Griggs (.301, 26 RBI, 4 HRs), and Scott Newman (.300, 59 RBI, 18 HRs).

*****

*-Warren Nolan RPI