COVID-19 Impact On Clemson Baseball

While the Clemson baseball team was winning an eleven inning affair against Winthrop in walk-off fashion on Wednesday night, the landscape of the sporting world was changing drastically and quickly. Little did they know, it would be the last time they would play a game for the foreseeable future.

Heading into the season, there were a lot of questions surrounding the Tigers baseball team. The team was coming off a disappointing 2019 season, and featured a roster that was littered with youth and inexperience.

Head coach Monte Lee was heading into his fifth season leading the program, and was still trying to find a way to get the Tigers out of a regional for the first time since 2010. After being eliminated by Jacksonville State in regional play last season, Clemson needed a bounce-back season.

A month into this season, it was starting to look like Lee might finally have a team capable of potentially getting out of regional play. The Tigers were 14-3 and had swept Boston College to open ACC play. 

Now it seems as if his team won't even get the chance. On Thursday the ACC suspended all spring activities until further notice due to the threat of COVID-19. The NCAA went a step further, canceling all postseason championships for spring sports, meaning there will be no College World Series.

“It’s tough to comprehend, just the reality of it,” Lee said after Wednesday's win over Winthrop. “You really feel for people who are dealing with this right now. I feel for our country and I feel for the people across the world that are dealing with it. This is just so much bigger than baseball. It’s just such a bigger situation than that. It’s hard for me as a baseball coach to really put into words what we’re all dealing with.”

While the Tigers had gotten off to a slow start at the plate, some of the bats had started to heat up. Kier Meredith, Elijah Henderson, and Davis Sharpe were all hitting over .300, while Adam Hackenberg and James Parker were just under the mark. 

The pitching staff, which looked to finally have some quality depth, was performing at a level capable of carrying a slow starting offense. The staff had a team ERA of 2.80 and opponents were hitting just .214 against them. 

Friday night starter Sam Weatherly was leading the charge with a 2-0 record, and an ERA of 0.79, while striking out 43 hitters in 22.2 innings. It was the kind of start that looked to have the junior shooting up the draft boards.

For Weatherly, and the other upperclassmen, this unprecedented move has left their futures in limbo for the time being. The NCAA has decided to give all players a year of eligibility back, but that could lead to even more issues down the road.

With the NCAA's scholarship limits, and the Tigers next recruiting class already locked up, will there even be room for any players deciding to come back? It will be interesting to see how all of this plays out as the sports world navigates these unchartered territories.

"This is kind of uncharted water for us," Lee said after Wednesday's win over Winthrop. "I’ve never dealt with a situation like this. It’s my job to make sure I’m prepared to put our players’ best interest first. And we have great leadership at Clemson University, from the president down. And our athletic administration, they are on top of this."

For Lee and his players, this has to be devastating. This team had been working hard over the long offseason, and that work seemed to be paying off. Now, it is starting to look as if it will be 2021 before the Tigers have a shot at taking that next step as a program.