Streaking Tigers Head to Louisville With Will Taylor One Step Closer to Returning

Clemson heads to No. 16 Louisville for a critical ACC series against the Cardinals.

Jason Priester All Clemson

The red-hot Clemson Tigers travel to Louisville this weekend for another critical three-game weekend series against the No. 16 Cardinals.

After its 17-4 win over No. 25 Wofford, Monte Lee's team has now won nine of the last 11 games, and the Tigers are looking to take that momentum on the road this weekend against another Top-25 opponent.

“Obviously we’re playing some pretty good baseball right now,” Lee said following the win over the Terriers. “Wofford came in red hot, a Top-25 team, I think they had won 10 games in a row. We pitched very, very well, the bullpen did an outstanding job. All in all, just a good day of baseball for us.” 

At 6-11 in ACC play, the Tigers still find themselves percentage points behind Duke and North Carolina for the final spot in the ACC Tournament.

SERIES SETUP
• Who – Clemson (28-14, 6-11 ACC) vs. Louisville (28-12, 11-7 ACC)
• When – Friday (6 p.m.), Saturday (1 p.m.), Sunday (1 p.m.)
• Where – Louisville Ky. (Jim Patterson Stadium)
• Watch – ACC Network Extra

Clemson is being paced at the plate by reigning ACC Player of the Week Max Wagner. After hitting two more home runs against Wofford, the sophomore slugger now has a team-leading 19 on the season, averaging one every 7.47 at-bats. The program record for a season is one every 8.9 at-bats, set by Doug Kingsmore in 1954. Wagner's .373 average and 54 RBI are also team-highs.

SERIES HISTORY
• Overall Record – Clemson leads 17-11 (1970-21)
• Record at Louisville – Louisville leads 4-2 (2016-18)

More good news for the Tigers is that it appears Will Taylor is on the verge of returning. The freshman has been out all season recuperating from a torn ACL suffered last fall on the football field.

“I don’t know if he’ll be available by next weekend (at Louisville), but he could be,” Lee said last weekend.

“We feel like he’s ready to put in there whenever physically he’s ready to go, so it’s going to be more of a decision on his part. But it’s getting close.”

Clemson has not announced any starting pitchers for the weekend, but junior Mack Anglin (4-3) has been the team's Friday starter all season and sports an ERA of 3.24 and a WHIP of 1.36. In last weekend's series win over Florida State, Lee chose to start sophomore Geoffrey Gilbert on Saturday and freshman Billy Barlow on Sunday.

CLEMSON OVERVIEW
• Clemson, who has a 5-6 road record, won home midweek games over Presbyterian (12-3) and No. 25 Wofford (17-4).
• The Tigers are averaging 7.7 runs per game and hitting .280 with a .474 slugging percentage, .387 on-base percentage and 23 steals.
• The pitching staff has a 4.18 ERA, .248 opponents’ batting average and 2.28 strikeout-to-walk ratio, and Clemson is fielding .974.

LOUISVILLE OVERVIEW
• Louisville, who has a 22-5 home record and is averaging 9.6 runs per game, is led by 16th-year Head Coach Dan McDonnell.
• The Cardinals defeated Western Kentucky 11-4 at home on Tuesday. They are hitting .315 and have a 5.29 ERA and .970 fielding percentage.
• Jack Payton is hitting .389, Christian Knapczyk is batting .355 with 14 steals and Michael Prosecky has a team-high seven saves.

QUICK HITS
• Due to the shortened season in 2020, Clemson has not played at Louisville since 2018, when the Tigers won two of three games.
• Clemson has won eight of the last 11 games in the series against Louisville.
• Clemson has hit 23 home runs in the last eight games.

Clemson Athletics Communications contributed to this story.

The Tigers' odds of winning the CWS plummeted to +10000, according to Fanduel.

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