Let's talk baseball regionals

By: Will Vandervort

Let me start this blog by telling you I have been out of the mix for a little while. I've spent the last four days in Florida without any ESPN or NFL Network and without internet access and barely a cell phone signal.

To call someone or check my messages on my phone, I had to walk around
outside and find a certain spot to get a signal. It was like living in the
1980s again.

Where is this spot you ask? My mother-in-law's in Fernandina Beach, Fla.,
or some of you might know it as Amelia Island. My wife on the other hand,
she loved the fact I was out of the loop a little while, though I did my
best to find out what was going on by running up to the McDonalds and
connecting to the World Wide Web there.

Anyway, it feels good to be back and let's get started again with a little
baseball talk. It appears the Clemson baseball team is in good position to
host a regional despite bad losses to Maryland and UNC-Wilmington.
However, I still believe the Tigers (36-17, 16-11 ACC) need to close the
year by winning two of three games at N.C. State today, tomorrow and
Saturday to host.

It also wouldn't hurt to have a good showing in next week's ACC Baseball
Tournament. The Tigers will play three guaranteed games in the tournament,
and with three or two wins they could find themselves in the championship
game. All of those scenarios would more than likely help Clemson's chances
to host.

Currently, every projection I see has Clemson hosting, including Baseball
America. In all but one projection, the Tigers are grouped with the
College of Charleston in the pairings.

Baseball America has it even more interesting, they have Clemson hosting
South Carolina, C of C and Rhode Island. Talk about a good regional. Can
you imagine the attendance for all of those games? How about a Clemson and
South Carolina matchup with a Super Regional spot at stake?

After what happened in the College World Series in 2002, I would think
Clemson would love nothing more than to send USC into the off-season with
the sting of being eliminated by their archrival. It probably would not
feel nearly as good as USC felt in 2002, but it would be up there I think.

Anyway, back to the numbers. What also helps Clemson in this fight to host
a regional are you, Clemson fans. I'm sure in Clemson's bid to the NCAA
they were able to guarantee certain things that a school like Virginia,
who is fighting Clemson for one of the seven regional sites that are still
up in the air, cannot.

Right now it appears that Florida State, North Carolina, Rice, UC Irvine,
Texas, Arizona State, Georgia Tech, LSU and Cal State Fullerton are a lock
to host. Along with Virginia, Clemson is fighting Florida, Ole Miss and
Alabama from the SEC and Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Kansas State from the Big
12.

There is also a chance the winner of the Big 10 could host a regional
considering the NCAA has been pushing in recent years for more schools
from the north to be awarded host sites.

Right now, the Tigers appear to be in good shape against all of those
schools, including Virginia. Only Florida, among the teams being
considered for a site, ranks higher than Clemson in terms of RPI and
strength of schedule numbers.

Now keep in mind the ACC already has three teams hosting in FSU, UNC and
Georgia Tech and its unlikely Clemson and Virginia will both be rewarded
sites since the NCAA has never awarded a conference five of the 16 sites
since they went to this format in 1999.

Host sites will be announced on May 24. The NCAA will announce the
tournament field on May 25.

Clemson women cruise to Sweet 16

By: Will Vandervort

The Clemson women’s tennis team continued its streak of Sweet 16 appearances, while also exercising some revenge on ACC rival North Carolina at the same time Saturday. The 12th-ranked Tigers defeated No. 20 North Carolina 4-0 to advance to their third straight Sweet16.

Clemson will play No. 5 seed Notre Dame next Friday at College Station, Texas.

Against North Carolina The Tigers (19-7) prevailed in doubles action and then won the opening set on all six singles courts en route to posting victories at flights two, three and six.

“I’m so happy for our team to get this win," Clemson head coach Nancy Harris said. “Our goal was to never let them get going. To get the doubles point was phenomenal because, in my opinion, North Carolina has the best doubles in the country. Every player on the team stepped up today for us.”

The Tar Heels (19-11) beat Clemson 4-2 last month in the ACC Tournament, but on Saturday they never had a shot. Clemson outlasted North Carolina to win an extremely hard-fought doubles point and take a 1-0 lead in the match.

Federica van Adrichem, playing in just her second match since early November, partnered with Alexandra Luc to post the first victory of the day for Clemson. The Tigers’ duo claimed the first five games against Meg Fanjoy and Laura Reichert and held on for the 8-4 victory at flight three.

The match at the second position was one of runs that saw the teams of Josipa Bek and Ina Hadziselimovic from Clemson and Austin Smith and Katrina Tsang from North Carolina trade wins their first six games. The Tiger tandem then won the next four games for a 7-3 lead in the match. However, the Tar Heel duo battled for a break to narrow the margin to 7-5 before Clemson closed out the match on a winner by Hadziselimovic.

Bek was then first off the court in singles play, a day after clinching a Tiger victory over Winthrop, as she defeated Tsang in straight sets at flight two. Tsang held her first serve of the opening set before Bek rattled off eight straight games including three in the second set.

Hadziselimovic put Clemson on top by a 3-0 margin with her win over Austin Smith at the third position.
The Tiger junior served for match point and Smith's return went long for the 6-3, 6-2 win.

Sophomore Laurianne Henry sent her team to the NCAA Tournament round of 16 for the second straight season as she clinched the Tigers’ 4-0 wins. It was the second straight year Henry found herself in that position as she won her match at flight six.

The sophomore from Anderson clinched Clemson's 4-1 win over Michigan last season. Saturday she edged North Carolina's Laura Reichert for the 6-4 win in the first set and then defeated the Tar Heel player by a 6-3 margin in the second.

“I didn’t really know until the last two games when I finally looked at the score,” Henry said. “I was in the same position last year and the pressure felt exactly the same, so I was prepared.”

Just a little note on the track side of things before I wrap this baby up. Earlier Saturday, Jacoby Ford won the Orange & Purple Classic with a time of 10.11, which is the fastest time in the NCAA so far this season.

However, he was not the fastest sprinter with Clemson ties to run the 100-metter dash this weekend. Former Tiger great Travis Padgett ran 10 seconds flat on Friday to win the Super Grand Prix in Doha, Qatar.

Padgett, who earned six All-American honors and a national championship at Clemson from 2006-’08, ran a solid 10.04 in the preliminary round, then followed that by matching the world-best time with a 10.00 in the final. The 2008 Olympian held off the likes of Nesta Carter and Michael Frater, both members of the gold-medal Jamaican 4x100 relay team from 2008.