Year 4 under coach Erik Bakich carried a lot of preseason hype and expectations, as is usually the case for a proud Clemson baseball<\/a> program. But to this point, the hype hasn’t extended past the Tigers’ nonconference schedule. Clemson started the season 15-1 and was ranked as high as No. 9 in the USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll<\/a>.<\/p>\n Then came ACC play and the Tigers dropped their conference opener to a top-5 Georgia Tech team before a series sweep at Notre Dame the following week. Things haven’t improved much since then. Clemson has spent time without key players like second baseman Jarren Purify (fractured finger) and INF\/OF Tryston McCladdie (facial fractures).<\/p>\n Other players, like Friday night starter and expected ace Aidan Knaak (2-4, 5.09), have largely been inconsistent and not lived up to expectations.<\/p>\n With only four weekend series remaining in the regular season, Clemson finds itself at 26-16 overall following Tuesday’s 7-2 win over USC Upstate<\/a> in midweek play at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. With over half its ACC schedule in the books, the Tigers are just 6-12 in conference play.<\/p>\n Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!<\/a><\/p>\n Clemson has had chances in recent weeks to turn its fortunes around. The Tigers won three of four on a West Coast swing through Stanford and Santa Clara, but they let a 4-2 lead in the eight inning of a game against a top-5 North Carolina<\/a> team slip away late in an eventual 6-4 home loss in extra innings.<\/p>\n Just last week in Charlottesville, Clemson had another opportunity to win a series against another top-25 opponent in the Virginia Cavaliers after rallying from a 6-4 loss in Game 1.<\/p>\n The Tigers won Game 2, 5-1, behind eight solid innings from starter Michael Sharman, but they stranded the tying run on base in Saturday’s 5-4 loss to the ninth-ranked Cavs.<\/p>\n Here’s what national outlets are saying about Clemson’s hopes of reaching the NCAA Tournament for the fourth time in as many seasons under Erik Bakich.<\/p>\n Baseball America, D1 Baseball, On3 update Clemson’s NCAA Tournament hopes<\/p>\n Jacob Rudner and the staff at Baseball America<\/a> have the Tigers in their list of First Four Out teams. Clemson joins the Michigan Wolverines<\/a>, Oklahoma State Cowboys and BYU Cougars in that category.<\/p>\n Over at D1 Baseball<\/a>, Kendall Rogers and his staff don’t even have the Tigers in their First Four Out. Clemson is listed among “four teams to watch,” along with BYU, the Baylor Bears and Troy Trojans.<\/p>\n On3’s Jonathan Wagner<\/a> doesn’t have the Tigers in his projected field of 64, nor his First Four Out or even his Next Four Out.<\/p>\n What does Clemson baseball need to do to get back in NCAA Tournament mix?<\/p>\n Quite simply? Start winning series. There are plenty of opportunities ahead for the Tigers to do just that. The final four regular-season weekend series begins Friday when Clemson visits Louisville (23-18) at Jim Patterson Stadium in Kentucky. The Tigers are No. 40 in the RPI; Louisville is No. 118.<\/p>\n Clemson hosts Boston College (31-13) the following week to kick off the month of May at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. The Eagles are ranked No. 20 in this week’s Coaches Poll and are No. 25 in RPI.<\/p>\n Week 13 of the season could be the Tigers’ strongest chance to make up some ground and add a few quality wins to its NCAA Tournament hopes. The Tigers visit No. 10 Coastal Carolina (28-12) on Tuesday, May 5. The Chanticleers are No. 13 in the RPI.<\/p>\n ACC rival Florida State<\/a> (29-11) then visits Clemson for three games beginning May 8. The Seminoles are No. 8 in the Coaches Poll and No. 10 in the RPI.<\/p>\n Clemson faces Virginia Tech on the final weekend of the regular season beginning May 14 in Blacksburg. While the Hokies are barely over .500 at 20-19 overall, they’re No. 46 in the RPI.<\/p>\n The ACC’s confernence tournament begins May 19 in at Truist Field in Charlotte.<\/p>\n Clemson baseball schedule 2026<\/p>\n Game 1 of Clemson’s three-game series at Louisville begins Friday with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. ET. The game can be seen on ACC Network Extra.<\/p>\n Game 2 for Clemson-Louisville is 7 p.m. Saturday and can be seen on ACC Network. Game 3 is scheduled for 2 p.m. and will likewise be televised on ACC Network.<\/p>\n Here’s a look at the Tigers’ 2026 baseball schedule with final scores and scheduled start times.<\/p>\n All future times Eastern.<\/p>\n Feb. 13-15: vs. Army (W, 3-2; W, 10-0; W, 7-0)Feb. 17: vs. Charlotte (W, 11-1)Feb. 20-22: vs. Bryant (W, 9-3; W, 5-3; W, 7-3)Feb. 24: vs. Presbyterian (W, 6-2)Feb. 27-March 1: vs. South Carolina (L, 7-0; W, 4-1; W, 7-2)March 4: vs.\u00a0Michigan State<\/a>\u00a0(W, 12-1)March 6-8: vs. La Salle (W, 14-1; W, 6-4; W, 16-4; W, 16-3)March 10: vs. Georgia Southern (L, 6-1)March 12-14: vs. Georgia Tech (L, 10-0; L, 9-3; W, 13-7)March 17: at College of Charleston (W, 3-1)March 18: at The Citadel (W, 9-3)March 20-22: at\u00a0Notre Dame<\/a>\u00a0(L, 6-0; L, 8-7; L, 7-4)March 24: vs. Coastal Carolina (L, 11-9)March 26-28: vs. Miami (L, 8-3; W, 7-6; L, 8-6)April 1: vs. Wake Forest (L, 15-4)April 3-5: at Stanford (W, 9-3; L, 5-4; W, 12-5)April 6: at Santa Clara (W, 6-4)April 10-12: vs.\u00a0North Carolina\u00a0(W, 9-5; L, 6-4; L, 12-5)April 14: at Charlotte (W, 7-3)April 16-18: at Virginia (L, 6-4; W, 5-1; L, 5-4)April 21: vs. USC Upstate (W, 7-2)April 24-26: at Louisville (6 p.m. Friday, 7 p.m. Saturday, 2 p.m. Sunday)May 1-3: vs. Boston College (6 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday, noon Sunday)May 5: at Coastal Carolina, 6 p.m.May 8-10: vs.\u00a0Florida State\u00a0(6 p.m. Friday, 6 p.m. Saturday, 3 p.m. Sunday)May 12: at USC Upstate, 6 p.m.May 14-16: at Virginia Tech (6 p.m. Thursday, 3 p.m. Friday, 1 p.m. Saturday)<\/p>\n Record: 26-16 overall, 6-12 ACC.<\/p>\n Contact us\u00a0@Clemson_Wire<\/a>\u00a0on X, and like our page on\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for ongoing coverage of\u00a0Clemson Tigers<\/a>\u00a0news and notes, plus opinions.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"April 22, 2026, 9:14 a.m. ET The 2026 college baseball season has thus far been more bust than…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":681538,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2289],"tags":[67525,5,648,1694,2341,70409,67701,67533,75409,70410,71790,67586,69701,67529,67527],"class_list":{"0":"post-681537","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-college-baseball","8":"tag-accessfree","9":"tag-baseball","10":"tag-college-baseball","11":"tag-ncaa","12":"tag-ncaa-baseball","13":"tag-sstssportscollegeclemsonbaseball","14":"tag-sstsnbaseball","15":"tag-tagbaseball","16":"tag-tagclemson-tigers","17":"tag-tagclemson-tigers-baseball","18":"tag-tagexclude-sports-betting","19":"tag-tagoverall-neutral","20":"tag-tagsmg-timely","21":"tag-tagsports-news","22":"tag-typestory"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@mlb\/116451885970993715","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681537","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=681537"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/681537\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/681538"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=681537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=681537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=681537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/mlb\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/87249965007-420.jpg\")