Clemson baseball NCAA regional: Schedule, how to watch, top storylines

It’s time for some postseason baseball.

Clemson is the No. 6 overall seed in the 2024 NCAA Tournament and is hosting Vanderbilt, Coastal Carolina and High Point in a double-elimination regional bracket starting Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

As a top 8 national seed for the second straight season under coach Erik Bakich, Clemson also controls its own destiny: If the Tigers advance out of the regional round, they will also host a super regional at their home ballpark for a chance to advance to the College World Series.

Here’s everything you need to know for the Clemson regional, including game times, TV channels, weather and preview capsules on all four teams participating.

Clemson baseball regional schedule

Friday, May 31

Game 1: No. 2 Vanderbilt vs. No. 3 Coastal Carolina, noon (ESPN2)

Game 2: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 High Point, 7 p.m. (ACC Network)

Saturday, June 1

Game 3: Game 1 loser vs. Game 2 loser, noon (TV TBD)

Game 4: Game 1 winner vs. Game 2 winner, 5 p.m. (TV TBD)

Sunday, June 2

Game 5: Game 4 loser vs. Game 3 winner, noon (TV TBD)

Game 6: Game 4 winner vs. Game 5 winner, 5 p.m. (TV TBD)

Monday, June 3

Game 7 (if necessary): Game 6 winner vs. Game 6 loser, TBD

Weather

For the most part, it should be a beautiful weekend in South Carolina. The 10-day forecast on Weather.com indicates a lot of sun on Friday and Saturday but a chance of rain Sunday and Monday (if the regional requires a seventh and final game to decide a winner). The current forecasts as of Thursday:

• Friday: Sunny, high of 80, light winds, 2% chance of rain

• Saturday: Sunny, high of 80, light winds, 2% chance of rain

• Sunday: Cloudy, high of 76, 45% chance of rain

• Monday: Cloudy, high of 84, 24% chance of rain

Previewing the Clemson Regional teams

• No. 1 Clemson enters the regional 41-14 and is hosting for a second straight season under Bakich, formerly the coach at Michigan. … The Tigers started 26-3 but were just 15-11 over their final 26 games and failed to advance out of the ACC Tournament pool play stage after winning the tournament last year. … Clemson had the nation’s No. 7 RPI and No. 18 strength of schedule entering the tournament. … Out of Clemson’s 41 wins, 24 have been come-from-behind wins, including nine wins after trailing by three or more runs. … The Tigers haven’t advanced out of a regional since 2010 and are 0-10 in their last 10 tries, including an 0-5 mark when hosting a regional at their home ballpark.

• No. 2 Vanderbilt is 38-21 and is competing in an 18th consecutive NCAA Tournament dating back to 2006, which is the nation’s longest active streak. … Longtime Commodores coach Tim Corbin is a former Clemson assistant and has won 921 games and two national championships at Vanderbilt. … Vanderbilt was unranked in four straight D1Baseball.com polls to end the season but reached the SEC Tournament semifinals and has won four of its last five games (all against fellow SEC teams in the NCAA Tournament). … Vandy has advanced to the CWS five times under Corbin.

• No. 3 Coastal Carolina was considered a bubble team but snuck into the field at 34-23 despite finishing seventh in its conference. … Legendary coach Gary Gilmore has coached the Chanticleers for 28 seasons and led them to the 2016 College World Series title. … Under Gilmore, Coastal has become one of the sport’s top mid-major powers and has made 19 regionals since 1999. … The Chants were supposed to play Clemson twice this season, but both games (one at Clemson and one at Coastal) were canceled due to inclement weather.

• No. 4 High Point is making its first ever NCAA Tournament appearance. … The program, based in central North Carolina, went 34-25 and earned an automatic bid after winning the Big South conference tournament championship. … The Panthers’ 34 wins are tied for their most ever in a single season. … There’s one former Tiger on the HPU roster, as Brett Ahalt was a member of Clemson’s 2021 team and redshirted.

Players to watch

• Clemson RHP Aidan Knaak: The first Tigers freshman pitcher to earn first team All-ACC honors since 1997, he’s 5-1 with a 2.96 ERA and 97 strikeouts in 13 starts

• Clemson second baseman Blake Wright: Was a second-team All ACC pick and is hitting .341 with a team-high 79 hits and 21 home runs

• Vanderbilt utility RJ Austin: A versatile hitter who leads the Commodores in RBI (51), hits (75) and stolen bases (27) and made the Golden Spikes midseason list

• Vanderbilt LHP Devin Futrell: Enters the regional ranked third among active SEC pitchers in wins (20) and is 2-0 with a 4.30 ERA and 17 strikeouts since May 7

• Coastal Carolina infielder Sam Antonacci: Has started all 57 games for Coastal Carolina and is batting .367 with a team-high 77 hits plus 48 walks drawn

• High Point catcher Eric Grintz: UNC transfer who was named the Big South Tournament MVP and is hitting .310 this year and is top five in most team statistics, including home runs (11)

Next up

The winner of the Clemson Regional will face the winner of the Stillwater Regional, which features No. 11 overall seed Oklahoma State. The Cowboys are the top seed in a region that also includes No. 2 Nebraska, No. 3 Florida and No. 4 Niagara.

The winners of those two super regionals will play a best-of-three series running either June 7-9 (Friday through Sunday) or June 8-10 (Saturday through Monday).

The winner advances to the College World Series in Omaha starting June 14.