Clemson baseball NCAA-bound with regional spot in SEC country

It was a bit of an unusual Selection Monday for the Clemson baseball team.

The past three years the Tigers watched the college baseball selection show knowing they were in the NCAA Tournament and hosting a regional.

This year Clemson was watching and just hoping to hear its name called.

After spending most of the second half of the season on the NCAA Tournament bubble, Clemson is in the tournament for the 11th consecutive year. The Tigers are a No. 3 seed in the Oxford Regional in Oxford, Mississippi. Ole Miss is the No. 1 seed, followed by No. 2 seed Illinois, No. 3 seed Clemson and No. 4 seed Jacksonville State.

Clemson will face No. 2 seed Illinois in its opening game on Friday at 4 p.m. The game will be televised by ESPNU.

“We’re excited about the opportunity to be back into the field of 64. Very excited about the opportunity to take our team down to Ole Miss,” Tigers coach Monte Lee said. “Playing the University of Illinois in the first game, certainly a tough test for our team. But our guys are very, very excited about it.”

Clemson got off to a strong start to the season, going 11-3 to open ACC play. But the Tigers struggled down the stretch, finishing 15-15 in the league. Clemson went 1-1 in the ACC tournament but beat No. 1 seed Louisville to greatly improve its resume and earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament for the 32nd time in the last 33 years.

Lee believed the Tigers had done enough to earn a spot in the tournament, but there was definitely a sense of relief when Clemson’s name popped up on the TV screen.

“There’s always a level of nervousness and worry when you know you’re on the bubble,” Lee said. “We felt like we were in good shape, but you just never know. The committee looks at all the factors, all the teams, and they felt like we were worthy of being in the field of 64. We’re certainly grateful that they felt that way.”

Clemson and Coastal Carolina are the only two teams from the state of South Carolina to earn NCAA bids in 2019. The Chanticleers are in Georgia Tech’s regional in Atlanta and face Auburn at noon Friday.

The Oxford Regional is matched up with the Fayetteville (Arkansas) Regional in the 2019 NCAA Tournament bracket.

Clemson is looking to advance to a Super Regional for the first time since 2010.

The Tigers hosted a regional each of the previous three years but were unable to advance, falling at home each time.

“I think that for us it’s going to be a lot of fun. There’s not a lot of pressure on us right now. We get to go on the road and go play somewhere else,” Lee said. “We’d love to be hosting a regional here. We all know the expectations of the program here is to put together a regular season where you can host a regional. But the bottom line is we get to play in the field of 64. We’re going to go on the road. We’re going to have a good time and compete and hopefully play good baseball.”

Oxford NCAA regional TV schedule

Ole Miss (37-25) vs. Jacksonville State (37-21) 8 pm Friday, ESPN3

Clemson (34-24) vs. Illinois (36-19) 4 pm Friday, ESPNU

This story was originally published May 27, 2019 at 12:14 PM with the headline "Clemson baseball NCAA-bound with regional spot in SEC country."