For the third season in a row Arizona State University will host a Super Regional as the Clemson Tigers come to Tempe, with the winner advancing to Omaha and the College World Series. Action will get underway at Winkles Field – Packard Stadium at Brock Ballpark starting on Saturday at 6:00 .
Arizona State is a #5 National Seed and winner of the Tempe Regional. Three straight wins over Kent State, Oral Roberts and Oral Roberts again allowed ASU to make this their fifth Super Regional appearance. Clemson was a #1 Seed at home in the Clemson Regional. After an opening win against Tennessee Tech, a loss to Oklahoma State dropped the Tigers into the losers bracket. Now requiring three straight wins in order to play on, Clemson did just that defeating Tennessee Tech again and Oklahoma State twice.
Clemson (44-20) finished the regular season as the third place team in the ACC. Leading the Tiger offense is Ben Paulsen, a starter in all 64 games this season. Ben was the Tiger’s triple crown winner with his .369 batting average, 13 home runs and 60 RBI’s. From the mound Casey Harman and Graham Stoneburne both have seven wins, while Chris Dwyer has 88 strikeouts.
Arizona State (47-12) was the Pac-10 Conference Champion for the third straight year. Pitching is one of the biggest strength’s of this years Sun Devil team, with junior Mike Leake leading the nation in almost every statistical category. 15 wins, a 1.23 ERA and 143 strikeouts are amazing, while his bid for a third straight complete game shutout ended in the 9th inning last weekend. Center Fielder Jason Kipnis has the best batting average for ASU at .387 while catcher Carlos Ramirez has 18 home runs and 69 RBI’s.
This Tempe Super Regional will be a Saturday through Monday affair (if necessary). Saturday will start at 6:00, Sunday at 7:00 and Monday if needed at 4:00.
