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Has there ever been such a role reversal for USC and Clemson baseball?

18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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I'm sure it's probably happened, but these two teams have completely swapped fortunes over the past month or so.

A month ago we were the toast of the college baseball world, making our case as one of, if not the, best team in the sport. We had ascended to #3 in the polls after successfully running a gauntlet of 3 of the top 5 teams in the nation. The rest of the season seemed somewhat academic.

Clemson, meanwhile, was mired in mediocrity as an unranked team, seriously doubting their new hire and loathing our success, particularly smashing the ball which was credited to Lee who Clemson had fired.

Prognosticators had us penciled in as a no-brainer to host a regional with Clemson being slotted in our regional.

Fast-forward a month. Clemson is top 10, we are unranked. Clemson is now expected to host a regional and we may very well end up playing there.

It's been total reversal in every way imaginable. I can't recall anything comparable.
 
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18IsTheMan

18IsTheMan

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92Pony said:
Don't remind me. 😄
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Our fall has been stunning, but it's highlighted by Clemson getting red hot at the same time we went ice cold. I just can't remember a time when the teams started the season with such opposite fortunes, and then instantly mid-season, swapped fortunes.
 
Bushmaster

Bushmaster

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I don’t ever remember seeing it to this magnitude. They took the regular season series from us in 2002 and we’re riding high until we stomped em in the CWS
 
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Forkcock

Forkcock

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I keep thinking about how well Clemson is doing since they got rid of Lee. Now look at us.
 
CWW

CWW

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Forkcock said:
I keep thinking about how well Clemson is doing since they got rid of Lee. Now look at us.
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And CU fans were complaining at the beginning of the season…what a sorry bunch of players Lee has signed at Clemson!
 
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Sweetwatergolf

Sweetwatergolf

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18IsTheMan said:
Ironically, we were praising Lee early in the year for our drastic increase in home runs.
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Our problems started well before he arrived.
I stated in previous post of wondering if our HC analytics BS somehow creeped into the hitting instructions. Lee works for Kingston, just saying.
I sure hope not....IMO Lee knows more about hitting than Kingston.
 
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Deleted11512

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Carolina Doc said:
Ironic indeed.
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It's so hard to figure out. The HR's just stopped when the calendar changed. To me, it's indicative of the lack of overall talent on this team. You simply cannot rely on 3-4 guys to just hit HRs. Then have 5-6 guys hitting .250. We have 2 guys hitting over .300. Really sucks that McGillis missed so much time. Hopefully he can get back for regionals. We desperately need a bat.

But the bottom line is Petry and Messina are the only two guys that aren't easily replaceable. The other 7 are just different versions of the same players we've had in this program over the last 10 years that just haven't been good enough. Pitching wise, I'm not too down on them. I've been critical, but the SEC is a brutal league. It's one where you HAVE to score. Our 4.2 ERA is 3rd in the SEC. The pitching staff has been good enough. There are no superstars there, but there's just a bunch of good options that do a good job. They are not being helped at all.
 
Prestonyte

Prestonyte

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It's like about 6 weeks ago, Kingston gave some analytics "coaching" on BB percentages and the team mentality changed to "can I get a base on balls". We have to lead the league in called strikes and called 3rd strikes, maybe the nation! Our bats are glued to our shoulders.
 
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Bushmaster

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USCBatgirl21 said:
We both were in 2002.
All I was referring to was losing the regular season series but then kicking their a** in Omaha.
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Yes we both were but Clemson was 2 and we were 6. In 2010 we actually hosted as a top 16. . They did host but they were not the top seed in their regional. That’s the only reason I didn’t include 2010
 
USCBatgirl21

USCBatgirl21

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Bushmaster said:
Yes we both were but Clemson was 2 and we were 6. In 2010 we actually hosted as a top 16. . They did host but they were not the top seed in their regional. That’s the only reason I didn’t include 2010
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There was no such thing as "top 16" in 2010. There were the Top 8 seeds and then 8 at large sites. They didn't seed the other Regionals 9-16, or match up Supers 1-16, 2-15, etc. back then. It was really luck of the draw if a Top 8 was knocked out as to who would host the Super.

Clemson didn't host a Regional in 2010. They went to Auburn and won that Regional, and only hosted the Super because Alabama won the GT Regional, but had not submitted a bid to host that year.
 
vacock

vacock

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I prefer to ignore north until I smell them west until I step in it.
 
Bushmaster

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USCBatgirl21 said:
There was no such thing as "top 16" in 2010. There were the Top 8 seeds and then 8 at large sites. They didn't seed the other Regionals 9-16, or match up Supers 1-16, 2-15, etc. back then. It was really luck of the draw if a Top 8 was knocked out as to who would host the Super.

Clemson didn't host a Regional in 2010. They went to Auburn and won that Regional, and only hosted the Super because Alabama won the GT Regional, but had not submitted a bid to host that year.
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In any event, the comparison was supposed to be about when Clemson was so far ahead of us so i included 2002 but obviously not to the magnitude of this season. I guess that just went over your head. You win🤣
 
USCBatgirl21

USCBatgirl21

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Bushmaster said:
In any event, the comparison was supposed to be about when Clemson was so far ahead of us so i included 2002 but obviously not to the magnitude of this season. I guess that just went over your head. You win🤣
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But they weren't "so far ahead" of us in 2002. We both were 44-12 at the end of the Regular Season. We were both National Seeds. They ended 54-17. We ended 57-18. You're comparison is flawed from the outset. Nothing went "over my head". The only thing they were ahead of us in was not having to go through the loser's bracket in Omaha.
 
Sweetwatergolf

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USCBatgirl21 said:
Same in 2010.
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2010 stands out to me. Remember walking out of stadium in Hoover after early elimination. Walked by Whit M outside gate on way to bus. He had a really pissed off look. Like, this is going to change next week. Needless to say it did. IMO, we only have player with that attitude, Messina.
 
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Deleted11512

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Bwellgolf said:
2010 stands out to me. Remember walking out of stadium in Hoover after early elimination. Walked by Whit M outside gate on way to bus. He had a really pissed off look. Like, this is going to change next week. Needless to say it did. IMO, we only have player with that attitude, Messina.
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Yeah, that was a WILD year. I remember watching clemson curb stomp us 19-6 thinking it was the beginning of the end for Ray. Limped into Hoover losing 2 of our last 3 SEC series. Then get bounced out of Hoover without a win. The first game of the regional we damn near lost to Bucknell. Went on the supers and rode an 8th inning HR from Walker to Omaha. But something was different about that 2nd OU game. Battled them for 12 innings. I thought for sure we were done after that, and I was totally fine with it after that game. No way we can make it through after that kind of game. Then a legend was born. Little used Michael Roth was given the ball and the rest was history. That team never quit. Never let up, and they had all the opportunity in the world to do it. Somebody was ALWAYS there to step up. I miss having that feeling.
 
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atl-cock

atl-cock

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USCBatgirl21 said:
There was no such thing as "top 16" in 2010. There were the Top 8 seeds and then 8 at large sites. They didn't seed the other Regionals 9-16, or match up Supers 1-16, 2-15, etc. back then. It was really luck of the draw if a Top 8 was knocked out as to who would host the Super.

Clemson didn't host a Regional in 2010. They went to Auburn and won that Regional, and only hosted the Super because Alabama won the GT Regional, but had not submitted a bid to host that year.
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I'll bet Tuscaloosa won't make that mistake (of not submitting a bid) again.
 
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Blues man

Blues man

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Taters up big in their championship game. Think it's fair to say they look like they know what they are doing while we dont even know who we are or what we want to be.
 
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