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Nebraska baseball opens 2024 season with 4-1 win over Baylor

The Huskers commenced their 2024 season at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas.

The Huskers commenced their 2024 season at the Shriners Children’s College Showdown in Arlington, Texas. After spending most of the game scoreless, Nebraska took down the Bears 4-1.

The Huskers and Baylor didn’t earn their first runs until the sixth but tied 1-1 until the eighth. Nebraska earned another run in the eighth before pulling away in the ninth by scoring two more runs.

The Huskers earned five hits and four RBIs in the win, with Dylan Carey leading the way in the batter’s box. Carey earned two hits, two RBIs and two doubles, bringing Nebraska’s first two runs of the game. Garrett Anglim drove in the third run for the Huskers by starting the ninth with a home run. Cayden Brumbaugh batted in the final run in the ninth, finishing the game with two hits, an RBI and a run.

Brett Sears started on the mound for Nebraska, facing 20 batters. Sears threw a career-high seven strikeouts while allowing three hits and a run. Freshman Tucker Timmerman took over for Sears and earned the win. Following an inning pitched by Kyle Perry, Casey Daiss earned the save in the ninth.

The Huskers will enter their second day of the tournament Saturday afternoon as they face Texas Tech. The first pitch is set for 3 p.m. and can be viewed on FloBaseball.

Big bats power Clemson past Xavier in season opener

A look at Clemson’s season-opening 14-3 win over Xavier Friday.

Clemson played like a team that had waited all offseason to break out the big bats — some new and some old.

The Tigers did that in a big way in their first game of the season Friday. Powered by grand slams from newcomers Alden Mathes and Nolan Nawrocki, Clemson routed Xavier, 14-3, in the season opener for both schools at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Tigers (1-0 overall), ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY Baseball Coaches Poll, scored early and often.

A first-inning grand slam by Mathes in his first Clemson at-bat helped stake the team to an early 4-2 lead. Mathis slapped a fastball 372 feet off Xavier starter Luke Hoskins into the right field bleachers to give the Tigers the early lead. It was part of four consecutive hits to start the half-inning.

Cam Cannarella lined a three-run double off the wall in left to up the lead to 7-2. It was Cannarella’s second hit of the inning after he’d reached base on a single earlier.

Freshman Cooper Blauser, son of former Atlanta Braves shortstop Jeff Blauser, homered in the third inning for his first Clemson hit to extend the lead to 8-2.

In the fourth, the Tigers hit another grand slam when Nawrocki, a former Michigan pledge, sent a drive to left off reliever Terry Murray to make it 12-2.

Clemson capped its scoring in the eighth inning with two runs. Nathan Hall picked up an RBI single, and Jacob Hinderleider was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

Cannarella (3-for-5), the Tigers’ All-American in his freshman season a year ago, had three hits atop the lineup. The Tigers outhit the Musketeers, 14-5.

On the mound, Billy Barlow (1-0) started for Clemson and pitched five innings. After allowing a pair of runs early, he yielded just one hit after the first inning. Barlow threw 68 pitches and gave up three hits total. He retired the last seven batters he faced.

Drew Titsworth made his collegiate debut in relief, tossing 2 2/3 innings of scoreless ball. He allowed just one hit and struck out three.

Hoskins (0-1) suffered the loss for Xavier. He allowed seven runs on nine hits in two innings.

The series is set to resume Saturday at 2 p.m. EST. Tristan Smith is scheduled to start for Clemson against Xavier left-hander Nolan Hughes. The game will be broadcast on ACC Network Extra.

Social media reacts to EA Sports’ college football series

How social media reacted to the announcement of EA Sports’ College Football 2025 video game series.

The long wait is almost over for college football fans and gamers alike.

After more than 10 years, EA Sports is finally back in the business of college sports. The gaming software giant confirmed in a social media post on Twitter/X Thursday that it would be releasing a new college football video game over the summer that is officially geared toward the 2024 season.

It will be the first time since 2013 that gamers will be able to play college football rivalries and other matchups on Sony PlayStation and Microsoft Xbox consoles. The series, previously titled ‘NCAA Football,’ was discontinued after 2013 amid a wave of lawsuits over name, image and likeness issues.

With those matters settled for now, the series is scheduled to be reintroduced this summer under a new title: ‘EA Sports College Football.’ The game’s official release date will likely be some time in July or August, according to multiple media outlets.

Given how long college football fans have waited on a new video game, Thursday’s announcement set social media ablaze. Here’s how Twitter/X users responded to the news of EA Sports’ College Football.

Where to Watch/Stream/Listen: Clemson Baseball vs. Xavier

A look at broadcast information for Clemson’s season-opening series against Xavier .

Clemson opens its 2024 baseball season with a three-game series against Xavier at Doug Kingsmore Stadium Friday.

It’s the second season at the helm for coach Eric Bakich, who led the Tigers to a surprising 44-win season and a host Regional appearance a year ago. The 2023 campaign included a 16-game win streak that saw Clemson go 4-0 in the ACC Tournament to capture the program’s 11th conference tournament title and first since 2016.

The Tigers will hope to build on that momentum and turn it into a run to the College World Series in Omaha, a place the program hasn’t reached since 2010. Clemson enters the season in the top 10 of most every major preseason poll. The Tigers are ranked No. 9 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll.

Right-handed pitchers Billy Barlow, Nick Clayton, Rob Hughes; catchers Jacob Jarrell and Jimmy Obertop, Ty Olenchuk (pitcher/outfielder), and second baseman Blake Wright were all voted team captains for the season.

Barlow is listed as the Tigers’ probable starter for Friday’s opener, with left-hander Tristan Smith slated to go Saturday and freshman right-hander Aidan Knaak listed for Sunday.

All told, 15 of Clemson’s first 17 games this season will be at home.

How to Watch

Here’s a look at how and where Clemson fans can follow this weekend’s series against Xavier.

Dates: Friday-Sunday, Feb. 16-18

Start Times (EST): 4 p.m. (Friday), 2 p.m. (Saturday), 1 p.m. (Sunday)

Where: Doug Kingsmore Stadium

Live Stream: ACC Network Extra (ACCNX), ESPN+

Radio: Clemson Athletic Network | ClemsonTigers.com

Broadcast Teams

ACC Network Extra: William Qualkinbush, Tim Bourret (Friday); William Qualkinbush, Ron Smith (Saturday-Sunday)

Clemson Radio: Don Munson, Bob Mahony

Clemson closes out Miami, 77-60, for third straight win

Chase Hunter scored 20 points, and Clemson won its third straight in a 77-60 win over Miami on Wednesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum.

Chase Hunter scored a season-high 20 points and made five 3-pointers, and Clemson won its third straight in ACC play with a 77-60 victory over Miami at Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday.

Both teams traded a pair 9-0 runs in the second half before Clemson pulled away. The Tigers (17-7 overall, 7-6 ACC) throughly dominated the Hurricanes (15-10, 6-8) down the stretch after leading just 31-30 at halftime and after trailing by six at one point in the second half.

Hunter broke a 57-all tie with his fourth 3-pointer of the night with 5:44 to play to put the Tigers ahead for good. PJ Hall added a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to run the Tigers’ lead to 74-60.

The game was well in hand even before then.

All told, Clemson closed the game on a 24-3 run over the final 6:45 of play. It was the third straight night in which the Tigers took control of the final 10 minutes of action.

“That was an incredible last 10 minutes,” Clemson coach Brad Brownell said after his team’s win. “Incredible shot-making but good defense (too). I’m proud of our guys. We only had one turnover in the second half and 18 assisted baskets.”

Joe Girard added 18 points and Hall finished with 13 to give the Tigers three players in double figures for the night.

Then there was Hunter, the fifth-year senior who closed out the Tigers’ scoring when he sank his fifth 3-pointer of the game with 20 seconds to play. Hunter had 12 points in the second half.

“I’m so happy to see him shoot the ball like that in a big game when we needed it down the stretch,” Brownell said of Hunter. “They were doing a really good job of packing it in and it was really hard to get the ball to PJ and to Ian Schieffelin, so our guys had to make some shots from the perimeter.”

Clemson finished with 13 baskets from beyond the arc. Norchad Omier led Miami with 18 points. Nigel Pack played 25 minutes and was held scoreless in a game for the first time in his four-year career.

All told, Miami scored just three points over the final nine-plus minutes of play. Matthew Cleveland’s 3-pointer with 9:50 left gave the Hurricanes a six-point lead — their largest of the night — at 54-48. Clemson closed with a 24-3 run from there.

UP NEXT: Clemson is in a stretch of four out of five games at home. The Tigers return to Littlejohn Coliseum Saturday when they host NC State at 7:45 p.m. EST. The game will be televised regionally by the CW Network. The Wolfpack fell to Wake Forest, 83-79, last Saturday in Winston-Salem.

Clemson Tigers vs. Miami Hurricanes: How to Watch/Stream/Listen

Fresh off a pair of clutch road wins at No. 3 North Carolina and Syracuse, Clemson will look to build on its recent momentum when it returns to Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday against Miami. Wednesday’s contest will mark the second meeting between the …

Fresh off a pair of clutch road wins at No. 3 North Carolina and Syracuse, Clemson will look to build on its recent momentum when it returns to Littlejohn Coliseum Wednesday against Miami.

Wednesday’s contest will mark the second meeting between the two schools this season, and Clemson (16-7 overall, 6-6 ACC) is hoping the second time around will go better than the first. When the Tigers and Hurricanes (15-9 overall, 6-7 ACC) met just over a month ago on January 3, Miami scored 60 points in the second half to storm past Clemson, 95-82.

Things haven’t gone exactly as either team had hoped since then.

Clemson entered that night ranked No. 16 nationally but proceeded to drop its first three games in conference play to start the new year. Miami, like much of the ACC, has underperformed this season. Despite returning three starters from a team that made an unexpected run to the Final Four last year, the ‘Canes have yet to show much consistency.

Miami has dropped three of its last four contests and is coming off a 75-72 loss to North Carolina last Saturday in Chapel Hill. With his team trailing by four with two seconds remaining, Miami’s Wooga Poplar intentionally missed a free-throw attempt in an effort to give the Hurricanes a chance at a rebound and a four-point play. Officials ruled that Miami had committed a lane violation.

The loss came five days after coach Jim Larrañaga’s team tallied a season-low 38 points in a Monday night loss at Virginia.

Norchad Omier leads Miami in scoring with an average of 17.7 points per game. He’s also averaging 10 rebounds a night. Nigel Pack is second with 14 points per game and averages a team-best 34 minutes.

For Clemson, Joe Girard had a big performance in his return to Syracuse — where he spent four years in Jim Boeheim’s program — over the past weekend. Girard scored a game-high 18 points in the Tigers’ 77-68 victory and is averaging 15 points per game this season.

PJ Hall has led Clemson in scoring this season and averages 20 points a game.

Series Notes and Recent History

The all-time series is tied, 17-17. Miami has won the last four meetings against Clemson dating back to the 2021 ACC Tournament.

How To Watch

Here’s a look at how and where Clemson fans can watch, listen, and stream Wednesday’s game against Miami.

Date: Wednesday, Feb. 14

Time: 7 p.m. EST

Where: Littlejohn Coliseum

TV Channel: ESPN2

Live Stream: ESPN+

Radio: Clemson Athletic Network | TuneIn App | SiriusXM (Channel 371)

Broadcast Teams

ESPN2: Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas

Clemson Radio: Don Munson, Tim Bourret

Bracketology: Clemson on the move in Joe Lunardi’s latest projections

A look at where Clemson ranks in Joe Lunardi’s latest Bracketology projections for ESPN.

Clemson’s NCAA tournament hopes received a huge shot in the arm with road wins at No. 3 North Carolina and Syracuse last week.

The Tigers begin the second week of February at 16-7 overall and 6-6 in ACC play. They entered the year on a tear at 11-1 through their first 12 games but then proceeded to drop six of their next nine contests in conference play.

Thanks to the past week, the Tigers are on the move again, if only slightly. Clemson moved up two spots to a projected No. 6 seed in Joe Lunardi’s latest bracketology update for ESPN.

Lunardi’s new projections have Clemson facing the winner of a play-in game between Nevada and Utah from the First Four competition in Dayton, Ohio.

The projected 6 vs. 11 matchup would be at Memphis’ FedEx Forum in the West Region of NCAA Tournament games, Lunardi forecasts.

Lunardi predicts that only four ACC teams will make this year’s NCAA Tournament: Clemson, North Carolina, Duke, and Virginia.

The lack of strong ACC presence in the tournament is something Lunardi points to as part of the conference’s overall decline in the past five years.

“For the first two decades of this century, the ACC averaged at least one top seed per year. The conference peaked in 2019, landing three of four No. 1 seeds, including national champion Virginia. Since then, there’s not been a single top line selection from the ACC, its longest drought since seeding began in 1979,” he writes.

Lunardi awards the SEC and Big 12 with the most bids by conference with nine apiece.

Clemson returns to the floor Wednesday night at Littlejohn Coliseum when it hosts Miami (15-9, 6-7) in a rematch at 7 p.m. EST. The Tigers fell to the Hurricanes on Jan. 3 at Miami’s Watsco Center, 95-82. Wednesday’s game will be televised by ESPN2.

Clemson receives votes in latest AP Top 25 poll

A look at the AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll for the week of Monday, February 12.

An upset win over No. 3 North Carolina in Chapel Hill and a follow-up win at Syracuse was enough to garner Clemson some votes in the latest AP Top 25 men’s basketball poll released Monday, February 12.

The Tigers (16-7 overall, 6-6 ACC) took a big step toward solidifying their NCAA Tournament résumé when they won at the ‘Dean Dome’ last week, then followed it up with a gutsy win at Syracuse over the weekend.

Those two victories weren’t enough to vault the Tigers back into the Top 25, but they netted Clemson 57 votes from the various sportswriters and broadcasters who make up the poll.

It’s the fifth consecutive week that Clemson has remained out of the Top 25 after having been ranked No. 16 entering the year. The Tigers have gone just 5-6 since then, all against ACC competition. Clemson returns to action Wednesday at 7 p.m. EST when they host Miami at Littlejohn Coliseum. The game will be televised by ESPN2.

Defending national champion UConn (22-2 overall), winners of 12 straight games and unbeaten since December 20, remained atop the AP poll for the fifth consecutive week. The Huskies received 45 first-place votes.

Purdue (22-2) remained at No. 2, Houston (21-3) moved up to No. 3, and Marquette (18-5) and Arizona (19-5) each moved up three spots to Nos. 4 and No. 5.

Despite its loss to Clemson, North Carolina (19-5) remained the ACC’s highest-ranked team at No. 7. The Tar Heels dropped four spots from last week’s poll.

Duke (18-5) remained at No. 9, and red-hot Virginia (19-5) moved into the Top 25. The Cavaliers have won eight straight games entering the week, including their 66-65 victory over Clemson on February 3.

The Big 12 had the most ranked teams of any conference with six total. The SEC was second with five.

Elsewhere around the AP poll, No. 10 Iowa State and No. 11 South Carolina jumped four spots apiece. Wisconsin suffered the biggest drop, falling nine spots to No. 20 in Monday’s rankings. The Badgers had been ranked No. 6 just two weeks earlier.

Kentucky’s recent skid has seen the Wildcats drop from No. 6 to No. 22 in recent weeks.

Where Clemson ranks in Athlon Sports’ Top 25 after signing day

A look at where Clemson ranks in Athlon Sports’ Top 25 rankings after National Signing Day.

The transfer portal is closed, National Signing Day has come and gone, and most college football teams by now at least have a relatively good idea of the state of their rosters going into the 2024 season.

Clemson finished its 2024 recruiting class in the early part of the year by adding four 4-star recruits: offensive linemen Jaylan Beckley and Brayden Jacobs, as well as defensive linemen Ari Watford and Isaiah Campbell.

Those signings gave the Tigers’ recruiting a big shot in the arm going into the season after an up-and-down 9-4 campaign in 2023.

With National Signing Day complete, Athlon Sports released its post-NSD Top 25 rankings.

in those rankings, Clemson is ranked No. 16.

“A defense that held opponents to 21.1 points a game in ’23 should remain a strength with linebacker Barrett Carter and linemen Peter Woods and T.J. Parker anchoring this group. However, returning to the top of the ACC is dependent on the offense taking a step forward in the second year under coordinator Garrett Riley. The Tigers averaged only 23.6 points a game in ACC contests last fall,” Athlon writes.

Defending ACC champion Florida State is the highest-ranked team in Athlon’s rankings, one spot above Clemson at No. 15.

Louisville and NC State are the only two other ACC schools to crack Athlon’s recent Top 25 rankings.

Huskers dominate Michigan 79-59 to earn their 17th win of the season

ebraska returned home Saturday night following two road losses.

Nebraska returned home Saturday night following two road losses. The Huskers welcomed in Michigan, seeking their elusive 17th win, something they haven’t done since 2018-2019. Nebraska won in dominating fashion, blowing out the Wolverines en route to a 75-59 victory.

The Huskers erupted in the first half, leading by as much as 43-13 before heading into the locker rooms up 45-25. On the night, Nebraska shot 30-of-64 while Michigan shot just 20-of-62.

Keisei Tominaga finished the night as the Huskers’ top scorer, landing 19 points, by going 8-of-14 in total shooting. Tominaga also shot 3-of-6 from beyond the arc, reaching a season total of 50 in three-pointers. He is now 17 three-pointers away from reaching the top-10 in school history for three-pointers made in a single season.

Josiah Allick took runner-up in scoring for Nebraska, dropping 16 points by going 7-of-10 in total shooting. Allick also led the Huskers in rebounds, hauling in eight. Brice Williams scored 13 points for Nebraska, shooting 5-of-9 from the field. Rienk Mast tallied up 11 points for the Huskers and led the team in assists with eight.

Nebraska is now 17-8 on the season and 7-7 in conference play. It will remain home to face Penn State next Saturday morning. Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. and can be viewed on the Big Ten Network.