On the surface, the moves were strange.
Freshman right-hander Billy Barlow got the midweek start for Clemson against USC Upstate just like he has all season. Barlow had lasted at least four innings all but two of his previous seven midweek starts, and the two that were cut short were because he got tagged early in the Tigers’ losses to Georgia State and Coastal Carolina.
But Barlow needed just three innings to strike out four Spartans on Tuesday at Fluor Field, scattering four hits and allowing just one earned run in those frames. Yet after 58 pitches, Barlow’s night was done. Clemson coach Monte Lee went to the bullpen, where fellow freshmen Casey Tallent, Austin Gordon and Rocco Reid combined for four innings of shutout relief.
Then Lee gave the ball to Nick Hoffman, who has been a part of the Tigers’ weekend rotation all season and made his latest (albeit brief) start three days earlier at Notre Dame. But the sophomore right-hander came on to work the eighth inning Tuesday, facing just one batter over the minimum in his first relief appearance of the season.
Having a quick hook for his usual midweek starter as well as bringing Hoffman on in relief during the latter stages of a blowout win for Clemson (20-12, 2-9 ACC) appeared to be odd decisions by Lee until he explained afterward that he’s considering a change to Clemson’s weekend rotation.
“I would say that’s a discussion we’ll have (Wednesday) in regards to the weekend,” said Lee, whose team will head to No. 23 Wake Forest starting Friday still searching for its first ACC series win. “We’ll hopefully solidify things (Wednesday) in the office as far as what we’re going to do Saturday and Sunday.”
Mack Anglin (3.66 earned run average) is entrenched as Clemson’s Friday starter, but Hoffman has seen his ERA balloon to 5.66 as the Saturday starter. Hoffman has allowed 12 earned runs in his last three starts, none of which have lasted more than four innings. Things also haven’t gone all that well for the Tigers’ other weekend starter, Nick Clayton, who’s got a 5.06 ERA and walked five batters in just three innings his last time out against the Fighting Irish.
Meanwhile, Wake Forest, which has won five straight games and nine of its last 10, enters the weekend hitting .321 as a team, the fourth-highest clip in the ACC.
“We know we’re going into a tough place to play against a really good club,” Lee said. “We need to pitch, defend and put together good at-bats.”
As for who could move into the rotation against the Demon Deacons (26-7, 9-6) this weekend, Lee said Barlow and Tallent are the most likely candidates. Lee said he had a tentative plan for the freshmen duo to throw five or six innings Tuesday in order to get one last look at both before making a final decision while also keeping their pitch counts low enough to where both could still be available against Wake Forest if that’s the route Lee decides to go.
He also wanted to see Hoffman out of the bullpen again in case Lee decides to move him back there, a role in which Hoffman had success last season. Hoffman posted a 3.83 ERA in 49 1/3 innings a season ago with 13 of his 17 appearances coming in relief.
Barlow and Tallent didn’t hurt their chances of moving into the rotation, combining for five innings of two-run ball. Tallent pitched the fourth and fifth innings without yielding a hit and struck out three, dropping his ERA to 2.57 in 14 innings this season. His longest outing to this point is three innings against Coastal Carolina on March 22 when the right-hander allowed two runs and struck out five.
Barlow has yielded three runs or fewer in seven of his eight midweek starts with the five first-inning runs he gave up to Coastal Carolina being the outlier that has his ERA sitting above 4 for the time being. But Barlow has allowed just four earned runs in his last 12 innings, which includes five innings of one-run ball in Clemson’s win over a top-25 Georgia team last week.
“Barlow has been very good for us,” Lee said. “He’s got a good enough fastball to where he can beat anybody with his fastball because of the amount of sink and run he has on his fastball. Tallent is another guy that’s thrown outstanding here lately. He’s a true three-pitch mix guy. And that’s what we like to see with a guy that we’re going to potentially start. Both of those guys could be candidates to start this weekend.
“We look for guys that can get through a lineup twice and have a three-pitch mix.”
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