Tag: jonathan french

Clemson baseball is losing another player to South Carolina

Another Clemson player is transferring to South Carolina.

You know the saying when it rains, it pours? That seems to be the case for Clemson baseball right now, as yet another player has announced they are transferring to the Tigers’ in-state rival in the wake of the firing of Monte Lee.

Sophomore pitcher Ricky Williams announced on Twitter Wednesday that he would be transferring to South Carolina to continue his baseball career. Williams joins Dylan Brewer and Jonathan French as the third Tiger to transfer to South Carolina since Lee’s firing.

Williams made nine appearances for Clemson this season, finishing the season with a 2-0 record and a 2.95 earned run average, primarily coming in relief for the Tigers.

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Another former Tiger to join Gamecocks

A second Tiger has chosen the Gamecocks as his new home.

A second Tiger has chosen his next destination following the dismissal of head coach Monte Lee from the baseball program after the 2022 season.

Catcher Jonathan French, who entered the transfer portal earlier this month, announced Wednesday morning via Twitter that he would be joining the South Carolina Gamecocks baseball program next season. French joins outfielder Dylan Brewer as the second Tiger to commit to the Gamecocks this month.

In his three seasons with the Clemson program, French hit a career .230 with 13 homers, 43 RBIs, and a .423 slugging percentage in 64 starts.

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Another Clemson baseball transfer will play for Gamecocks

A second former Clemson baseball player announced on Wednesday that he will be transferring to South Carolina. On June 6 Dylan Brewer announced that he was transferring to play for the Gamecocks. Jonathan French took to Twitter Wednesday morning to …

A second former Clemson baseball player announced on Wednesday that he will be transferring to South Carolina.  On June 6 Dylan Brewer announced that he was transferring to play for the Gamecocks.

Jonathan French took to Twitter Wednesday morning to announce his new home.

French started 37 games for Clemson in 2022 and hit .218 with 8 home runs.

Another pair of Clemson baseball players enter transfer portal

Clemson baseball continues to experience plenty of turnover as the transition period is in full swing.

Two days after Clemson Athletics parted ways with Monte Lee, two more baseball players have entered the transfer portal.

According to The Clemson Insider, outfielders Camden Troyer and Spencer Rich are in the portal. The news comes one day after catcher Jonathan French and outfielder Dylan Brewer entered the portal, bringing the total of Tigers in the portal to four.

As a freshman in 2022, Troyer appeared in 18 games this season, batting 7-for-38 with two home runs. As for Rich, he finished with two hits on 12 at-bats while playing in 12 games. Prior to Clemson, Troyer was an All-State selection for South Carolina. Rich, on the other hand, was a first-year junior transfer from Daytona State College.

Although Thursday’s transfers didn’t receive much playing time in 2022, French and Brewer played in 44 and 46 games, respectively, this past season.

With the likely loss of four players to the portal, Clemson will need to fill their shoes as it searches for a new head coach.

Two Clemson baseball players enter transfer portal

The attrition to Clemson’s baseball roster in the wake of Monte Lee’s firing has begun. Two players intend to transfer after news of Lee’s dismissal as the Tigers’ head coach came down Tuesday. Catcher Jonathan French and infielder Dylan Brewer have …

The attrition to Clemson’s baseball roster in the wake of Monte Lee’s firing has begun.

Two players intend to transfer after news of Lee’s dismissal as the Tigers’ head coach came down Tuesday. Catcher Jonathan French and infielder Dylan Brewer have each entered the transfer portal, according to a source.

Both third-year sophomores, Brewer and French combined for 76 starts this season. Brewer finished the season as the Tigers’ everyday first baseman, hitting .208 with four home runs and 24 RBIs in 46 games. French, who started 37 of the 44 games he played, hit eight homers and drove in 28 runs.

An Under Armour All-American in high school, French played 75 games for the Tigers the last two seasons after redshirting in 2020. Brewer, a Latta native, played 111 games over three seasons at Clemson.

Clemson baseball gets swept by Notre Dame

Clemson baseball was swept by Notre Dame on Sunday, giving the Tigers their fifth loss in the past six games.

Clemson baseball suffered its fifth loss in the past six games on Sunday after getting swept by No. 13 Notre Dame.

In the 3-9 loss to the Fighting Irish, third baseman Max Wagner led the Tigers in hits with two, one of which was a home run in the third inning that gave Clemson its first run of the game.

With Sunday’s loss, Clemson now moves to 19-12 on the year after starting 14-0. The Tigers are also 0-4 in ACC series and have the worst conference record in the Atlantic Divison, possessing a 2-9 record against ACC opponents.

Head coach Monte Lee and his team will look to get out of their slump on Tuesday when they travel to Greenville, South Carolina, to face off against USC Upstate.

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Clemson uses more strong pitching to sweep Carolina

Pitching once again carried the day for Clemson’s baseball team, leading the Tigers to an extended unblemished spring against their in-state rival for the first time in more than two decades. It wasn’t easy as South Carolina routinely threatened in …

Pitching once again carried the day for Clemson’s baseball team, leading the Tigers to an extended unblemished spring against their in-state rival for the first time in more than two decades.

It wasn’t easy as South Carolina routinely threatened in the series finale Sunday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, but five Clemson pitchers combined to work out of one jam after another in a 5-2 win for the Tigers, who stayed unbeaten on the season after winning the first two games of the series in Columbia by a combined score of 13-4.

Cooper Ingle’s solo home run – the first of his Clemson career – and Jonathan French’s RBI single in the home half of the eighth inning provided some insurance for the Tigers (11-0), who notched their first sweep of at least three games against Carolina since 1996 when Clemson beat the Gamecocks four times.

Ryan Ammons retired six of the eight batters he faced over the final two innings to notch a six-out save.

This story will be updated.

French connects when Tigers needed it most

There has been a tremendous show of talent on the field for Clemson so far this baseball season. It seems as though each week there’s been a different player to step up to the plate and lock in the win for the Tigers. Jonathan French was one of …

There has been a tremendous show of talent on the field for Clemson so far this baseball season. It seems as though each week there’s been a different player to step up to the plate and lock in the win for the Tigers.

Jonathan French was one of those key playmakers in the game against USC Upstate.

Caden Grice has been known to be in those shoes. When asked about Grice and the rest of the Tigers’ lineup performance, French answered, “I think it shows that we compete one through nine every pitch we’re in there. Everyone’s in the dugout locked in every single game, every single pitch, and we all have that mindset that it’s going to be me that day.”

Even though there might be extra weight on a single player for a couple games, or a weekend, French knows how much pressure it can be to constantly lean on the same person. In an effort to avoid that, he stated, “We’re still going to go up there and try to put together good at-bats and find ways to change the game ourselves.”

When the Tigers needed it most, French came up clutch in the bottom of the eighth to slam a ball left for a home run, giving the Tigers an 8-5 lead against USC Upstate.

French was confident that once the ball left his bat it was going to be the play he had hoped for. He took a quick glance at his first home run on the season while jogging outside the box to take his victory lap to home
plate

“The home run was amazing,” French said. “Great feeling, and I connected with the ball. Stuck to my approach. Just a great experience.”

It was a two-out count, and French took his coach’s advice.

“Coach Lee gave me the ‘stay on your pitch,’ and that would be a fastball right down the middle,” he said. “And I told myself, if I get it, I’m not going to be late on it, I’m going to be on time and put a good swing on it, and that’s just what happened.”

The Tigers needed this momentum, leading to Dylan Brewer adding a two-run homer soon after.

Clemson is now 8-0 on the season. It’s a big weekend for the Tigers as they hope to stay undefeated against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

Late-inning heroics carry Clemson past USC Upstate

Clemson baseball continued its winning ways as the Tigers extended their winning streak to eight games with a 8-5 win over USC Upstate Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Clemson’s latest victory didn’t come as easy as its previous ones. Thanks to …

Clemson baseball continued its winning ways as the Tigers extended their winning streak to eight games with a 8-5 win over USC Upstate Tuesday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

Clemson’s latest victory didn’t come as easy as its previous ones. Thanks to some late-innning heroics from Jonathan French, Clemson was able to secure a win Tuesday, despite a shaky effort from its bullpen.

French’s (2-for-4) first home run of the season was a big one. The sophmore designated hitter deposited a baseball into the Chapman grandstands in the bottom of the eighth inning. The go-ahead run traveled 368-feet and was 105-mph off the bat.

Dylan Brewer followed that up with an absolute moonshot to the right-field bleachers. The shophmore centerfielder added a couple of insurance runs with his first home run of the season.

Those three runs were the first Clemson scored since Caden Grice (1-for-4) added an RBI single in the home half of the second inning.

The Tigers jumped out to an early 5-0 lead after two innings. Clemson quickly tacked on four first-inning runs, capped off by Bryar Hawkins’ 3-run home run. The junior infielder took a 1-1 pitch over the right-field fence, extending Clemson’s lead to 4-0.

Hawkins went 2-for-5 and added three RBIs on the day, which culminated in his third home run of the season. In addition to Hawkins, Tyler Corbitt (2-for-4), Benjamin Ingle (2-for-5) and French were the only Tigers to have mutliple hits.

After maintaining a 5-0 lead, Clemson’s bullpen eventually gave way. The Tigers walked a fine line up until the eighth inning. Alex Edmonson gave up two runs, allowing the tying run to score. He gave up two runs on just one hit, but he also walked two batters in the process.

That seemed to be a common theme during Tuesday’s contest. The Tigers got themselves into trouble more often than not. Clemson’s bullpen issued four walks and allowed three runs.

That’s after Tuesday’s starting picther — Billy Barlow — turned in a relatively solid outing before getting into trouble in the top of the fifth inning.

Following multiple mound visits, Monte Lee came to get Barlow with one out and two runners in scoring position. He was relieved by freshman right-hander Jay Dill, who struck out the first batter he faced.

However, Dill surrendered a two-run single with both runs being charged to Tueday’s starter. Barlow struck out four batters and allowed two runs on five hits over 4 1/3 innings pitched.

Dill was pulled in favor of Geoffrey Gilbert in the following inning.

After giving up a double, which went off the fists of USC Upstate pinch hitter Jace Reinhert, Gilbert issued back-to-back walks. Even though he walked in a run, Gilbert eventually found his command in time, striking out a batter and stranding the bases loaded.

Jackson Lindley stranded two runners, including the would-be tying run in the top of the seventh inning. The big right-hander from nearby Anderson struck out Spartans’ shortstop Cole Caruso to escaspe another jam unscathed.

After all that, Ryan Ammons pitched a clean ninth inning to earn the save.

This story will be updated

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This Clemson sophomore is the ‘best hitter in this program’

Statistically, first baseman Caden Grice is the most dangerous hitter returning to Clemson’s baseball team from last season. But in the opinion of Clemson coach Monte Lee, the best pure hitter on the Tigers’ roster is a lesser-known sophomore who’s …

Statistically, first baseman Caden Grice is the most dangerous hitter returning to Clemson’s baseball team from last season. But in the opinion of Clemson coach Monte Lee, the best pure hitter on the Tigers’ roster is a lesser-known sophomore who’s competing to be a full-time starter this spring.

“If you said right now, ‘You get to pick who’s the best hitter in the program,’ it’s Cooper Ingle,” Lee said. “Cooper Ingle is the best hitter in this program based on what he’s done this fall.”

A native of Asheville, North Carolina, Ingle was a part of Clemson’s 2021 signing class and played in 10 games as a true freshman. He hit just .063 in 16 at-bats. So how has a player who had such a limited role a season ago morphed into what Lee believes is the best hitter on the team?

Lee said Ingle has been flashing his potential at the plate ever since arriving on campus before the 2021 season. Ingle impressed two falls ago, too, but the 5-foot-10, 185-pounder suffered an injury that forced him to miss the first few weeks of last season.

Otherwise, Lee said, Ingle might have had a more significant impact as a newcomer.

“We felt like Coop was going to be a piece of the puzzle last year for us,” Lee said. “Once the season started and he was out at the beginning of the season, it just put him behind. And, honestly, it’s very hard once the season starts. Just imagine what it’s like to step in there and face ACC pitching when you haven’t had any reps. We can’t get guys reps against live arms once the season starts.”

But Ingle is healthy heading into this season, and he’s duking it out with third-year sophomore Jonathan French to be the starting catcher. French and Adam Hackenberg split catching duties a season ago, but Hackenberg has moved on to the professional ranks after being drafted by the Chicago White Sox over the summer.

French, who started 25 games at catcher last season, has the edge in experience. But Lee said Ingle is “in the mix” at the position, at least in part, because of his bat. 

“We haven’t played a season yet, but in 60-plus at-bats in the fall, Cooper Ingle was the best hitter in the ballpark,” Lee said.

Lee also didn’t rule out another platoon situation between his top two catchers, who also give the Tigers versatility should they need it. French, who hit .248 in 31 games last season, also started two games at designated hitter a season ago while Ingle started four games – two at catcher, one in left field and one as the designated hitter. 

Ingle could even play some second base in a pinch, but don’t be surprised to see the one that’s not behind the plate still in the lineup as the DH, Lee said. Clemson is less than three weeks from opening the new season against Indiana on Feb. 18 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“Both of those guys certainly warrant an opportunity to be in the lineup,” Lee said. “We feel very good about those two guys. That’s certainly a battle.”

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