CLEMSON- While there is a lot of positive momentum surrounding the Clemson baseball team coming off its three-game sweep of previously unbeaten Florida State, there was one piece of bad news that came out over the weekend.
Starting pitcher Tristan Smith is dealing with an ankle injury that caused him to miss his scheduled start over the weekend, and it is expected to keep him out of the rotation for at least one more week.
"He had an ankle thing that was bothering him a little bit," head coach Erik Bakich said. "We had it looked at and the medical team said you're probably better off being in a boot right now, so you don't elevate something that's not into a serious injury."
Through the first five weeks, Smith was undoubtedly the most consistent starting pitcher for the Tigers, as evidenced by his 2.55 ERA and his 36 strikeouts in 24.2 innings.
Only once has Smith given up more than two runs in any one start this season, and the sophomore lefty was brilliant his last time out, holding Duke to just one earned run through six innings of work, while striking out a career-high 10 hitters.
While his absence will no question leave a sizeable void in Clemson's starting rotation, Bakich is confident that someone else will step up and fill it.
"So he will be in a boot and hopefully it's just a couple of weeks, but we'll keep evaluating that," Bakich said. "We've got a little bit of the injury bug going through our guys right now. Guess everybody deals with it and we have it too. But it also presents an opportunity for other guys to get in there."
Against Florida State it was Ethan Darden that stepped up and delivered. After a tough-luck first inning that saw an infield single, a walk and an error lead to a grand slam before the Tigers ever recorded the first out, the sophomore lefty settled in nicely. He allowed just the four runs in a career-high 6.1 innings and held Florida State scoreless over his final 5.1 innings.
"Ethan is a tough kid, a supreme competitor," Bakich said. "We've exclusively used him out of the pen so far this year, and with Tristan hurting his ankle and being in the boot, Ethan stepped up and we needed that. It was kind of that next man up type thing and Ethan's done it. He was our Friday night guy last year. He looked really good out there. Even after (the first inning), the way he settled in, settled the game down and got a lot of ground ball outs, threw a ton of strikes. He did a fantastic job . What he did, going 6.1 innings, it was huge."
Darden isn't the only pitcher capable of stepping up and giving the Tigers some starts. Matt Marchal started 37 games while at Wofford, before transferring to Clemson ahead of the season. Joe Allen and Rocco Reid have also started games in the past, as has Nick Clayton, who spent time in the Tigers' starting rotation under the last coaching staff.
Billy Barlow is another option, should the staff choose to go that route at some point. He did begin the season in the weekend rotation. However, after the weekend sweep of Florida State, Bakich said that the plan as of now was for Barlow to start Tuesday against Coastal Carolina.
The Tigers are set to host the Chanticleers on Tuesday, with first pitch scheduled for 6pm. The game will be streamed on ACCNX.
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