Davidson: "Anything can happen" in postseason baseball
CLEMSON-- For some players on Clemson's roster the wait for the Tigers' name to be called by the NCAA Baseball Tournament Selection Committee was longer than others.
The reason--college career's hung in the balance.
For junior Logan Davidson, who is expected to be a first-round selection in Major League Baseball's amateur draft, the wait was excruciating, but now it the job is to make the most of the opportunity afforded the Tigers.
"Yeah, I mean you definitely think about it, but I think at the end of the day, the reason I came to Clemson is to play for Clemson baseball and win a championship and be with the team, help the team get a lot of wins," Davidson said. "So there's no telling... It's kind of a weird thought, like no telling where I'm going to be over the next month. We're planning on obviously winning the Ole Miss regional, winning Supers and going to Omaha. That's what we're striving for. That's what we worked so hard for over the past couple years, and that's what I'm striving for.
"We were really looking forward to the opportunity. That's what we're happy about. We worked hard to get here. We're just going to take advantage of it.".
The Tigers season was one of ups and downs.
The Tiger baseball teams started out red-hot, reaching an 11-4 mark in ACC play at the midpoint of the season before stumbling to a 4-11 mark in the second half. But the Tigers are hoping that it will be their play of late--which saw the Tigers near-perfect performance in a 7-1 win over No. 1-seeded Louisville Cardinals in their final game of the ACC Tournament--that they hope will provide them with the momentum heading into the regional round of the NCAA Tournament at Ole Miss.
"Baseball is a game of momentum," Davidson said. "I think, like you said, we went through a tough stretch. But I think over the past couple of weeks, we've really won some ballgames, won some big ballgames for us on the road and the ACC tournament, we beat Louisville who is one of the top teams in the country.
"So just taking that momentum into the rest of the post-season into Ole Miss is going to be big for us."
While this will be the Tigers' first time facing Ole Miss, who earned the No. 12 national seed, since the 1984 season, the Tigers have an ace in their pocket--head coach Monte Lee.
Lee, who coached at the University of South Carolina as an assistant coach, has been to Ole Miss and has already shared with his Tigers what they can expect.
"I've never been to Ole Miss. But Coach Lee was telling us it's a pretty cool ballpark, pretty cool place to play," Davidson said. "It's going to draw a big crowd, so we're looking forward to that. We always like that. That's always fun to play in front of a lot of people.
"We're just grateful for the opportunity."
For Davidson, there will be many more opportunities to play baseball after his season is completed at Clemson, but for now he is focused on making sure that his teammates are ready to play come Friday afternoon.
Because if there is one thing the Tigers have learned over the last three seasons of disappointment--losing each of the last three regional series they have hosted at Doug Kingsmore Stadium--it is whoever plays the best baseball wins.
"We're going to make sure everything's working good, make sure everybody's playing their best baseball," Davidson said. "Just going in with that momentum from the last couple of weeks, just taking the preparation daily. We're doing everything the best we can.
"Anything can happen. I think that's pretty much it. It's whoever's playing the best baseball. It's not necessarily the best teams. Whoever plays the best that game. Teams get hot. We've seen in the past, there's been tons of teams who weren't supposed to win that win it. Not saying that we're not supposed to, I'm just saying that anything could happen in postseason baseball."