Baseball thoughts

No one is pronouncing this a team transformed -- not yet, at least -- but you can see some pieces coming together as Jack Leggett's bunch peers at the last 20 games of the season with a record of 22-13 overall and 9-9 in the ACC.

The Atlantic Division title is still very much within reach; Florida State is atop the standings with an 11-7 conference mark. And though two difficult weekend series remain -- Georgia Tech at home, and the Seminoles in Tallahassee -- the Tigers also get two struggling ACC foes in Wake Forest and Virginia Tech (combined ACC record: 10-26) while also facing Gardner-Webb in a three-game series.

(Did you know Gardner-Webb's mascot is the Runnin' Bulldogs? Gotta admit I didn't.)

Looking back at the first half of the season, there's really no mystery to the Tigers' problems. They suffered an extraordinary rash of injuries that imposed a musical-chairs routine in the infield. Kevin Brady was lost less than a month in with a weird forearm injury that could end up derailing his entire 2011 season. Scott Weismann, the team's No. 1 weekend starter coming in -- and someone who was viewed as a possible upgrade over Casey Harman -- floundered largely as a result of a loss of his fastball and a confounding inability to get people out.

Take away your top two pitchers, sprinkle in a bunch of errors and some struggles at cashing in with runners on base, and 14-12 and 4-8 in the ACC shouldn't be that big a surprise. But that kind of record is always a disappointment in these parts, particularly when the team begins the season with an Omaha-or-bust expectation (and this one did, to be sure).

Leggett's biggest concern lately has been starting pitching, and that misgiving hasn't been totally wiped away. But he had to like what he saw over the weekend in New England, where Jonathan Meyer allowed just two runs (2.25 ERA) in eight innings pitched in two appearances (one start) with eight strikeouts against one walk. Combine that with two lengthy starting stints by Dominic Leone (six innings vs. B.C.) and Justin Sarratt (seven innings vs. Presbyterian), plus nice relief efforts from David Haselden and Weismann against Boston College, and the developments are favorable.

Through 26 games, ending with the sweep at North Carolina, Clemson had gone error-less just four times. The Tigers have five error-less games over their last nine games. It helps that the infield is relatively healthy and everyone is playing the positions at which they started the season.

The offense is coming around, with a diversity of production and clutch hits. For all the frustration with the new bats, the Tigers are hitting .319 (up from .306 last season). So while home runs are down (.62 per game this season, after 1.32 per game last season), as is slugging percentage (down to .457 from .488), the Tigers are still scoring 7.5 runs per game (down from 8.5 last year).

Still plenty of work to do, still reason for Leggett to be nervous as he assesses this team's chances of getting a favorable draw in the NCAA Tournament (read: playing at home). But there's some reason to think this season still can come together in the way that most people thought it would all along.

LW