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CLEMSON – The recruitment of Davis Sharpe may have been one of the easiest challenges of Monte Lee’s coaching career.

All the Clemson baseball coach had to do was turn it over to the waters of Lake Hartwell.

“My dad got a house on Lake Hartwell when I was like 10, so that’s kind of a big reason I came here,” Sharpe said. “I was always up here on the weekends in the summer. I’m from Georgia, but I came to Clemson more than I did UGA or Georgia Tech and just fell in love with it.”

Whether driving his dad’s boat or wakeboarding behind it, being on the water is Sharpe’s passion.

“I’ve been wakeboarding since I was 6, so I’m pretty good,” Sharpe said. “I’m big on the tricks – that’s the best part about it – but it definitely hurts sometimes, when you don’t land it.”

Sharpe sticks his landings more oft than not, much like he did last year in his first turn as a member of the Clemson baseball team.

Before the season began, Lee projected big things for Sharpe.

“I think he’s going to be a star,” Lee said.

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Clemson baseball coach Monte Lee talks about this year’s pitching staff The Greenville News

Sharpe, a two-way player throughout much of his youth and high school career, lived up to Lee’s billing, promptly excelling both on the mound and at the plate in his freshman year.

He got off to an auspicious start, allowing only two hits and striking out eight in five innings to earn the win in his first start in the first game of a doubleheader against South Alabama, then homering twice and driving in all three runs as the Tigers’ designated hitter in the nightcap.

Sharpe finished the season with a .264 average, a 7-4 record as a pitcher and was the lone freshman among five national finalists for the John Olerud Two-Way Player of the Year Award. He also was named a Freshman All-American and second-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference as a pitcher.

Sharpe will head into his sophomore season with even higher expectations, both from himself and Lee.

“Davis Sharpe did both,” Lee said. “And did both at a high level last year.”

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That explains why Sharpe is a leading contender not only for a slot in the weekend rotation but a coveted spot in the batting order as well when the Tigers open the 2020 season against Liberty on Feb. 14 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

He is Clemson’s top returning pitcher in earned run average (3.20), strikeouts (84) and innings pitched (84.1). It has been an impressive progression for Sharpe, whose high school career began as a freshman second baseman at Mill Creek High in Hoschton, Georgia.

“I actually played varsity my freshman year, but I was a lot smaller and just didn’t have the arm strength (to pitch),” Sharpe said.

Then Sharpe “grew into” his body. He added four inches in height and roughly 40 pounds in high school and the once 6-foot, 180-pound freshman came to Clemson as a strapping 6-4, 220-pounder.

“As I developed more into my body, everything started coming together,” Sharpe said. “I didn’t start hitting the weights until I was a sophomore, but once I got bigger and stronger, I started to develop my swing and my mechanics and velocity on the mound. I really hit the weights, and that amped up my game.”

Still, his freshman season at Clemson was at least mildly surprising.

“It was a shock at first,” he said. “I came in here and didn’t know if I’d be able to do both. It’s a lot of responsibility. But when I succeeded at both, it was a great relief and a lot of fun.

“When you’re on the mound, you control the game, and I love that aspect of it. And as a hitter, it’s super challenging, which is what drives me. If you succeed three out of 10 times, you’re a great hitter.

“I’m going to do both as long as I can. I just love being on the field, being out there with my guys. I love the thrill of competing and baseball is all about competing.”

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