Clemson baseball adds Bleckley County's Raffield

          Having a little purple in his wardrobe is a little bonus for Carter Raffield.

          He’s going from the purple and gold of Bleckley County to the purple and orange of Clemson. The baseball standout signed his letter of intent on Friday at a ceremony at Bleckley County.

          Raffield most recently was ranked 41st nationally among high school players by Baseball America.

          The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder was 5-2 last season with a 1.76 ERA. He whiffing 80 and walked only 14 in 59.2 innings to help the Royals to the Region 3-AA title last year and to the quarterfinals where they lost to Bacon County.

          Raffield was recruited by North Carolina, Alabama, Georgia Southern, College of Charleston and Florida State, among others.

          One potential interruption in these plans will be the major league baseball draft in early June.

          Clemson finished 42-21 last year, 17-13 in the ACC. The Tigers haven’t had a losing season since 1952, and have had only one sub.500 conference season since 1972. Clemson averaged 4,625 fans in 2016, 11th-best in the nation. Head coach Monty Lee is 86-41 in two seasons.