Clemson Baseball Turns Season Around with Impressive Victories

Tigers have won 9 of their last 11 games as they head into big weekend series at Louisville

CLEMSON, S.C. — After No. 18 Notre Dame completed its sweep of Clemson back on April 10 in South Bend, Indiana, the Tigers were left for dead.

After a 14-0 start to the season, they lost 12 of their next 17 games. They were 2-9 in the ACC and with ranked games at Wake Forest, at Georgia, vs. Florida State and Wofford on the horizon, things looked bleak at best.

The fans and media, alike, were starting to write the season off.

But baseball is a funny game.

Following their 1-0 win over then No. 23 Wake Forest on April 15, the Tigers found themselves down 7-1 in Game 2 of the series. The Demon Deacons eventually extended their lead to 9-2 after four innings and it appeared it was going to be the same ole same ole again.

Clemson began to fight back.

After getting two runs in the top of the fifth inning, the Tigers exploded for four runs in the eighth and then tied the game in the ninth to force extra innings. Wake Forest ultimately won the game with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 10th, but that afternoon in Winston-Salem, despite the heartbreaking loss, changed the Tigers’ season.

“I am proud of our players because they buy into what we believe in as a coaching staff, which is to just compete every pitch, you are never out of a fight, every day is opening day,” head coach Monte Lee said. “Come out and just compete as hard as you can. Give your best effort. Do what you can to help the team win. That’s it.”

The next day they hit five home runs, including two by Caden Grice, to win their first ACC series of the season. They carried the momentum into the next week with an 8-4 win at then No. 10 Georgia and a 12-2 victory over East Tennessee State at home.

The Tigers followed those wins by coming from behind in two of the three games to knock off then ninth-ranked Florida State.

“Our guys are not going to quit. They are not going to lay down,” Lee said. “I think the guys have just bought into that quite honestly. I am proud of our competitive effort and the makeup of our club.”

After taking care of business in a 12-3 win over Presbyterian on Tuesday, Clemson lit up No. 25 Wofford, 17-4, Wednesday night for its ninth victory in its last 11 games.

“It is huge. Beating a ranked opponent is always big,” said Wagner, who led the Tigers with two home runs and six RBIs in the win over Wofford. “We have been doing that lately. We beat Georgia, Wake Forest, Florida State and now Wofford.

“We are trying to build our resume and trying to increase our chances of getting into the postseason.”

Clemson (28-14, 6-11 ACC) will hit the road for a key ACC series at No. 17 Louisville beginning on Friday. The Cardinals (28-12, 11-7 ACC) are tied with Notre Dame for first place in the ACC Atlantic Division.

“The guys show up every day and they try to represent the program the right way, good or bad, right? There are days when we are not going to be perfect or we don’t play our best baseball,” Lee said. “But one thing that I do believe our guys will do is come out and compete as hard as they can and do the very best that they can.”