Jason Priester All Clemson
Despite Recent Loss to College of Charleston, Clemson 'Playing Pretty Good Baseball'
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At times, baseball can be a cruel sport.
That's something Monte Lee's Tigers have become quite familiar with at times this season. After starting the season on a 14-game winning streak, Clemson would then go on to lose seven of its next nine games, which included an 0-5 start in ACC play.
The Tigers have spent the second half of the season trying to climb out of that hole in conference play. With six games remaining in league play, Clemson sits half a game ahead of Duke for the 12th and final spot in the ACC Tournament.
Despite dropping a midweek game to College of Charleston on Tuesday night, Lee maintains that his team is playing well at the moment. Even better than it was during the winning streak to start the season.
"I care more about how we play," Lee said after the loss to the Cougars. "What are the things that we're doing well in the games, what are some areas that we need to address? The fact that it's later, I'll say this, I think we're a better team right now than we were even earlier in the season. Even when we were 14-0. Honestly, I think we're playing pretty good baseball right now. And we got to continue to do that. And that's the key."
Even in the loss on Tuesday night, Lee thought his team played well. The Tigers had plenty of opportunities but just could not capitalize on them. On the night, Clemson left 16 runners stranded, was just 4-23 with runners on base and 2-10 with runners in scoring position.
By comparison, the Cougars only stranded eight runners on the night and were 4-10 with runners in scoring position.
"I didn't think we played poorly," Lee said. "We played good defensively, swung the bats well, he hit a lot of balls hard. You know, we just came out of the strike zone some on some full counts that could have been walks, so probably would've put more run-scoring opportunities out there for us. But all in all, you know they came up with the bigger hits with runners on base than we did, and that was the difference."
Throughout it all, Lee has been extremely happy with the mental makeup of his team, as the Tigers never seem to quit fighting. Despite the losing effort, that fight was on full display Tuesday night, as Clemson came from behind to tie it on three different occasions over the first six innings of play.
"I have no issues whatsoever with how our guys compete," Lee said. "I mean, I think our guys do a really good job of competing, good and bad, right? I mean, if we're up or if we're down, our guys, they're gonna compete for nine innings."
The Tigers' odds of winning the College World Series are currently +20000, according to FanDuel.
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