Jason Priester All Clemson
Every Game Now a 'Playoff Game' for Clemson Baseball
CLEMSON, S.C.- Monte Lee's team is currently playing for its postseason life.
The Tigers came into the weekend sitting almost a full percentage point behind Duke and North Carolina for the final spot in the ACC Tournament. After taking the first two games from Georgia Tech this weekend, Clemson now finds itself tied with the Blue Devils for that 12th spot, after Duke lost 14-4 at Pitt on Saturday.
However, just taking the series against the Yellow Jackets isn't enough. After his team held on for a 12-9 win over the Yellow Jackets on Saturday, Lee emphasized the need for a Clemson sweep this weekend.
"We won the series and now we need to put together a plan to play good baseball tomorrow and hopefully get another win," Lee said. "Told the guys after the game, you know, every game is a playoff game for us, that's the bottom line. So you know it's great to win a series but winning the series doesn't matter for us right now. We got to know every game counts for us."
After picking up a 9-3 win in the series opener over Georgia Tech, the Tigers jumped out to a 12-1 lead after six innings of play on Saturday. However, the Yellow Jackets would storm back, plating eight unanswered runs over the final three innings, before Clemson would hold on for a 12-9 victory.
"We just held on, you know," Lee said. "It got a little ugly there at the end. Made an error, gave up some two-strike hits, and when you face a team like that, you got to keep competing and play nine innings when you're playing an offense like that."
With Georgia Tech being one of the best offenses in the ACC, Lee said it is imperative that the Tigers not let the Jackets gain any early momentum on Sunday.
"Bottom line is we got to pitch well at the front of the game and not let those guys get momentum offensively in their dugout (Sunday) early in the game," Lee said.
Although, while the Tigers know how crucial each and every game is the rest of the way, that doesn't mean the team is feeling any added pressure. Sophomore Geoffrey Gilbert, who limited the Yellow Jackets to just one run through four innings of work in just his third start of the season on Saturday, said that the team is choosing to take the same approach mentally that they have since Opening Day. That is to go out every day with the goal of finding some way, any way, to just win a baseball game.
"I think the message is that every game is a playoff game," Gilbert said. "There's no pressure on any game. I don't think we take any pressure on ourselves. We just have to win a baseball game. We've done a lot of that this year, it's nothing that is anything new to us. I mean, we're just here to win a baseball game."
"(Sunday) is huge for us," Gilbert said. "But it's no different than any other game has been all season."
The Tigers' odds of winning the College World Series are currently +20000, according to FanDuel.
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