Clemson baseball coach has message for ‘bandwagon’ fans after Tigers get swept
The Clemson baseball team got humbled against Wake Forest this weekend, and coach Erik Bakich believes that could wind up being “a really good thing.”
But after the Tigers were swept in an ACC road series against the Demon Deacons, ending with a 13-3 run-rule loss in eight innings on Sunday, Bakich also aired some frustrations with portions of Clemson’s fanbase as his team nears the postseason.
Speaking with reporters postgame Sunday in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, Bakich insisted he’s “not panicking for one second” about Clemson, which dropped to 37-13 and 17-10 in the ACC after this weekend’s sweep and has faced bullpen struggles.
“I believe in this team,” Bakich said Sunday, per Jason Priester of The Clemson Insider. “This’ll end up being a really good thing. We needed this. Maybe we’ll look back and say this is what we needed.”
Then Bakich made an unprompted reference to fan criticism of Clemson, which dropped two spots from No. 2 to No. 4 in Monday’s latest D1Baseball poll and six spots from No. 4 to No. 10 in the Baseball America poll after getting swept by Wake Forest.
“But what we don’t need is people losing faith,” Bakich said. “And they’re going to anyways, because that’s what fans do who’ve never played and have no idea how to compete. But we don’t care. We don’t listen to it. We don’t care what people think. We’re gonna get back and we’re gonna do our thing, and they can jump back on the bandwagon.”
He added with a grin: “Or we’ll step on their fingers. Either way.”
Clemson baseball’s recent struggles
Clemson has won 18 of its last 20 regular-season weekend series dating back to 2023 under Bakich, its second-year coach who was formerly at Michigan, and remains in solid position for a top eight national seed during the NCAA baseball tournament selection show later this month.
A top eight seed would ensure the Tigers control their destiny by hosting a regional and (if they advance) a super regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, their home ballpark — a familiar and preferable venue for a team trying to advance to its first College World Series since 2010.
But Clemson has fallen on some hard times the past month. After a win at Notre Dame on April 7, the Tigers were 28-3 and 10-2 in the ACC and had won 15 consecutive regular-season weekend series, their longest streak since 2001-02.
But in 19 games since, Clemson is 9-10 overall, 7-8 in the ACC and 2-2 in midweek contests. The Tigers snapped their series winning streak of 15 in mid-April, as N.C. State took two of three games in Raleigh, and have lost two of their last four ACC series. The Tigers started conference play winning eight straight series.
Wake Forest jumped to No. 8 in the D1Baseball rankings after sweeping Clemson.
“They outplayed us all weekend,” Bakich said Sunday. “They were the better team all weekend. It wasn’t even close. They just outperformed us in all facets, coaching included. … We saw this weekend why they were ranked No. 1 in the country for so long (earlier this season).”
Clemson’s offense has been generally productive despite a few injuries, but its bullpen has not. The Tigers’ relief pitchers gave up 11 of 14 runs in a recent home loss to Georgia Tech, and the entire staff struggled in a 14-12 midweek neutral-site win over UNC Charlotte.
Starting pitcher Aidan Knaak also allowed six runs in four innings against Wake Forest on Sunday, and three relief pitchers combined to allow seven more in a run-rule loss (which takes effect if a team is leading by 10 or more runs after seven innings). Twelve of the Demon Deacons’ 13 runs came off five home runs.
With the ACC baseball tournament and postseason play approaching, Bakich said he’s still confident his team can go on a “hellacious run” like his 2023 squad, which went from struggling in the ACC to nabbing a conference title and the No. 3 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Clemson didn’t make it out of its own regional last year, though, dropping games to Tennessee (the eventual Clemson Regional champion) and Charlotte and getting eliminated early.
The Tigers play a midweek game at Coastal Carolina this Tuesday in Conway before wrapping the regular season with a home series against Boston College.
“We probably started our heater last year a couple weeks too soon,” Bakich said. “This would be a great time to regroup, refocus, get up, reengage and start playing better. Confidence is a fickle thing: You can lose it quick and gain it quick. (Wake Forest) had all the confidence in the world, and we didn’t. But we can get it back.”
Key Clemson baseball dates
- May 21-26: ACC Tournament at Truist Field in Charlotte
- May 27: NCAA baseball selection show
- May 31-June 3: NCAA regional round
- June 7-9 or 8-10: NCAA super regional round
- June 14: First day of Men’s College World Series in Omaha
- June 22-23/24: Men’s College World Series finals
This story was originally published May 13, 2024, 12:06 PM.
