By Will Vandervort

DURHAM, N.C. — As they drove up I-85 Monday afternoon from Clemson, Tigers’ head coach Jack Leggett stood at the front of the bus and spoke about why winning the ACC Tournament, which begins today at the Durham Bulls Athletic Park in Durham, N.C., was so important to him and to Clemson in general.

The Tigers, who play No. 10 NC State at seven o’clock tonight, have won the tournament nine times—more than any other school—and have been to the finals in 21 of the 39 years the ACC has hosted a tournament, also most in the league. Clemson also has a league best 103-62 record in ACC Tournament games.

“We come here to win,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said.

The last time Clemson won the tournament was in 2006, when they got an improbable start from little used pitcher Sean Clark. The Tigers exhausted their bullpen to get to the finals—it was a double-elimination tournament at the time—and Clark went eight 1/3 innings in the championship game, while giving up just one run on four hits in an 8-4 victory over NC State.

“If somebody goes down, someone else has to step up,” Leggett said. “We had a big talk on the bus about how you win tournaments. You win tournaments because someone on this bus is going to step up that maybe has not had a great year or has not been counted on in this role and all of sudden they are going to have to do something spectacular for us to win.

“Whether that is a great start, a great relief appearance, a couple of big hits, pinch hit or whatever it might be. Somebody is going to have to step up and everybody has to think it is them. If they think it is going to be the next guy, it is going to end up being them and they are not going to be prepared for it.”

So who could be that guy for the Tigers in this year’s tournament? The 2013 season has already been filled with so many dramatic moments. Freshmen Tyler Krieger, Steven Duggar and Kevin Bradley have had walk-off hits or home runs to lift Clemson to dramatic wins this year, while pitchers Daniel Gossett and Matthew Crownover  helped the Tigers win three 1-0 games in one season for the first time since 1979.

Scott Firth has come on in relieve and carried Clemson to a dramatic win over then No. 1 North Carolina in Chapel Hill, while catcher Garrett Boulware got the walk-off hit in beating Virginia, another top five team.

In other words, Clemson (39-17) has shown its players are ready to step up and come through when the opportunity arises.

“We have known from the very beginning that we have the talent to succeed and really beat anybody if we put it all together,” Firth said. “I think that has been a testament to our team in terms of character and mental toughness.

“We have been able to go out there and play our game. We know that we are talented enough, so if we go out there and stay within ourselves and do what we do, then that’s enough.”

Clemson is 9-4 in one-run games this season and has won two others with its last at-bat. The Tigers are also 3-2 in games that went into extra innings, including victories in their last three.

“We are young, but we are a mature team,” said Gossett, who will get the start for the Tigers on the mound tonight. “We have shown that in many situations before. It has to be about this game. It can’t be about what has already happened or to look ahead at what can happen.

“We just have to play baseball.”