By Will Vandervort.
By Will Vandervort
DURHAM, N.C. – A week ago, talk around college baseball said 14th-ranked Clemson was on the verge of playing its way into a national seed. Fast forward seven days, and talk is now where will the Tigers be playing in next week’s NCAA Tournament?
After playing solid for much of the season, including 23 wins in a 27-game stretch, Clemson has slumped at the worst possible time, losing five straight games, including Saturday’s 7-0 loss to Miami in the ACC Tournament.
“We did not get off to a good start and we did not pitch well early,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said. “We got behind the eight ball and they turned over three double plays I think. We just couldn’t get anything going on offense and that was basically the story of the day.”
But as bad as it is that the Tigers (39-20) did not win a single game in this year’s tournament, it is even worse that they played themselves right out of hosting a regional. Odds are, especially if it wins the ACC Tournament Championship on Sunday, that Virginia Tech will take one of the final two coveted regional spots.
Unlike Clemson, the Hokies are on fire, winning 13 of their last 14 games, and eight straight overall. Virginia Tech will play the winner of the NC State-North Carolina game in Sunday’s ACC Championship game.
“I’m not concerned with the way we are playing, I did not like the way we played today, but their kid had a lot to do with it,” Leggett said. “We played tough against NC State and we played tough against Florida State last weekend and the last 30 ball games we have been playing tough and playing well.
“This is a really good conference in case anybody has not noticed. This tournament here is as tough or tougher than any regional you will find anywhere in the country. There are eight teams in here that all have pitching and everyone bumps into each other and bangs each other around a little bit.”
Against Miami (36-23), the Tigers were flat from the start. After allowing a walk and then hitting the next batter with two outs in the first inning, starter Clate Schmidt allowed Brad Fleger to double to left field for a 2-0 lead.
Clemson had its opportunities to answer in each of the first three innings when it got the lead-off batter on, but Maleeke Gibson was picked off and caught stealing in the bottom of first inning, and then double plays in the second and third innings ended the Tigers’ small hopes.
Miami pitcher Bryan Radziewski, who two-hit the Tigers in seven innings of work on April 20, continued his mastery of Clemson. The All-ACC pitcher went eight innings and allowed no runs, while scattering four hits. He also had five strikeouts and two walks.
In two meeting against the Tigers this year, Miami’s ace gave up one run, allowed six hits and had 15 strikeouts.
“We could not get anything going offensively today,” Leggett said. “It was obvious (Radziewski) pitched a really good ball game against us, again. He kind of did the same thing do us when we were in Miami last month.”
The Tigers had a chance to do something in the bottom of the seventh inning when Steven Duggar and Garrett Boulware got back-to-back base hits to start the inning, but for the third time Clemson hit into a double play on a grounder to short by Shane Kennedy. Tyler Krieger then struck out to leave Duggar at third and end the Tigers best chance to score.
Clemson lost three of four games to the Hurricanes this season. Miami held the Tigers to two runs and 19 hits in the four games they played, while the Hurricanes pitched 25 straight scoreless innings. They outscored Clemson 14-0 in the last two games combined.
It appeared the Tigers were still smarting from Friday night’s 12-7 loss to No. 3 North Carolina in 14 innings, which did not get over until after midnight. Clemson had a five-run lead heading into the top of the ninth inning, but the Tar Heels scored five runs thanks to a three-run homer from Brian Holberton to right center field with two outs on a 3-1 count from reliever Scott Firth.
Eventually, North Carolina scored five runs in the top of the 14th to win the game and break the Tigers heart.
“I’m sure it had some effect on us, I’m sure,” Leggett said. “It was a tough loss for us, a middle of the night type thing. We have to be able to put that behind us and come out and play today. We just were not very competitive. Our at-bats were not very competitive today.
“We have to go back home and regroup.”
The Tigers went 0-3 in the tournament for the first time in the pool-play format and is just the second team to do it since it started in 2007.
Florida State has lost seven straight ACC Tournament games and has recorded 0-3 marks in each of the last two years. This is the last year of pool play in the tournament. The ACC will go back to more of a traditional tournament format next year.
“We didn’t play well right today, but we played tough last night and we just gave it up there at the very end,” Leggett said.