As always, goal is Omaha
By: rmacrae@bellsouth.net February 12, 2015

By Will Vandervort.

In less than 24 hours the Clemson baseball team will be opening up another season. It’s another season in which the Tigers have one goal and one goal only – getting to Omaha.

Clemson has not been to Omaha, Neb., in five years now, the longest stretch for the program under Hall of Fame head coach Jack Leggett, who has taken six of his previous 21 teams to the College World Series.

“We are just going to take it one game at a time and if we do that, then we will be in pretty good shape at the end of the season,” outfielder Steven Duggar said.

The Tigers will start its run to Omaha on Friday when they host West Virginia in Game 1 of a three-game series this weekend. The end of the last four seasons has been trying times for a program that has such a rich history in terms of making it to Omaha.

In 2011, Clemson had its season end at home for the first and only time under Leggett when Connecticut took them out with back-to-back victories in the Clemson Regional. In 2012 and 2013, the Tigers’ seasons ended in Columbia as the Gamecocks knocked them out of the NCAA Tournament in 2012 and Liberty turned the favor in 2013.

Then there was last season’s nightmare in Nashville. Clemson’s season came to a screeching halt when Oregon railroad them 18-1 in the opening game of the Nashville Regional, and a day later Xavier, playing in their first NCAA Tournament, ended the Tigers’ year with a 6-4 upset.

But don’t think last year and the rumors of Jack Leggett’s demise have the Clemson players thinking about anything other than living up to the standard, which as always is Omaha.

“They know what this program is all about and we have a lot of confidence in each other,” said Leggett, who has won 923 games in his 22 seasons in Tigertown. “I don’t think they have even wavered at all. They are out here playing ball. It’s ‘The Boys of Summer’ type atmosphere out here for these guys. They love to play, they love to practice, they love to work at their game, they’re loyal and they have fun doing it.

“I don’t think they are worried or involved in anything except, ‘Let’s go play ball. Win like we are capable of winning. Let’s play hard and do the things we are taught to do and let’s have some fun with it.’”