By Will Vandervort.

For the first time in 19 years, Clemson lost a season-opening series at home.

West Virginia used 11 hits and scored three runs in the top of the fifth inning to beat No. 24 Clemson, 6-1, Sunday as it took two of the three games at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

“This is how I look at it. We have fifty-three games left. We have a good team,” Leggett said. “We have a lot of good kids that will be good players before it is all done, but we just have to get some rhythm going and get our timing going.

“We never got a chance to get anything going offensively, really. We never got the hit-and-run thing going. We never really got a chance to get our bunt-game going or get our running game going. We just never really got a chance to get those things going.”

The Tigers, which lost their first season-opening series since dropping two of three at Auburn in 2003, scored just five runs on 24 hits in the three games. Designated hitter Tyler Krieger had six of the Tigers’ 24 hits.

“It’s not the start you want to have, obviously, but it does not change the way I feel about this team,” Krieger said. “Seventy-two hours ago to now, I still feel the same exact way. The (New England) Patriots after the Kansas City game, you guys know the story to that.

“Three games are such a small sample size to the season. I have not lost any confidence in this team. We played a great West Virginia team. They are scrappy and you have to give them a lot of credit. I expect us to bounce back and I expect to go back to the same thinking I was seventy-two hours ago.”

The Patriots of course went on to win the Super Bowl. So is Krieger saying this Clemson team will go on to win the national championship?

“Like I said, it is a small sample size,” he said. “I still believe in myself and all of my teammates just as much as did seventy-two hours ago and I can’t wait to play on Wednesday. I think we will continue to develop and get better.

“There are areas we need to improve on, and I’m confident we will make the right adjustments to do that.”

Leggett says the Tigers have enough arms to make the 2015 season a good one before it is all over, but they have to get their hitting together and get some big hits when they get men on base.

Clemson was 3-for-19 with runners in scoring position in the three-game series, including 1-for4 on Sunday. The Tigers finished Game 3 with 10 hits.

“We had men on base and we had some opportunities,” Leggett said. “We hit into three-double plays in big situations and that’s always the pitcher’s best friend and the worst enemy offensively when that happens. For instance, we got four hits in (the seventh inning) and scored one run so that is unfortunate, but we are going to keep battling at it.”

Clemson appeared to have pushed across a run in the bottom of the fourth inning when West Virginia starter Chad Donato was charged with a bulk. That initially allowed Krieger, who was on third, to score, tying the game at one.

Donato had made a fake move to third and then threw the ball back to first where he picked off Steven Duggar, who had just reached base with a one-out walk. But home plate umpire Kevin Elzey, who calls a lot of professional games as well, was confused with what is called the 31-move.

Two years ago, Major League Baseball approved a rule that eliminated a pitcher from faking to third base and then throwing it over to first. But college baseball has not done that. The NCAA Baseball Rules Committee tabled the discussions on changing the 31-move for the college game on July 26, 2014.

West Virginia head coach Randy Mazey—a former assistant coach at Clemson—made Elzey aware of this rule, who then conferred with the other umpires and changed his decision. Krieger was forced to go back to third and Duggar was ruled out in the 1-3-6 putout.

“He got caught up in the professional rule and he did not apply the rule correctly, which you can change it. They got it right,” Leggett said. “It was a big play at that time. It would have helped us out, but they got it right.”

Clemson did not respond well after the play.  Catcher Chris Okey stranded Krieger at third with a ground ball to third base to end the fourth. Then pitcher Charlie Barnes gave up a hit and a walk to start off the West Virginia fifth before throwing the ball away on a punt attempt that allowed three unearned runs to score.

The Tigers were never the same after that.

“That is a situation that we can’t control so you can’t worry about that stuff,” Krieger said. “We did what we could, but it was kind of an unfortunate situation. There is not much to say on it.”

The Tigers will host Charleston Southern on Wednesday with first pitch set for 4 p.m.