By Hale McGranahan.

GREENVILLE, S.C. -Tyler Krieger certainly did his part in Clemson’s 8-6 loss to Michigan State.

The only Tiger batter with more than one hit, the junior designated-hitter went 4-for-5 with a pair of RBI and a run.

“We just didn’t come out tonight and do what we needed to do tonight,” Krieger said. “We need to figure that out and come to the field every day and find ways to win games, because this isn’t acceptable in this program and we understand that. We know we need to get better and we will.”

Since winning the South Carolina series, Clemson’s dropped three-straight and lost four out of their last five games. With Wednesday night’s loss, Tigers’ overall record fell to 8-7.

“We’re just not doing the necessary things you need to do to win games,” Krieger said. “It’s pretty simple.”

Trailing 8-4 with the bases loaded and two outs in the ninth, Krieger looped a two-run single into shallow rightfield, which brought the go-ahead run to the plate. Reed Rohlman, who drove in the game’s first run, bounced out to the pitcher, closing the book on the Tigers’ second loss of the season at Fluor Field.

“Had a little furry at the end there, the kids showed a little battle in them,” said Jack Leggett, “Just kind of let them distance themselves a little too much in the middle of the ball game.”

Michigan State took a 5-3 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Blaise Salter knocked a three-run homer over The Green Monster. Salter was the first batter faced by Hunter Van Horn after starter Charlie Barnes (1-2) was pulled with one out and two Spartans on base.

“We just lost a little control in the fifth-inning there,” Leggett said. “That was the one inning that hurt us. The three-run homer hurt us.”

Clemson’s pitchers had a few more bumps over the next couple of innings.The Spartans tacked on another run in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Chris Okey cut their lead to 8-4 on an eighth-inning sacrifice fly to center.

For the night, Barnes gave up four runs and six hits during his 4-1/3 innings of work. The Tiger relievers, which included weekend starters Zack Erwin and Brody Koerner, allowed five hits and four runs over the final 3-2/3 innings.

Leggett wanted get the two starters “some confidence” after their rough starts in Raleigh. The Saturday/Sunday duo combined to allow three runs in Greenville, though the two charged to Erwin where unearned.

“They didn’t have the best outings last weekend and both wanted to get an inning today, so they wanted to get a little sharper and get back out on the mound just before the weekend,” Leggett said.

This weekend’s home series against Notre Dame is scheduled to start on Friday at 6:30.

“Regardless of what the weather is or if we have to move games around, we’ve still got to play three games in the conference and get ourselves going against a good Notre Dame team who is playing really well,” Leggett said. “So we’ll get back at it (Thursday). The kids believe they’re a good team. They just haven’t found that consistency yet.

“We’ve got pieces to the puzzle. Like we saw Friday and Sunday against South Carolina, that’s when we played our very best.”