By Will Vandervort.
Going 3-2 in its five games last week is nothing to brag about, but for the Clemson baseball team it was a nice start as it tries to recover from the worst beginning to a regular season in 51 years.
Clemson had dramatic wins over Furman last Tuesday and North Carolina on Saturday, and used another stellar performance by ace Matthew Crownover on Friday to beat the Tar Heels in Game 1 of that three game series. That helped the Tigers win their first home series of the year after dropping the first three to West Virginia, Notre Dame and Wake Forest.
Even in the Tigers’ two losses last week, they had the tying run in scoring position in both one-run defeats.
“I’m pleased with the way we played. That is number one,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said following Sunday’s 8-7 loss to North Carolina. “I have been hoping to see that. Our kids competed really hard this weekend. We were not overmatched.”
A lot of fans and media predicted Clemson (16-15, 7-8 ACC) would lose the three-game series against the Heels, but they found a way to win in dramatic fashion on Saturday, following a dominating pitching performance from Crownover on Friday night.
Crownover held the Tar Heels (18-13, 7-8 ACC) to two runs (no earned) in seven innings of work, while scattering seven hits and striking out eight batters.
On Saturday, the Tigers rallied from a two-run deficit in the bottom of the 11th inning to win the game 5-4. They were hoping to get their first sweep of the season on Sunday, but UNC rallied from a four-run deficit to beat them, 8-7.
Chris Okey’s three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning and Tyler Slaton’s run-scoring double in the second gave the Tigers’ a 4-0 lead early on. With Steven Duggar at second base with one out in the bottom of the ninth, Reed Rohlman and Okey struck out to end the game.
That’s how close Clemson was to being 4-1 this week, plus a three-game sweep of the Tar Heels.
“It would have been nice to have a sweep because it is tough to do in this conference, just look around, it is tough to do against good teams,” Leggett said. “It would be nice to have one because every single game is going to come back to help or haunt us before it is all over, but we have to put this behind us and we have to be able to play on Tuesday and Wednesday in the middle of the week. We have to do a better job of that.”
The Tigers have not played well at all in midweek games, posting a 3-4 record, which includes losses to Winthrop and Presbyterian. Clemson will host Georgia (18-15), who has lost five straight games on Tuesday before hosting Charleston Southern (12-17) on Wednesday.
“We need to see some more consistency, but I do like the way we are playing. We are playing much better,” Leggett said. “Right now, if I was somebody else, I would not want to play us. We are playing a lot better. We are playing with more confidence. We have more guys in the zone.”
If the Tigers can get past Georgia and Charleston Southern in the midweek then an opportunity to get their first sweep of the season awaits at Boston College, against an Eagles team that is 5-9 in the ACC and ranks last in the Atlantic Division standings.
“We have to go up to Boston College this week and we have to be able to play well regardless of where we play or what the situation is or what the weather is; we have to go up there ready to play,” Leggett said. “Every inning, every pitch, every hit, and every game seems to count a little bit more right now.”