By Will Vandervort / Photo courtesy Clemson athletics.
It’s hard to put a finger on why Clemson has lost eight one-run games this year.
Let’s put that into perspective a little bit, instead of a 23-21 overall record with 12 games remaining and the Tigers looking at possibly missing the NCAA Tournament, they would be 31-13 and would be in the conversation of hosting a regional.
If they could have won at least half of those eight games they would be 27-17 and would be in pretty good shape of making an NCAA Regional.
But they did not win those games so the question is why?
“There are a variety of reasons why you lose games late,” Clemson pitching coach Dan Pepicelli said on Monday.
Late-game pitching has been part of the problem, as well as errors in inopportune times and the lack of picking up runners in key situations. Since April 1, the Tigers have lost six of their last seven one-run games.
In a 5-4 loss to Presbyterian on April 1, Clemson had the bases loaded with one out and failed to bring the tying and winning runs home. On April 4, the Tigers beat the Tar Heels, 5-4, but dropped the next game, 8-7, when again they left the bases loaded in the bottom of the ninth inning.
On April 7, Georgia scored the tying and winning runs in the eighth and ninth innings to leave Doug Kingsmore Stadium with a 3-2 win, while the next day Charleston Southern tied the game in the ninth inning and then scored the game winner in the 10th.
Clemson blew a 7-5 lead in the seventh inning at Boston College on April 11th when they gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning and the game winner in the bottom of the eighth in a 8-7 defeat.
Then there was this weekend when they lost Games 1 and 3 despite going into the late innings with the lead. The Yellow Jackets rallied with three runs in the bottom of the eighth to defeat Clemson in Game 1 on Friday, while on Sunday they scored two runs in the bottom of the 10th inning for a 5-4 win after the Tigers scored the go-ahead run in the top of the 10th inning.
Of the five most recent losses, four have been classified as blown opportunities to save the game, which points to the Tigers’ inability to have a true closer. This season, Clemson has just seven saves with Drew Moyer and Pat Krall leading the way with two each.
But why don’t the Tigers have a closer? The answer is simple – injuries.
The two guys they were hoping to be possible closers both have sustained injuries that have held them out for much of the year. Junior Patrick Andrews entered the season as the possible closer, but he went down with an injury after his sixth appearance on March 7 at Virginia Tech and has not been back since.
Pepicelli and head coach Jack Leggett thought they had an answer in Moyer as the full-time closer, but he went down with an upper-body injury in the Tigers 5-4 victory over Furman on March 31 and has not been back.
In all, the Tigers have suffered nine injuries to its pitching staff since the start of the preseason. Though he does not want to use any of those injuries as an excuse, Pepicelli admits the injuries have put a snag in their plans.
“Cleary we did not think we were going into this without Andrews,” he said. “Clearly we did not think we were going into this without (Clay) Bates. We didn’t think we were going to go into this without Moyer.”
It appears, though not certain, Clemson could end the season without Andrews or Moyer returning. But even though that could be the case, Pepicelli still believes in his staff and has confidence that they can get it done in these final three weeks of the regular season.
“I believe in the people I am running out there every day,” he said.
The Tigers will be off for exams this week before hosting No. 4 Louisville in a three-game series beginning this Saturday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.