By Will Vandervort.

Clemson is already three games into a stretch where it has to play 12 games in 14 days and it as already exhausted its pitching or what little it had.

“We just have to find some answers at the very end. We are a little thin there,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said following Monday’s 9-5 loss to third-ranked Louisville to close out the series.

The Tigers’ lack of depth in the bullpen reared its ugly head when reliever Clate Schmidt gave up back-to-back home runs to Nick Solak and Corey Ray in the top of the eighth inning. That allowed the Cardinals to take a 6-5 lead with no outs.

Louisville (37-11, 21-3 ACC) extended its advantage with two more runs before the eighth inning was done off Alex Bostic, who came in for Schmidt following the two home runs, and then added another run in the top of the ninth off Taylor Vetzel.

After giving up four runs on six hits through the first seven innings, Clemson pitching allowed five runs off six hits in the last two.

“We don’t have much at the end of the ballgame,” Leggett said. “We have to try and distance ourselves as the game goes on and not make that a factor, but right now it is a factor.”

Despite giving up a two-run home run in the first inning to Blake Tiberi and a solo shot to Brendan McKay in the fifth inning, starter Jake Long kept the Tigers in the game through six innings of work. He gave up just six hits and just three of the four runs he was charged was earned.

“I did alright and threw strikes for much of the game, but I got us off on a bad start and giving up a home run in the first inning, two runs, really did not help us out too much,” Long said.

Monday’s loss was the third time in the last six games the Tigers (24-23, 13-13 ACC) gave up a lead in the latter innings. One of the problems is there is no one that can come in and close a game.

The two guys expected to be possible closers have sustained injuries that have held them out for much of the year. 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.

Drew Moyer 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. Right now, they are not sure who is going to pitch in today 6 p.m. game at Wofford.

“You just have to come in and throw strikes and get ahead of people,” Long said. “You have to grind it out. If you throw one day, be ready to throw the next. You just have to be ready to throw. You have to be ready to do your thing when you are called on.”

Leggett says it all comes down to who wants to step up and do what they can to help the team.

“Someone has to come in and do their job. They know what they have to do,” the Clemson coach said. “They are prepared. It is just a matter of making pitches.

“The difference between us and (Louisville) is they kept bringing arms out. They are a good offensive team. They are a very good team. I can see why they are where they are at.”

But the question is where are the Tigers? Can they find enough arms to help the offense which scored enough runs and produced enough hits (13) to beat anyone on Monday?

“It has been tough. It has been tough for us,” Leggett said. “We have had some great opportunities. We have been in good positions lots of times. Unfortunately, we just don’t have enough horses at the end of the game.

“I like the way we are playing and I like the way we are battling. I’m not giving up on these kids. I’m not giving up. They are battling. They deserved a better fate tonight. We let it slide at the end in the eighth inning. We just did not have very many answers on the mound.”