FULLERTON, Calif. — They have been here before. In fact, they were here just a few weeks ago.
Trailing by 10 runs against Furman, Clemson’s backs were as pressed as far against the wall as you can imagine for a team that was 27-25 and was playing for its season.
How did the Tigers respond?
They outscored the Paladins 23-5 over the next seven innings as they rallied for a 23-15 victory at Greenville’s Fluor Field. That led to a three-game sweep of Florida State in Tallahassee and a bid into the NCAA Tournament for a seventh straight year.
Now, 18 days later, Clemson is again playing to keep its season alive following a heartbreaking, 7-4, loss to No. 2 seed Arizona in Game 1 of the Fullerton Regional on Friday. Clemson must beat No. 4 seed Pepperdine to keep its season going.
The Tigers and Pepperdine will play in the first elimination game of the Fullerton Regional today at 7 p.m. EST at Goodwin Field.
“We have been in this position before,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said.
Clemson (32-28) has been in this position all year. The Tigers were 16-17 following a 4-3 loss at home to Charleston Southern on April 8th – their third straight loss at the time. But they rallied to win five of their next six games and seemed to be on a role.
Then they lost six of their next eight games and following an embarrassing, 17-9, loss at Wofford on May 5, Clemson found itself at 24-24 and thoughts of making the postseason seemed unlikely. But it beat an 18th-ranked College of Charleston team the next day, and then took two of three games from Georgia Southern that following weekend.
Next came the rally in Greenville to beat Furman. Do the Tigers have one more miracle left in them?
“We have been in this situation before and now we have to battle back, play relaxed and be ready to play (today),” Leggett said.
The Tigers, the No. 3 seed, looked like they were ready to play Arizona State, and for the majority of the game looked like the better team. But starter Matthew Crownover, who very rarely makes a mistake and gives up a home run, gave up three home runs on Friday, including back-to-back jacks in the bottom of the seventh inning.
“They capitalized on our mistakes so the good thing about baseball is that we get to come out and do it again (today), so we will be ready to go,” Clemson first baseman Andrew Cox said.
Despite out hitting ASU, 9-7, the Tigers lost their fourth straight NCAA Tournament game and have now lost their first game of the last three regionals they has participated in.
“We have to play a team that lost (last night) and we have to be more focused, tougher, get some rest and come out with the right mindset to be able to play (today) at four o’clock,” Leggett said.
If Clemson does find a way to extend its season beyond today, then it will have to find a way to win two games on Sunday and then one more on Monday to keep it going. In other words, it will be a tall order.
“I think we are as good of a baseball team as there is in this tournament. It is just a matter of us being able to come out relaxed, take it one game at a time and work our way back into it,” Leggett said.
At least they know they have what it takes to do it. They have already done it several times this year.