Monte Lee’s debut at Clemson had a lot of fan fair before the Tigers’ took the field against Maine on Friday. But when the night fell on Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson the ending was the same result as the previous two season-openers – another Clemson loss.

A missed played ball by Chase Pinder in centerfield soured Lee’s debut as Clemson’s new head coach and handed the Tigers their third straight season-opening loss, 4-3. It marked the Tigers fourth loss on opening day in the last five years.

“It has happened before. I guess this is the third time in my three years it has happened on opening night,” Clemson second baseman Weston Wilson said afterwards. “You just have to bounce back. There is nothing you can do about it now.”

Unfortunately for Lee, Pinder’s mistake made him the first Clemson coach since Bob Smith in 1952 to lose his first game as the Tigers’ skipper.

“In tight ball games, it is the little things that will get you get beat,” Lee said. “We made two errors tonight that cost us two runs. But you have to give Maine credit, they outplayed us tonight, but we have to bounce back and be ready to go tomorrow and try to even the series.”

Clemson grabbed a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Rohlman ripped a double down the first base line to bring home Eli White who had reached a batter earlier on an error by Maine third baseman, Danny Casals. Rohlman later scored on a called balk by Maine starter Justin Courtney a few pitches later.

That was really the only mistake for Courtney, however. Though he did not get the win, he held the Tigers’ powerful lineup at bay, limiting them to three runs—none earned—on three hits. He had eight strikeouts in five innings of work, and he walked just two.

“He just hit his spots and he really just kept us off balance with his off-speed and locating it in a descent spot on the outside corner,” Wilson said.

Maine tied the game at two in the top of the third when Caleb Kerbs scored from third base on an error from Clemson third baseman Adam Renwick. The Black Bears later tied the game when Brett Chappell grounded out to second base and Danny Casals came home to score.

The Black Bears took the lead, 3-2, in the top of the sixth inning when Jonathan Salcedo brought Kevin Stypulkowski home with a base hit through the hole at short. But it was short lived as Wilson singled to short, allowing catcher Chris Okey to score from third in the bottom of the sixth, tying the game for a second time.

Maine grabbed the lead back in the top of the seventh inning when Pinder and right fielder Seth Beer lost Chappell’s fly ball to centerfield with two outs and a runner on second. The ball dropped in right center, allowing Jeremy Pena to come home with what turned out to be the winning run. The play was scored as a triple for Chappell, while it was his second RBI of the afternoon.

“One of the things championship level teams do is they win the last nine outs of the ballgame,” Lee said. “We put ourselves in position to where we could have done that. We had some tough luck, obviously on the fly ball that Pinder and (Seth) Beer just lost with two outs to give them the winning run.”

Clemson starter Charlie Barnes went 5 1/3 innings in his first weekend start. The lefty, who was on a pitch count of 80 pitches, gave up three runs (two earned) on six hits. He had seven strikeouts and issued just one walk in a no decision.

Alex Eubanks, who unfortunately was credited with the loss, came in relief and struck out seven overall, including the last five batters he faced after Pinder’s and Beer’s mistake in centerfield.

“I thought we pitched exceptionally well,” Lee said. “When you look at our numbers we walked one guy and struck out 14. I thought that Charlie Barnes and Alex Eubanks did an outstanding job,” Lee said.

Clemson had the bases load with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning, but Okey struck out swinging. The Tigers will host Maine at 2 p.m. on Saturday in Game 2 of the series.

“We just have to look forward to tomorrow and even the series and then come out Sunday and try to get the win,” Wilson said.

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