Winning the ACC Championship was a great accomplish. So was being the No. 7 national seed and hosting a regional in last year’s NCAA Tournament. And though those achievements need to be recognized, Clemson head baseball coach Monte Lee says they have to take it a couple of steps further in 2017.

“Obviously, we are going to build off a lot of lessons we learned from last year’s team and last year’s accomplishments,” he said. “We won an ACC Championship. Twenty four of our forty four wins were come-from-behind wins so I think it really exemplified the toughness of our team last year and the message of our team … Our expectations are very, very high in how we practice and how we play the game.

“We had a great year last year, but we did end our season right here in Clemson in a regional. We did not win our regional. We did not advance to the super regional round with the opportunity of being two games away from going to Omaha. As great as last year was, and I’m so proud of last year’s team, but for all the guys that are returning, the message is, ‘we had a great year last year, but we did not wind up where we wanted to be.’”

As Lee said, Clemson wants to be in Omaha. That’s the standard at Clemson, though the program has not made it back there since the 2010 season.

“Last year, we did a lot of things people were not expecting us to do, but it is time for us to take the next step,” said pitcher Charlie Barnes as the Tigers opened practice for the 2017 season on Friday. “We have not made it out of a regional since I have been at Clemson so I know as a team we have some goals. Obviously, we want to win the ACC and do all of that again, but we are going to take it one game at a time and focus on each game and at the end of the season, we will be ready to roll.

“Obviously, though, we are ready to make that next step and play in a super regional and then in Omaha.”

Clemson first baseman Seth Beer said last year’s loss to Oklahoma State in the Clemson Regional lit a fire in all the returning players, and has motivated them throughout the off-season.

“It is something that will not go out until we get to Omaha,” he said. “I think us being able to pass it on to the freshmen and the transfer guys coming in, I really think it has rubbed off on them and they will have that same drive and that same feeling like they were here, too.

“So to be able to have a chip on your shoulder in that aspect … we have been fighting for that in the weight room, when we are running, getting extra cuts, throwing a little extra … whatever it might be, I think that has been the goal and the drive throughout this whole process.”