There was a lot going on, so I’ll forgive anyone who missed the biggest news of the weekend at Clemson.

The NCAA Tournament was important, obviously. The most noteworthy development locally, however, was probably how the Tigers’ primary rival performed. That can’t be the biggest news.

The men’s basketball coaching saga was certainly worth following. The reporting on the matter was top notch, but many of the details were kept relatively quiet. It was probably a best-of-both-worlds scenario for both the school and the media.

Still, the headline amounted to “Breaking News: Nothing Changes” at the end of the day. That can’t be the biggest news, either.

No, the most important event at Clemson this weekend hadn’t happened in a dozen years. It reversed historical trends in a sport that doesn’t typically see the Tigers struggling for lengthy stretches of time. It happened at home in front of energetic crowds despite the mass evacuation of students for Spring Break.

Clemson beat Virginia in baseball in a three-game series. Stop the presses. This is big time stuff.

Since Clemson won the first two games of a weekend home series with Virginia in 2005, the Cavaliers have owned the Tigers. Clemson lost 22 of the next 27 meetings with Brian O’Connor’s bunch before Monte Lee came to town.

Now, the Tigers have effectively reversed this trend, as Lee has won three of his four matchups with O’Connor. That includes a series victory that showed his team’s versatility in picking up wins in the final two contests.

For much of the season, Clemson has used a familiar formula for success. The starting pitching has been solid. The defense has been very good, albeit with some hiccups in a couple of places. Offensively, freebies—any base that isn’t “earned” with a hit or productive out—have played a big role in maximizing opportunities.

Clemson’s bullpen has been tremendous, too. At one point, the Tigers had a stretch of 25.1 scoreless innings from relievers. That included a half-dozen whole games without allowing a single run, earned or otherwise, making Clemson’s relief corps quietly one of the best in the nation.

This back-end pitching dominance plays right into the most prominent factor in Clemson’s smoldering start to the season: Lee’s emphasis on the last nine outs. From the seventh inning onward heading into the Virginia series, Clemson had outscored its opponents 42-17—an average of 1.47 runs per game. In a series victory over South Carolina, the advantage was 10-3, a major reason why the Tigers won two of three against the Gamecocks.

Then, in a familiar twist, that formula didn’t work against the Cavaliers. In a 2-0 loss on Friday night, Clemson gave up both runs after the sixth inning. The same thing happened on Saturday, when the Tigers allowed four runs after the sixth without scoring.

The good news was that Lee’s club came out blazing at the plate. The Tigers scored six runs in the first inning, batted around, and chased the Cavaliers’ starting pitcher. They mashed the ball and took advantage of uncharacteristic mistakes early, then hung on late. It seemed backwards in the grand scheme of the season.

On Sunday, it was more of the same. Clemson slowly and methodically pulled away from Virginia, an irony not lost on the Doug Kingsmore Stadium crowd fully aware of the plodding style of play that characterizes O’Connor’s program. The Tigers scored in seven of eight innings, putting an exclamation point on the rout with a five-run seventh frame.

Clemson did not need a stellar bullpen performance to win the series. It did not need late-inning heroics. It did not need to force the tempo of the game to try to counter Virginia. It simply showed up and won, whatever that meant.

This series didn’t end like the seven that came before it. Clemson prevailed without being able to rely upon the most consistent aspects of its collective identity. It had to find another way, and it did.

Remember the long-term futility the Tigers have suffered at the hands of the Cavaliers? In two seasons, Lee is now 3-1 against them. History is not holding him back.

Now, Clemson baseball embarks on a four-game road swing through Charleston (Lee’s old stomping grounds) and Rhode Island (because, well, Boston in March) brimming with confidence as a team capable of winning games of all shapes and sizes.

Big news, indeed.