The Clemson baseball team couldn’t ask to be in a much better spot as the Tigers prepare for the final stretch of the regular season.

The Tigers (33-6, 11-4 ACC) are currently ranked fourth in the D1 Baseball Top 25 rankings and sixth in the RPI, and along the way, Erik Bakich’s team has proved it is capable of winning in many different ways.

“We really don’t have that many complaints with where we are right now,” Bakich said. “I like the way we compete. I like the guys, I like how they work, I like their fight.”

Since the start of the season, Clemson has shown that it is able to come back from a large deficit and win. The Tigers have also been pretty effective at overcoming a less-than-stellar outing from one of their starting pitchers.

What this Clemson team has really excelled at is winning the close ones. The Tigers are 7-0 in one-run games and 8-1 in games decided by two runs or less.

Seeing as the schedule gets a little tougher down the stretch, it’s good that this team is battle-tested.

“We’re not perfect but they are going to put in the time,” Bakich added. “They are going to work hard, and they do. They are about all the right things.”

On Thursday, Clemson will welcome No. 17 Louisville to town for what will be a crucial ACC series. The Tigers have won all seven of their weekend series this season, eight if you count the Clemson Baseball Invitational back in February..

The Cardinals (27-9, 9-6 ACC) are just two games back of Clemson in the conference standings and come in having won eight of their past 10 games. Those two losses did come on the road at NC State last weekend as the Cardinals dropped two out of three to the Wolfpack. Louisville is also just 3-5 in road contests.

After that, Clemson will hit the road for back-to-back series. The first trip is to NC State, with the Wolfpack currently tied with Louisville for fifth in the ACC standings. Then there’s a trip to Tallahassee for a Top 10 matchup with Florida State.

Clemson will then return to Doug Kingsmore for a home series against a tough Duke squad before finishing up the regular season with a road trip to Pitt. There are also midweek games at home against No. 5 Georgia and on the road against No. 21 Coastal Carolina. The Chanticleers handed Clemson one of its six losses a few weeks ago at DKS.

While there are certainly some challenges that lie ahead, Bakich wants his team to focus on the challenge directly in front of his team. That is a very good Louisville team.

“We’ll just keep our head down and keep trying to be the number one ranked team at getting better,” Bakich said. “And we’ve got some things to get better at obviously, as everyone does, but if we have a second half like we did the first half, I think we’ll be in pretty good shape.”