The Clemson baseball team is in the midst of its toughest stretch of the season.

The Tigers have played back-to-back road series at No. 16 NC State and No. 2 Florida State, and the results have not been what anyone expected.

Erik Bakich’s team was swept in Raleigh, and in rather dominating fashion. While Clemson did manage to salvage one win in Tallahassee against the Seminoles, that was a series that the Tigers easily could have won. Actually, it’s one that they should have won.

With the nation’s saves leader on the mound in Lucas Mahlstedt, Clemson was one strike away from a win in the series opener, before Florida State rallied to tie it up, handing Mahlstedt his first blown save of the season. Clemson then took a one-run lead into the bottom of the tenth, but the Seminoles would again rally to tie it up, before winning in walk-off fashion an inning later.

The Tigers did bounce back to take game two, but after pretty much exhausting the pitching over the first two games, the team would get pummeled in the final contest of the series, losing 20-9 in eight innings.

“It sucks to lose a series,” Bakich said. “We had our shot in game one, with the guys that we wanted in the game, and it just didn’t work out for us. So we walk out of here losing a series, which sucks.”

Clemson, which fell to No. 9 in the latest D1 Baseball rankings, will now head to Conway to face off with No. 14 Coastal Carolina in what will be its final midweek game of the season. It will mark the seventh consecutive game the Tigers have played away from the friendly confines of Doug Kingsmore Stadium. Their record in that stretch? 1-5. The Chants come in winners of seven straight, including a home sweep of App State last weekend.

Generally speaking, midweek games aren’t always viewed in the same light as most weekend series during conference play. But this particular game is one Clemson needs. And not just because the Chanticleers took the first game of the home-and-home series 8-2 earlier in the season.

With the Tigers still attempting to secure one of the top eight national seeds in the NCAA Tournament, this game will impact Clemson’s RPI. The Tigers are currently sitting at No. 8, despite the recent skid, while Coastal is at No. 12.

The Chants have been extremely tough at home this season, having lost just three times at Brooks Stadium, while Clemson is just 7-6 in true road games.

With Talan Bell, the midweek starter for the past month or so, having pitched on Sunday, junior Nathan Dvorsky is set to make his first career start. The right-hander threw 0.1 innings of relief on Sunday, allowing one hit and one walk, while facing just three batters.

Dvorsky comes in with an ERA of 6.61 and his WHIP is 1.56. His longest outing is just 2.1 innings, which came early in the season in a win over NC A&T. That means Bakich is going to need some of the other pitchers in that bullpen to step up, because this is a midweek game his team desperately needs.