CLEMSON — Clemson head coach Erik Bakich had no issues with Clemson’s No. 11 overall seed in this week’s NCAA Tournament, which is set to begin Friday.
The Tigers, the No. 1 seed, will host the Clemson Regional of the tournament at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, as they welcome No. 2 seed West Virginia, No. 3 Kentucky and No. 4 USC-Upstate to Clemson.
The Spartans and Tigers will play in Game 2 of the Clemson Regional at 6 p.m., Friday, on ACCN.
Some felt Clemson (44-16) might have done enough to earn a top eight national seed, which would have meant the Tigers had the opportunity to host a Super Regional should they advance. However, the Clemson Tigers are likely to head to Baton Rouge, La., to face the LSU Tigers, should they win this week’s regional.
LSU is the No. 6 overall seed in the field.
Bakich was not surprised at all to see Clemson earn the No. 11 seed.
“I think we had two opportunities to get a top eight national seed,” Clemson’s head baseball coach said. “Had we won one more regular season game, we would have been the outright conference champs and the one seed, I think that would have done it.
“Had we won yesterday, I think that would have done it as well.”
Instead, Clemson stumbled down the stretch of the season. After starting the year 36-7 and ranked No. 2 in the country, the Tigers dropped eight of their next 10 games before finishing the regular season with a three-game sweep of Pitt.
In the ACC Tournament, as the No. 5 seed, Clemson beat No. 12 Virginia Tech, No. 4 NC State and top seed Georgia Tech to advance to the championship game, where they fell to No. 3 North Carolina on Sunday.
“We had two chances to do (earn a national seed) and we fell a game short each time,” Bakich said. “It still does not take away from what we have done. We feel really great about this team, and they feel really good about themselves.”
The Tigers earned a top eight national seed the first two years in the Bakich era, and last year hosted a Super Regional for the first time since 2010. The difference in the last two years is Clemson won 20 or more ACC regular season games in each season, plus the 2023 Tigers won the ACC Tournament.
Last year, Clemson won the Atlantic Division in the ACC, the last year the league recognized division championships. The Tigers finished 18-12 in ACC play this year, not including their 3-1 record in the ACC Tournament.
“It depends on who you play. It depends on who you miss,” Bakich said. “It depends on a lot of factors and this year everyone was kind of jumbled up at the top (of the ACC). The league was really good this year.
“It was a really good league, and it is always this good, but the top teams were really good.”
As for the players, shortstop Andrew Ciufo says they are only worried about what is in front of them, and right now that is USC-Upstate.
“We don’t have any control over the past or the past series or where the committee put us,” the senior said. “We are playing with the cards we were delt with. We are not going to look ahead. We are playing one game at a time, just like our mindset this past week in the ACC Tournament.
“Every team in this regional is good and, going forward, they’re going to be really good.”
Clemson Regional (Clemson, South Carolina)
Friday:
Game 1: No. 3 Kentucky vs. No. 2 West Virginia; noon on ESPNU
Game 2: No. 1 Clemson vs. No. 4 USC Upstate; 6 p.m. on ACC Network
Saturday:
Game 3: Winner Game 1 vs. Winner Game 2
Game 4: Loser Game 1 vs. Loser Game 2
Sunday:
Game 5: Winner Game 4 vs. Loser Game 3
Game 6: Winner Game 3 vs. Winner Game 5
Monday:
Game 7 (if necessary): Rematch Game 6