CLEMSON — Nothing went right for Clemson in its trip to NC State this year. 

The Tigers lost all three games to the Wolfpack in the only sweep of the season by a 26-8 margin. Erik Bakich’s squad failed to knock in 21 runners in scoring position over three days while giving up a total of 41 hits to the Wolfpack team. Clemson could not plate crucial runs and seemed incapable of silencing NC State’s offensive bursts.

The sweep, similar to the six successful series preceding it, started with pitcher Aidan Knaak. 

Knaak, last season’s NCBWA National Freshman Pitcher of the Year, held a perfect 6-0 record in 10 starts ahead of the series in Raleigh. The Tigers had not lost a game when the sophomore hurler made an appearance on the mound.

At NC State’s Dail Park on April 24, however, Knaak allowed eight runs on 11 hits in four innings, with a walk and only two strikeouts, his lowest of the season. The Tigers lost 14-4 as Knaak recorded his first loss of the year and only the second of his career. 

However, the Fort Myers, Fla., native did not stay down long.

In his latest four starts since the loss to the Wolfpack, Knaak has allowed only six total earned runs with 30 strikeouts and two walks, improving his record to 9-1. 

One week after the loss to NC State, he pitched 5 ⅔ innings against Florida State, giving up only two runs on four hits to a Seminoles team that averaged almost eight runs per game this year. 

In a home win over Duke a week later, Knaak struck out eight Blue Devils and gave up only two earned runs in 5 ⅓ innings of work.

Against Pittsburgh on May 15, the righty pitched a season-high 7 ⅓ innings, allowing no hits. He tied his career-high in strikeouts with 12, as the Tigers won their first game 6-1 en route to a sweep. 

Five days later, fifth-seeded Clemson made its first appearance in the ACC Tournament with a win over 12-seed Virginia Tech. Knaak, starting for the Tigers, gave up a solo home run to the first Hokies batter of the day and then did not give up any more runs in six innings. He allowed only three other hits and struck out six in recording a third straight win on the mound. 

It is safe to say the sour taste in Knaak’s mouth at NC State was quickly washed away. After the Tigers’ three-win run in the ACC Tournament, the sophomore credited working on mechanics as the primary cause of the quick turnaround.

“My change-up and some of the off-speed (pitches) wasn’t working as it usually is,” Knaak said of his appearance in Raleigh. “So just little mechanical changes with the arm and sinking into the back leg a little bit more like I saw earlier in the season that I was doing correctly, so getting back to my roots, some of my mechanics.

“Over the course of the season, sometimes things can change, one start here, one start there, so just getting back to the roots of my mechanics.”

Knaak also credited pitching coach Jimmy Belanger with helping him reset mid-game with occasional mound visits after giving up walks or hits.

“If you get in a groove of walking someone or not executing pitches, (Belanger is) trying to break that groove,” he said. “(Mound visits) give you a full mental reset, so then it just kind of feels like another clean inning… because it just gives you a little bit of time to catch your breath, rethink what just happened, and just go back out there and attack again.”

As the Tigers look ahead to the postseason, Knaak will play a large role in the Clemson Regional, hosted at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Clemson, the overall No. 11 seed, will play USC Upstate Friday at 6 p.m., in the second game of the Clemson Regional.