While no one was happy with the way the Clemson baseball team’s season ended, Erik Bakich has been making the most of the early exit.

For the second time in three seasons, the Tigers were eliminated at home during regional play. However, that has allowed Bakich to get a head start on retooling his roster through the transfer portal.

“Anytime you have a season that ends in extreme disappointment, it immediately fuels what needs to improve, what needs to change,” Bakich said Tuesday on SportsTalk with Phil Kornblut. “What are the areas where we need to be better.”

When Bakich was hired as head coach after the 2022 season, he immediately talked about getting the program back to Omaha, something Clemson has not done since 2010. He set the bar high, and he has embraced those expectations. He had the Tigers close in 2024, but Florida would eliminate Clemson in the Super Regionals.

After advancing to the supers a season ago, expectations were sky high for the Tigers in 2025. While the team managed to win 45 games and played for the ACC Championship, the campaign ended with bitter disappointment. A heartbreaking loss to West Virginia, in which Clemson gave up a late lead, followed by a 16-4 drubbing by Kentucky, sent Bakich’s team home early.

“We are fully aware that we took a step back in the month of June,” the head coach added. “That is all that really matters, and we had nothing to hang our hat on for success this season. We didn’t do anything that will be remembered. We might have had some wins, but who cares? So for us, we are heads down and instead of talking about it, we are going to be about it.”

Bakich has already added seven players to the roster via the portal. Five of those are bats, with each one capable of making an immediate impact on a lineup that struggled with consistency in 2025. The other two are pitchers.

Ariston Veasey, a power arm from Alabama, was one of the first portal moves of the offseason. Clemson also landed Hayden Simmerson from Catawba. While both of those are solid additions, Bakich is still looking for more, and he is letting it be known.

“Our coaching staff has been on a mission to find some high-impact dudes, and we are still looking,” Bakich said. “Trying to find one or two more pitchers that would be adding to the top. Premium stuff type pitchers. So for all the pitchers that are listening that are either in the portal, or about to go into the portal, Clemson is looking, and we want an absolute dude.”