CLEMSON — When Erik Bakich was hired as the Clemson head baseball coach in June of 2022, he immediately talked about getting the Tigers back to Omaha.

Bakich started talking about getting Clemson back to the College World Series for the first time since 2010 in his introductory press conference, and the head coach has talked about that goal on numerous occasions since.

Heading into his fourth season leading the Tigers, Bakich and his players won’t be talking about Omaha. While that is still obviously the goal each and every season, this Clemson team is taking a different approach as Bakich’s team gets ready for the 2026 campaign.

“It is year four now, and we haven’t been,” Bakich said. “Everyone, including ourselves, is tired of talking about it. Let’s talk about it when we get there.”

Bakich has experienced plenty of success in each of his first three seasons. He has led the Tigers to 133 victories, tied for seventh most in the nation during that time and Clemson was one of only two programs to total 44 or more wins in 2023, 2024 and 2025.

The Tigers have also hosted a regional in every season since Bakich took over, even advancing to the Super Regional round in 2024 for the first time in well over a decade.

The hope is that this is the season that the Omaha drought will end, but he knows his team will have to earn it.

“Everybody is going to lift, run, train and all those things, but it is the standard in which you do those things that is going to determine those Omaha teams,” Bakich added. “You hope you can do that consistently enough to get hot at the end and be one of those teams.”

Make no mistake, the goal remains the same, and that is getting Clemson back to the College World Series. The word “Omaha” will still be stitched on the back of their caps. The only difference will be how vocal Bakich will be about it publicly.

After three seasons, he is tired of talking about it. He is ready for the Tigers to be about it.

“It feels like all we have done for three years is talk about Omaha,” Bakich said. “It is on the back of the hat. It is something that is rightfully associated with this program for its tradition and history under Coach (Bill) Wilhelm and Coach (Jack) Leggett, but it’s at the point now where we need to just shut up and go.”