After letting a late lead slip away on Saturday, only to lose in 14 innings, Clemson really needed a win over North Carolina in Sunday’s rubber game.

However, due to the 14-inning marathon the day before, the Tigers had very little left in the bullpen, and once starter Drew Titsworth left in the fourth after being hit by a ball off the bat of Jake Schaffner, Erik Bakich’s team was in trouble.

The Tigers were forced to turn to pitchers like freshmen Peyton Miller and Landon Fowler, neither who have seen much action this season. Noah Samol got a shot late, as did another freshman, Nick Frusco, who had only made one appearance all season.

Not that Titsworth was all that effective before he exited, with the starter allowing four runs on six hits, while also walking one and hitting three more. Bakich ultimately used eight different pitchers in the 12-4 loss as he watched his team issue a total of 14 free passes, which included six hit batsmen.

“It doesn’t matter who you play, you can’t pitch like that,” Bakich said. “We certainly did not pitch to the level we needed to come out and have any success.”

Bakich made it pretty clear it should have never come to a series-deciding game on Sunday. Clemson led 4-2 late, with the Heels scoring a run in the eighth and one in the ninth to send it into extras. The tying run in the ninth scored when a throw from Jason Fultz at third to home plate was just off target. A good throw gets the tying run at the plate, and the Tigers win the series.

Clemson’s offense had chances to finish it off even after the tying run scored. The Tigers had a runner on third in the bottom of the ninth and tenth innings, but could not push a run across.

“Yesterday was a real opportunity we squandered,” Bakich added. “We had multiple chances to hold the lead late in regulation, or win it in the bottom of the ninth or tenth or eleventh and didn’t get it done. We needed to cash in and unfortunately, that has been a broken record story.”

After Friday’s series-opening win, Bakich’s team had won five out of seven and looked to be coming out of the recent funk. However, after giving one away on Saturday, then getting blown out on Sunday, it’s back to the drawing board.

Sitting at 5-10 in league play, the Tigers are once again just one game out of last place in the ACC standings, and things aren’t getting any easier. After a midweek game on the road against Charlotte, Clemson hits the road for a three-game set at No. 13 Virginia.

“We can not continue on the path that we are on, dropping weekends that are within our grasp,” Bakich said. “We need to compete better, we need to coach better. We need to just figure out a way to get over the hump and figure out a way to do it fast because this is an unforgiving league. It will spit you out and we have found that out way too many times.”

“Even bigger picture, it is on me, I am responsible for this program. I got to make sure I am playing the guys that can make us win. If that means we got to shrink some opportunities or limit it to guys that seem to do well when they go out there, then that is what we have to do. We will figure that out this week. We got a lot of work to do as a coaching staff to make sure we have a strong second half in the ACC and it is going to need to start this week.”