By Will Vandervort.

By Will Vandervort

It was not pretty. And it was not exciting, but Wednesday’s 5-2 victory over Morehead State was a very important one to the Clemson baseball team.

“Every game has been tough for us. Nothing has been easy,” Clemson head coach Jack Leggett said.

It may not have been easy, but the Tigers are doing what they are supposed to do in midweek games and against mid-major opponents. Clemson improved to 9-2 against mid-major teams this year and are now 4-1 in midweek games with the win.

The Tigers beat Morehead State on Tuesday as well in sweeping the Eagles in the midweek series.

“They are all just as important,” Leggett said. “Every game is important around here. It’s important because it points toward the weekend, but we were not looking ahead to that. It was important that we try to take care of our business on Tuesday and Wednesday.

“They came out here and played us tough, and you have to give them credit for that, and we still have some things to continue to work on and I think we will get better and better as time goes on.”

Clemson (13-7) appears to be doing that, at least when looking back to last’s seasons mid-week numbers. Last year, the Tigers were 9-4 in mid-week games and 14-7 against mid-major teams. A couple of those losses might have cost them the opportunity to host an NCAA Regional last summer.

“Midweek games are just as important as the weekend in our minds,” first baseman Jon McGibbon said. “These guys came in here and their plan was to win two games. These are just as important to us as the weekend games.”

Thanks to three runs batted in by McGibbon, the Tigers were able to recorded Wednesday’s win. The junior, who was batting .197 coming into the game, lifted his batting average 16 points thanks to his RBI singles in the sixth and the eighth innings.

It was McGibbon’s third multi-hit game of the season.

“It feels good,” he said afterwards. “I’m not worried or concerned about (my hitting). Obviously, it feels good to help the team win, but I’m more concerned to make sure these guys are ready to play and ready to win every day.”

McGibbon says the slow start at the plate this year is just a little bad luck. He hopes Wednesday’s performance can help his confidence and maybe turn things around for him at the plate.

“My confidence has been there,” he said. “There have been a few times where my timing was a little bit off, but for the most I feel like I have been hitting the ball hard, but they just have not been dropping in for me.”

McGibbon’s base hit to right field in the bottom of the sixth inning drove in Garrett Boulware with the go-ahead run and then his knock to left in the eighth scored Steve Wilkerson and Boulware, again, for two insurance runs.

“I had a little unlucky patch there, but that is baseball. There is nothing you can do,” McGibbon said. “You just have to stick with it and keep getting after it every day.”

And that’s all anyone can ask for. Whether it’s a player or a team, Clemson is taking care of business, at least in the midweek so far.

“It is always big to come in and get two wins in the midweek,” McGibbon said. “It is good for us.”

Clemson will host Duke this weekend in a three-game series, starting Friday night at 6:30 p.m.