Clemson’s baseball team is fresh off what first-year coach Erik Bakich aptly summed up as a disappointing weekend.

And with it came a stark reminder of the pressing question that continues to linger for the Tigers: Is there enough quality pitching?

The Tigers were swept by Central Florida, getting outscored 27-15 in the three games. It puts Clemson’s record at 4-3 heading into a midweek contest against USC Upstate on Tuesday in Greenville.

“Clearly we’ve got to get a lot better,” Bakich said. “And we will.”

Consistency on the mound, or a lack thereof, has been the glaring issue for Clemson a couple of seasons running now. The Tigers have finished in the bottom half of the ACC in earned run average each of the last two seasons.

Bakich inherited a pitching staff that had a collective ERA of 4.86 a season ago, only a marginal improvement from the 5 ERA Clemson posted in 2021. Though Bakich has supplemented it with some new arms through the transfer portal and recruiting, last weekend showed there are still concerns about the Tigers’ pitching depth.

Ryan Ammons has been a bright spot in his move from the bullpen to the Friday night role, yielding just three runs on six hits while piling up 19 strikeouts in his first two starts of the season. But once Ammons exited after five innings of Friday’s opener, Clemson yielded 25 runs in the final 22 innings of the series.

Ten of those runs came on Saturday while the Knights produced 13 more runs on 15 hits against six different pitchers in Sunday’s finale. Errors behind them didn’t help. Still, 16 of UCF’s runs over the final two games were earned.

“That’s the disappointing thing with the weekend is we just didn’t play well,” Bakich said. “If we play well and we get beat straight up, then we get beat straight up. But I just didn’t feel like we played our best baseball.”

Clemson isn’t yet throwing with a full deck. Injuries have sidelined some of the Tigers’ arms, including Michigan transfer Willie Weiss, who’s expected to pitch in middle relief once he’s available. The attrition has led to some of Clemson’s younger pitchers getting an early shot.

Freshman right-hander Joe Allen was first in relief of Ammons on Friday. He also pitched 1 ⅔ innings Sunday, allowing just one run on three hits with six strikeouts in 3 ⅓ innings of work on the weekend.

“He’s a guy that’s got a special pitch with the changeup,” Bakich said. “He’s got a good running, sinking action on his fastball, and he’s got a good slider. Three pitches for strikes. With the poise he’s shown, he’s just been a guy that, while we’ve had a couple of other guys out, he’s stepped up in that spot and done a nice job.”

Clemson used at least four relievers in every game of the series, which had as much to do with some of the starters being knocked out early as much as it did ineffectiveness in the bullpen. Redshirt freshmen Austin Gordon and Jay Dill, newcomers to the rotation, started the final two games of the series, and neither one lasted longer than 4 ⅔ innings.

Sunday was a particularly big struggle for Dill, who allowed five runs on five hits in just 3 ⅓ frames. He also walked a batter and uncorked two wild pitches, needing 93 pitches to make it as long as he did.

“Dill’s got good stuff,” Bakich said. “The strike zone and the efficiency of his pitches is probably something we need to work on.”

Bakich didn’t mention any potential changes to the weekend rotation. At least not yet. Through seven games, Clemson ranks 11th in the ACC with a team ERA of 4. The Tigers are also in the bottom third in hits allowed, runs allowed and home runs allowed.

Clemson needs to start shoring things up quickly. Following the midweek game is the Tigers’ rivalry series against undefeated South Carolina, which is batting .322 as a team and leads the SEC in runs per game (11.7).