CLEMSON — Clemson head baseball coach Erik Bakich spoke to the media on Thursday to preview the start of fall practice, which begins on Friday at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

The Tigers have 21 returning lettermen from the 2023 ACC championship team. Clemson also returns Cam Cannarella, the 2023 ACC Freshman-of-the-Year, First-Team All-ACC selection and first-team freshman All-American.

Below are some of the key points from Thursday’s meeting session.

–Bakich says fall ball allows them to have a little more time to spend with the players other than the few hours they have received during strength and conditioning over the last month. He said the last month has been great and has given them a good baseline on what to expect coming into fall practice.

–Bakich said they are a long way away from identifying any roles on the team. He said the fall is about growth, improvement and the team has been all in on that and it has been fun to watch them compete and get better everyday.

–After winning an ACC Championship in his first year, Bakich said it would be foolish not to believe they did not build any momentum for themselves last year. “We certainly did, but we finished the year not in Omaha, so it still wasn’t a year that ended in the (College) World Series in Omaha.” Bakich said the goals at Clemson are set to win at the highest level, like most elite teams do. “That is kind of the standard and it always has been around here.”

–Again this fall, Bakich will make his players earn their way into the clubhouse like he did last year. This goes back to his days at Michigan, as a way to try and combat what has become an entitle society. “That is more of a fighting entitlement thing with more of a societal thing, a cultural thing with this age group and just wanting them to appreciate the things they get, but also understanding they don’t hand out championship rings. You have to earn it, so we put in a variation of that with earning the facilities, gear and things like that.”

Clemson’s fall training season continues through November and concludes with three Clemson Super Regional scrimmages at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, scheduled for the weekend of Nov. 9-12, with dates and times to be determined. From Nov. 2-5, the Tigers play three Clemson Regional scrimmages, with dates and times to be determined. All intrasquad scrimmages are free and open to the public.

The Tigers are scheduled to play two scrimmages against outside competition this fall, both on the road. The first is Oct. 14 (Saturday) at 1 p.m. at Coastal Carolina. The second is Oct. 15 (Sunday) at 1 p.m. at East Carolina.

Both scrimmages are free and open to the public.

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