Erik Bakich raved about the support his team received from Clemson fans during the Clemson Regional this past weekend.
The Tigers’ head baseball coach described the atmosphere at Doug Kingsmore Stadium as being on “another level.”
Clemson fans certainly did their part to help fuel the third-ranked Tigers to a 3-0 record in the regional and their first regional championship since 2010.
Overall, in the six total games played, 34,344 fans were in attendance at Doug Kingsmore Stadium to set a Clemson Regional record.
“The electricity at DKS this weekend was another level,” Bakich said. “I knew we had more in there, but to see it come out and see the cell phone lights like we’re at a concert, and the place was rocking – it was the best atmosphere I’ve ever seen it. Just appreciate the fans, the crowd, the community. So happy that our team, our players were able to contribute some memories that the kids and the people of this community will take with them forever.”
Clemson (44-14) captured the regional title with a 12-5 victory over Coastal Carolina (36-25) on Sunday night, scoring at least one run in each of the first five innings before pulling away with six runs in the eighth inning.
The game concluded the 29th and final season for legendary Coastal Carolina head coach Gary Gilmore, who announced last spring that he planned to retire after the 2024 season.
Gilmore, a 2022 Hall of Fame inductee and 2016 national champion who finished his Coastal career with 1,000-plus wins, tipped his cap to Clemson in his final postgame press conference on Sunday night.
Gilmore said he felt like the Chanticleers “were two touchdowns behind” the entire contest, during which Bakich’s team applied constant pressure. And there’s no doubt that Tiger fans contributed to that feeling as well by creating a ruckus atmosphere at Doug Kingsmore, where the Tigers will now host a super regional as they try to advance to the College World Series for the first time since 2010.
“(Congratulations to) Clemson for winning this tournament,” Gilmore said. I thought our kids played hard. We made, all day long – I don’t know, it didn’t resemble the team that played the first two games. We made a ton of mistakes, but part of that’s the team we’re playing.
“I’ll be honest with you, even though we got to 6-5, I felt like we were two touchdowns behind the whole game. They finally found a way to blow it open there at the end when we made it a little bit close. But proud of my kids, and I wish Clemson the best. I hope they can get back to Omaha. I know that’s something they’ve been trying to chase down for a little while since 7 (Jack Leggett) has retired from here.”