For the second weekend in a row, Clemson has dropped an ACC series.

After getting swept at NC State last weekend, the Tigers traveled to Tallahassee looking to get back on the winning side of things. However, those plans were derailed, as the Seminoles took two out of three from Clemson, including an emphatic 20-9 run-rule victory in the series finale on Sunday.

“Just didn’t have the bullets today, and didn’t have the guys we needed to put zeros up,” head coach Erik Bakich said. “This is a great team, Florida State can really hit, great offense, especially on the road. It sucks to lose a series. We had our shot in game one, with the guys that we wanted in the game, and it just didn’t work out for us. So we walk out of here losing a series, which sucks.”

The Tigers did have their chances. In game one on Friday, Clemson took a 4-2 lead into the bottom of the ninth with a fresh Lucas Mahlstedt on the mound. The veteran reliever led the nation in saves (15) coming into the weekend and has been about as automatic as a closer can get. Mahlstedt took the mound with a chance to set a new program record for saves in a season.

It wasn’t meant to be, though. Mahlestedt would give up two ninth-inning runs that allowed Florida State to tie it up and send it into extra innings. It was his first blown save of the season.

Even after that, the submariner had one more shot to lock it down, as Dominic Lisit hit a solo homer in the tenth that put the Tigers right back on top by a run. Mahlstedt would then allow a solo home run to the leadoff batter in the bottom half of the inning, once again allowing the Seminoles to tie it up. Florida State would go on to win it in the bottom of the eleventh.

Bakich’s team did respond with a 6-3 win in game two. With rain halting that one in the eighth inning on Saturday night, the two teams completed the contest on Sunday afternoon, and Bakich was hopeful his squad had created enough momentum to carry it to a win in the series finale.

“I thought that would give us the momentum we needed going into game three,” Bakich said. “But we just couldn’t stop them today. That was really the bottom line.”

With Bakich having used up his high-leverage relievers in the first two games, including Sunday starter BJ Bailey, the Tigers needed a quality start from Talan Bell to really have a shot. The freshman lasted just 1.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits.

Bailey did come in to relieve Bell, but after having just thrown on Friday, he wasn’t as sharp as he’s been in recent weeks. The lefty only recorded one out, while giving up four runs on two hits, a walk and a hit by pitch. By the end of the third inning, the Tigers were in a 10-0 hole.

“They just slugged and we didn’t help ourselves obviously,” Bakich added. “Too many free passes, not being able to field the safety (squeeze) and the collision, just all the things that led to that seven-run inning. That was a big moment in the game.”

In normal Clemson fashion, Bakich watched his team crawl its way back into the game. The Tigers batted around in the fourth, plating four runs, and after scoring four more in the sixth, had pulled to within two at 11-9.

That is as close as his team would get. Over the final 2.1 innings, pitchers Chayce Kieck, Chance Fitzgerald and TP Wentworth would allow nine runs, including five long balls. Kieck gave up three in the eighth inning alone.

In total, Clemson hurlers issued six walks and hit three more batters, totaling nine free passes.

“Another big moment was us scoring nine runs to get right back into the game,” Bakich added. “I just knew, once we scored nine, and it was an 11-9 game, we were going to come back. But the inability to put zeros up to allow our offense to continue to separate is what plagued us.”

The loss was the Tigers’ sixth in their last eight games. The skid has Clemson currently in fifth place in the ACC standings, a half game behind Georgia Tech and North Carolina for the fourth spot. The top four finishers receive a double-bye in the ACC Tournament later this month.

The Tigers have one more game remaining on the current seven-game road trip. On Tuesday, Clemson travels to Coastal for a midweek matchup against the No. 19 Chanticleers. Coastal took the first game between the two teams 8-2 in Doug Kingsmore.

After that, the Tigers return home for a three-game set against Duke, before hitting the road for the final series of the regular season against Pitt.

However, Bakich isn’t looking past Tuesday. He’s always employed a mentality of the next game being the biggest, regardless of the opponent. And the next opponent is Coastal, and the Tigers sure could use a win over a Top 25 team.

“We’ll regroup and we’ll be fine,” Bakich said. “But this was certainly an opportunity missed this weekend, for sure.”