The first two weeks of ACC play have not been kind to the Clemson Baseball team.

The Tigers have dropped each of their first two conference series, which included getting swept at Notre Dame over the weekend. A 1-5 start to league play is probably not what many had envisioned.

No one should have been shocked to see a Top 5 Georgia Tech team go into Doug Kingsmore and take two out of three. The Yellow Jackets are that good. However, getting swept by the Fighting Irish was not on anyone’s bingo card.

In Friday’s loss, the team was shut out for the third time this season. That did not happen at all last year. South Carolina also shut the Tigers out in a series opener, as did Georgia Tech.

While the pitching had some issues in South Bend, by and large, it has been good enough most days. It’s the hitting that hasn’t lived up to preseason expectations, and the Tigers are struggling mightily when it comes to timely hits.

In Friday’s shutout loss to Notre Dame, the offense mustered just four hits. On Saturday, a 7-6 loss, the team did manage to score seven runs and had 12 hits, but was just 3-of-12 with runners in scoring position.

On Sunday, Clemson had 13 hits, but they were all singles and once again, the team failed to deliver when it had opportunities. The Tigers were just 1-of-14 with runners in scoring position and stranded a dozen runners. For the weekend, the team was just 4-of-26 with runners in scoring position.

In the two losses to Georgia Tech? 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position and in the lone ACC win over the Yellow Jackets the team was 7-for-17 in those opportunities.

While not hitting in the clutch has been a huge issue for this team over the first two weeks of league play, it’s not the only contributing factor. Errors have been another one. This team has now made 33 errors in just 24 games. That is close to 1.5 per game. Jack Crighton is the only regular who has not been charged with an error. They’ve also given up 21 earned runs.

Make no mistake, Erik Bakich’s team has dug itself quite a hole. The good news? There is still time to turn it around. The bad news? The schedule isn’t getting any easier. As a matter of fact, Notre Dame was probably considered one of those series you should have won.

Next up, Clemson will host Miami, which is off to a slow start in league play (2-6) itself. The Canes dropped two out of three at Boston College and then dropped two out of three at home to Duke. That means this is a huge series for both teams. The Tigers also still have ACC series left to play at home against Top 15 teams North Carolina and Florida State. There’s also a road series against a Top 10 Virginia team.

A season ago, Clemson went 45-18 and hosted a regional. That team began conference play 3-3. The Tigers won their next four ACC series. They will need a similar response here.

We’re talking about a team that once again expects to be hosting a regional come the postseason. If this team is going to do that, it must be better offensively, and it has to start now.

If you can’t hit in the clutch, you are going to struggle to win consistently, and right now, the Tigers are just not producing in key situations.