CHARLOTTE — It’s not very often you see Clemson head coach Erik Bakich going face-to-face with an umpire, but that is exactly what happened in Clemson’s 15-4 run-rule loss to Wake Forest in Charlotte on Wednesday night.

With the Tigers already in a 3-1 hole, Tyler Lichtenberger stepped to the plate in the top of the second with a runner on third and two outs. Facing a 0-2 count, Lichtenberger was tagged with a strike for not getting into the batter’s box quickly enough. Instead of having an opportunity at driving in a two-out run, the Tigers’ shortstop’s at-bat was over.

Bakich immediately came out of the dugout to argue his case, but quickly retreated. However, he continued to argue from the dugout and was ultimately tossed out of the game by the home plate umpire before the start of the bottom of the second inning.

“We have offensive timeouts, and I thought the umpire was giving Lich the timeout, because he clearly called timeout — I would have called timeout myself,” Bakich said. “When they had that conversation, that is exactly what I thought was happening. We were just taking a timeout because he was doing something with his batting gloves. Then that conversation just turned into, the explanation was, he said he didn’t have to give him timeout, which I guess is at the umpire’s discretion.”

It was the third ejection for Bakich since taking over at Clemson ahead of the 2023 season. During his debut season, he was ejected from a game against Notre Dame. In 2024, he was ejected, along with assistant Jack Leggett and player Jack Crighton, from the Tigers’ super regional game against Florida. Since that ejection was during an NCAA Tournament game, Bakich had to serve a two-game suspension.

However, this latest one came during the regular season, and there is no automatic suspension.

The fourth-year head coach also wanted to be crystal clear that him getting ejected had no impact on the outcome of the loss to the Demon Deacons.

“That is not why we lost, and it really didn’t factor into the outcome of the game,” Bakich added. “Bitching about the umps just looks like sour grapes and looks soft, so I am not going to do it. The umpires have been good all year. They are certainly not our problem. We are our own problem, and we have to get out of our own way and get out of our own self-inflicted wounds. It was not the umpire’s fault tonight. Can’t expect to get every call when you are fighting it. It is what it is.”

At the same time, he wants his players to know that he will always have their backs, and that’s exactly what he was trying to do at Truist Field on Wednesday night.

“I will always defend our players,” Bakich said. “Especially something like that, where I felt like I needed to stick up for Lich. I will always do that. I will never shy away from that.”