Clemson Baseball: Patience Paying Off?

This season has been a roller coaster for Clemson baseball. The Tigers have had several “down” moments to begin the year, but seem to have found their groove. Is this an instance of patience paying off?

By the end of the night on April 11th, both of Clemson’s “diamond sports” provided a pleasant evening for all those clad in orange and regalia.

The softball team finished off a season sweep of their feathered foes in the midlands in dramatic fashion. With 2 outs and 2 on, Valerie Cagle sent a 3-run shot out of the park to secure a phenomenal 4-3 win over the Gamecocks.

For much of the spring, the talk has been about softball, and I can’t fault the attention. They have been an absolute terror for the majority of the teams they’ve played. In only their fourth season ever, the Tigers are ranked just outside the Top 5 and are a real contender for the postseason. They are light years ahead of schedule.

But amidst the celebration of a near miraculous road win was (to me) a more surprising result:

The Clemson Baseball team laying the wood on Georgia in Athens on Tuesday night.

After a much-maligned start to the season that saw Clemson (and more specifically their bullpen) lose more than their fair share of leads, the Tigers failed to capitalize on moments late in several games. Clemson had the opportunity for multiple series wins against UCF, South Carolina, Duke, Georgia Tech and even #2 ranked Wake Forest but couldn’t close the deal. Even when the pitching was working in some instances, Clemson failed to get timely hits.

It was as if the team was stuck in neutral.

But that all seemed to change a little over a week ago when the Tigers dismantled a then Top-20 ranked Coastal team by 10 runs. The Tigers were able to parlay that momentum into a series win in Tallahassee, a feat that should be applauded no matter how down FSU has been.

And finally, it brought Clemson neatly to an 8-1 throttling of Georgia on Tuesday.

This team is far from perfect, but the last 5 games have brought a glimpse of what Eric Bakich wants to bring to Doug Kingsmore: pitchers that hit the zone, allow the defense to make plays, and limit damage. Couple that with building an offense that isn’t too big or small, but instead a line up full of guys who will frustrate any pitcher, can hit homers when needed, and create offense on the base paths and there’s plenty of potential for the Tigers.

This season is far from over, and there is no way to know right now if this team will actually make the tournament or not. But if the current trend continues, maybe we should give Coach Bakich some credit for seeing this turnaround ahead of schedule.