A sullen Coach Bakich sank in his chair during the post-game press conference a night ago talking about going about it the “hard way.” Clemson regrouped and came back on Sunday to play Kentucky having to win 3 games in 2 days to advance out of the Clemson regional.
The Tigers were designated as the visitors for the game.
From the moment the first inning started it felt a little different. “Mr. Everything” Cam Cannarella struck out swinging to lead off the game. A rarity for the Clemson superstar who Bakich dubbed in his post-game presser as “one of, if not the best centerfielder ever,” had 8 hits coming into in the game. What followed though was two runs for an early lead, one that would be short-lived and not all that memorable.
Kentucky bounced back in the bottom of the 1st on a weird sequence of plays to score two and tie the game. Little did we know that they would add a lot more runs on their way to a 16 – 4 victory and eliminate the Tigers from the Clemson regional, ending their season.
It wasn’t until the bottom of the third that Clemson had a series of bad luck and Kentucky was able to take the lead. An infield single by Wildcat left fielder Cole Hage led to an errant throw by the Tigers Andrew Ciufo, in a valiant effort to get Hage at first. The throw skipped by Jack Crighton allowed Hage to scamper to second. With a good throw by Crighton, Hage was likely dead to rights. That didn’t happen.
Then a pick-off attempt at second bounced off Hage and he rumbled towards third. Once again, a good throw by Purify would have likely gotten Hage. Once again, it didn’t happen.
A wild pitch led to Hage finally scoring a run for Kentucky to take the 3-2 lead. That was the closest the Tigers would get, as Kentucky got hot and stayed hot for the tune of 13 more runs.
Talan Bell (2.1 IP, 3 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 1 K) started and pitched well until those two hit batsmen. That started a train of arms that Coach Bakich would throw out there, obviously very thin at the position. The Freshman only yielded 2 hits, but errors and free passes had 6-runs score on his watch.
Nathan Dvorsky, Jacob McGovern, Justin LeGuernic, and BJ Bailey were glorified batting practice for the Wildcats as a combined 10 runs were allowed. A season high 7 errors defensively were a lot of the story. Only Chance Fitzgerald (2.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 K, 1 BB) settled the game down, but by then, it was all over but the crying.
Bakich summed up the game simply.
“There’s no good takeaways from today, this group did everything right, and deserved better, but we fell short of where we wanted to be.”
Coach Bakich
I do disagree slightly with coach, Clemson was led offensively by Jarren Purify. The sophomore was 4-4 with a walk and a run scored.
However, there is no disputing the disappointing end to the season for the Tigers.
Coach Bakich came into the post-game and immediately acknowledged what a lot of fans were saying across social media during the game, “Well today obviously sucked, obviously, and I don’t want to overly dwell on how poorly we played and the game today, when big picture we have a group of seniors that deserved a better finish than this. That’s more disappointing than 7-errors and all the free passes.”
A season’s end that has a lot of questions going into next season, notably replacing all-time great Tiger Cam Cannarella who likely will be a 1st round pick in the Major League Baseball Draft this summer. Bakich called Cannarella, “maybe the best (center fielder) ever.”
As much as Cannarella is someone that may be irreplaceable, there are many more questions. The coaching staff has some equity with getting difference makers in the portal and this off-season should be no different.
“It’s no secret that we need game changers on the mound, and quick twitch guys that can effect the game,” Bakich added when asked what the “secret sauce” was to getting to Omaha.
Bakich ended the press conference saying “this team (Clemson Baseball) WILL be back in Omaha. We hear it, we know Clemson hasn’t been there since 2010, we know.”
Let’s hope he’s right, because he said it best — right now, today does suck.
Go Tigers!
