Clemson’s season comes to an end as Jacksonville State eliminates Tigers from NCAAs

Different venue. Same result.

The Clemson baseball team had its season come to an end with a 9-2 loss to Jacksonville State Sunday afternoon in the Oxford Regional, marking the ninth consecutive year Clemson has failed to advance out of a regional.

This is the fourth straight year under Monte Lee the Tigers have failed to make a Super Regional. The previous three times Clemson lost at home in the championship game, before falling to the Gamecocks in Game 1 on Sunday.

Clemson has been outscored 45-10 in games they have been eliminated in under Lee, struggling on the mound and at the plate.

“It’s going to be a long ride home. A lot to think about. A lot of things on my plate that I’ve got to do a better job of,” Clemson coach Monte Lee said. “That’s what happens every year. As a coach you always reflect at the end of the year and look at things that you’ve gotta do a better job of in all areas of the program. Certainly a disappointing way to end the season.”

Clemson starter Brooks Crawford allowed six runs in four innings and suffered the loss, falling to 1-5 on the year.

The inning that hurt the most for the Tigers was the second when Jacksonville State scored four runs off of Crawford, all with two outs. Nash Adams had an RBI single in the frame, but the big blow came two batters later when Tre Kirklin hit a three-run homer. The four-run inning ended up being all of the scoring the Gamecocks would need.

Clemson’s starters allowed 13 runs in 9 2/3 innings pitched over three games in the regional.

“Disappointing on our end with how we played. Won the first game but just didn’t pitch as well as we would’ve liked or hit as well as we would’ve liked either. A disappointing way to end the year.” Lee said. “I hate to see our seniors and our juniors that we’re gonna lose to the draft to end their career this way.”

Clemson did pound out 10 hits against Jacksonville State, but the Tigers were unable to turn them into many runs. Clemson stranded 14 batters in the loss. The Tigers were 4-for-19 with runners on base and 2-for-10 with runners in scoring position.

“We had runners on base it seems like every inning and they made big pitches and made big plays when they needed to,” Lee said. “We couldn’t come up with the big hit with runners on base.”

The loss marks the end of the careers of several of Clemson’s top players, including leading hitter Grayson Byrd and projected first-round pick Logan Davidson.

In addition to Davidson, the Tigers have several other juniors that could be drafted, including catcher Kyle Wilkie, starting pitcher Mat Clark and reliever Carson Spiers.

“It hurts. I’ve had a blast. I’ll probably go home and look at how I can get a sixth year somehow,” Byrd said. “I don’t know if there’s a loophole there. I’ve had a blast. It hurts. It’s tough. That’s all I can say.”

This story was originally published June 2, 2019 at 6:42 PM.