How Clemson baseball handled ‘very emotional’ end to season, and what’s next
As Clemson players celebrated Chad Fairey’s walk-off single to lift the Tigers past Winthrop last Wednesday, they had no idea they were also celebrating what would be the last swing, at-bat and game of the 2020 season.
While Clemson played its final game, the NBA announced that it was suspending its season indefinitely after all-star center Rudy Gobert tested positive for the coronavirus. Less than 24 hours later, the ACC had suspended all athletics activities indefinitely, the NCAA had canceled the College World Series and Tigers baseball coach Monte Lee knew his team’s season was almost assuredly over.
It was a wild day that was tough to comprehend.
“It was very emotional. A lot of guys broke down. I obviously got emotional,” Lee recalled during a teleconference Wednesday. “You start looking at some of these guys that you think to yourself, ‘There’s a chance that some of these guys may never wear the Clemson uniform again.’”
Lee and his Clemson team knew that changes to the season were likely coming when they showed up to the park last Thursday, a day after beating Winthrop the night before.
He had told his team to expect to play in front of a limited crowd featuring only families of players, or in front of no crowd at all, for the foreseeable future.
But as Clemson players were lifting weights at the baseball facility before leaving for its weekend series against Wake Forest, Lee got a call that the ACC basketball tournament had been canceled. Soon, the SEC announced that its spring sports were being suspended, the ACC followed suit and the College World Series was canceled later in the afternoon.
After gathering all of that information, Lee informed his team during a meeting the next day that its season was likely over.
“You can imagine just the level of emotion at that time, just how fast this thing was moving,” Lee said. “We met with the guys the following day and told them, ‘Listen, it looks like you guys are going to need to go home.’ ... We did share with our guys that we felt like it was highly likely that we would not play again, especially with the NCAA making the decision to cancel the College World Series and there would be no NCAA tournament.”
The reactions understandably included frustration and disappointment, according to Lee.
“Guys were really down. You’re looking at guys, and guys were just in shock,” he said. “I think that was the thing that I took away from it was just the level of shock and disappointment, frustration, sad. It was just a really hard pill to swallow.”
Clemson’s players are all back at their homes now, where they will remain until at least April 5. The baseball facility is closed, and players and coaches are not allowed inside. The ACC announced Tuesday that all sports are done for the academic year, officially ending Clemson’s baseball season.
Lee is hopeful the Tigers will get to return to campus at some point this semester and practice as a team. For now he has instructed his players to stay safe and take care of their academic work once Clemson University resumes online classes next week with spring break over.
Lee is staying in constant communication with his players, whether it be through texts, phone calls or FaceTime, as they try to navigate such an unprecedented time.
“It’s been tough to comprehend I think over the last few days since we had that meeting,” Lee said. “But we can only control what we can control, and right now our primary focus is the safety of the student-athletes and their academics.”
With Clemson’s season now officially over, Lee has had some time to reflect on what this group accomplished. The Tigers finished 14-3 (3-0 ACC) and went undefeated in games decided by one run. They earned a series win over South Carolina and exceeded expectations after entering the year unranked.
“I just appreciate how hard they competed. We were 6-0 in one-run games. We had six one-run games out of 17 competitions, and we won every one of them,” Lee said. “When you look at it from a coaching standpoint, as hard as it is to have your season cut short like this, it also gives you a perspective and an appreciation for the players you have. And just the day-in, day-out journey that you get to go through with these guys.”
There are still plenty of unknowns at this point:
▪ Will Clemson be able to resume baseball activities later this semester?
▪ Will the MLB Draft go on as scheduled? (And will Clemson lose players to the pros?)
▪ How will the NCAA granting seniors an extra year of eligibility play out?
Lee is as anxious as anyone to get those answers.
“Those are great questions, and I will tell you guys this: There’s a lot of unknowns,” he said.
But for now he only has one focus, and it has nothing to do with baseball.
“We don’t really know kinda what the future looks like for us,” Lee said. “We’re just trying to keep this thing as simple as possible right now and just really, really emphasize to the student-athletes that their safety is our primary concern, and that their academics is our primary concern. That’s been our biggest focus right now as we move forward.”
