Charlotte eliminates Clemson from NCAA Tournament, ends Tigers’ season
Clemson became the third top seed in an NCAA Regional to get sent packing on Sunday as the Tigers lost the early game to third-seeded Charlotte, 3-2, at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Clemson (44-19) came into the NCAA Tournament with high hopes as the ACC champion and a national seed, but the Tigers failed to advance out of a regional for the 10th consecutive appearance.
Charlotte (35-27) advanced to face second-seeded Tennessee in the championship but the Vols won, 9-2, and are headed to the Super Regional.
“There’s so much, so many positive things that these guys did to just return Clemson baseball to a level that was competitive, that we feel like we should be at,” Clemson coach Erik Bakich said about a team that won 17 consecutive games and a conference title. “Did we reach our ultimate goal? No. Omaha is still the standard of this program. Always has been, and always will be. So we fell short.”
The Tigers joined Auburn and Oklahoma State as early-exit No. 1 seeds. Clemson was the first national seed to be eliminated. Clemson also is just the third top seed in a regional in the past five years to lose to a No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the first Sunday elimination game.
Clemson (44-19) was coming off a 6-5 loss in 14 innings to Tennessee on Saturday night and a lackluster offensive performance Sunday against the 49ers led to the Tigers failing to advance out of a regional.
“It feels like we were driving 100 miles per hour and then we all of a sudden slammed on the breaks,” Bakich said. “... It looked like we were emotionally drained. I’d say that would be accurate. Not much in the tank and I thought we’d dig down and dig deep.”
Clemson led Charlotte 2-0 after the second inning. Once the 49ers went to the bullpen, the sluggish Tigers went ice cold, recording four hits and striking out 11 times in the final seven innings.
Donye Evans helped silence the Clemson bats, striking out eight over four innings. Paxton Thompson pitched the final three innings and struck out three to earn his team-leading eighth win of the season.
The 49ers got on the board with a run in the third without getting a hit and Clemson took a no-hitter into the seventh before a solo shot by Will Butcher tied the game. Charlotte scratched across another run on Jack Dragum’s RBI single to take the lead for good.
It is just the second time Charlotte has won multiple games in the same NCAA Tournament with the other coming in 2007. The win over Clemson tied school record for highest-ranked opponent Charlotte has beaten. The Tigers came into tournament, ranked No. 3 by D1Baseball.com.
“Our guys showed today that we’re right there with them,” 49ers coach Robert Woodard said. “What you saw today, that’s Charlotte 49ers baseball.”
For Clemson, it was another stinging end for a team that hasn’t been to the College World Series since 2010, but Bakich hopes “Team 126” will be remembered for the turnaround following a 17-14 overall, 2-8 ACC start.
“We set out to add value to an already storied program and we accomplished that,” Bakich said. “I told (the team) that forever and ever, their legacy is that they achieved one of the greatest turnarounds in the history of Clemson baseball.”
Clemson Regional Schedule, Scores
Friday, June 2
Game 1 – (1) Clemson 12, (4) Lipscomb 5
Game 2 – (2) Tennessee 8, (3) Charlotte 1
Saturday, June 3
Game 3 – Charlotte 9, Lipscomb 2
Game 4 – Tennessee 6, Clemson 5
Sunday, June 4
Game 5 – Charlotte 3, Clemson 2
Game 6 – Tennessee 9, Charlotte 2
This story was originally published June 4, 2023 at 3:08 PM.