How Clemson baseball changed its visitors’ bullpen area after 2025 controversy
Clemson baseball coach Erik Bakich insists the new visitors’ bullpen at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, which places fans within feet of opposing pitchers, didn’t cause any issues in 2025.
“There were no issues,” Bakich said in a January radio interview with SportsTalkSC. “There were a couple complainy, whiny coaches.”
Heading into 2026, though, the most controversial section of Clemson’s home ballpark will look a little different: The school is in the process of extending the drink rails around the standing room-only area that surrounds the visitors’ bullpen along the third base line at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
The additions will create more space between fans and pitchers.
And they’re essentially an acknowledgement from Clemson that while the visitors’ bullpen generated the rowdy environment Bakich wanted, it was a little too rowdy.
Ahead of the 2025 season, Clemson moved its visitors’ bullpen from outside the field of play to inside the field of play and converted what used to be the bullpen area into a standing room-only “beer garden” section, primarily used by students and with easy access to alcohol nearby.
West Virginia coach Steve Sabins blasted the setup in June after his team competed in an NCAA regional at Clemson, describing the Tigers’ visiting bullpen as “bogus” because it allowed “drunk frat guys” to line up far too close to opposing team’s pitchers as they warmed up.
“There were drunk guys screaming everything you could imagine to our team,” Sabins said, adding that “somebody could actually reach out and grab an arm.”
Clemson athletic director Graham Neff said in August he was comfortable with the location of the bullpen, but the school needed to “thread the needle a little better” between having a “great environment as a home team” and a “very safe and appropriate environment for our visitors.”
Changes to visitors’ bullpen area for 2026
The school is finalizing a potential fix to that problem ahead of No. 19 Clemson baseball’s 2026 opening weekend series vs. Army, which starts Friday.
Roughly 60% of the standing room-only area that surrounds the visitors’ bullpen was already outfitted with a short aluminum drink rail that provided separation between Clemson fans and the net, but it was rather easy to lean on or over.
A team spokesman told The State that Clemson plans to widen the drink rail/barrier to that area, creating more separation.
The remaining corner area of the bullpen where opposing pitchers actually wind up and throw — a popular spot for fans to crowd, and the area that angered West Virginia’s Sabins the most — wasn’t reinforced last year.
But Clemson plans to add a similarly wide drink rail/barrier in that corner area, which covers the other roughly 40% of the area and represents the spot where fans are technically the closest to pitchers (about 5-7 feet).
It’s unclear when the widened drink rails will be finalized. They hadn’t been installed as of Tuesday, three days before Clemson’s season opener. The Tigers’ first major home game is against rival South Carolina on March 1.
Bakich: ‘We’re hovering over the target’
Bakich reiterated in January what he said all of last season: Clemson’s previous visitors’ bullpen was “almost criminal” in how much space it gave the opposing team, and by shrinking its visitors’ bullpen area Clemson was simply falling in line with many programs nationally.
The bullpen falls within NCAA rules, which only require ballparks to provide two regulation-length pitcher’s mounds in their visiting bullpen and allow colleges to place those bullpens inside or outside the field of play (outside the field of play is a far more comfortable and spacious option).
“I don’t feel sorry for the opposing team not having much room – it’s the same when we go on the road,” Bakich told SportsTalkSC. “That’s the whole point of having a home-field advantage, right?”
Bakich was receptive to the subtle changes to the visitors’ bullpen area at Doug Kingsmore Stadium heading into the 2026 season. But his overall thoughts on the area haven’t changed: He still loves it, and he still wants it to be rowdy.
“I think we’re hovering over the target when so many opposing coaches (expletive) about it,” Bakich said in October. “I think that’s great. I think we’ve got something. We’re right over the sweet spot.”
“So, do we need to extend the drink rail? Yeah, maybe. But are we hovering over the target that we’ve created a competitive environment that is hostile and gives us an advantage? Hell yes, and I’m all for it.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2026 at 8:00 AM.
