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Clemson

Erik Bakich uses South Carolina as silver lining after being eliminated early in NCAA tournament

Grant Grubbs Profile Pictureby: Grant Grubbs06/01/25grant_grubbs_
Erik Bakich Clemson
Erik Bakich, Clemson - © Brianna Paciorka/News Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK

Bad turned to worse for Clemson on Sunday. After falling 9-6 to West Virginia on Saturday, Clemson suffered a blowout 16-4 loss against Kentucky on Sunday to conclude its season.

Clemson entered the NCAA Tournament as a 1-seed in their regional, but ultimately went 1-2 and were eliminated. After the game, Tigers head coach Erik Bakich reflected on the season and pointed out the memorable weekend Clemson swept in-state rival South Carolina.

“Early in the season, when our first goal was in front of us with the Gamecocks, that was an awesome weekend,” Bakich said. “So they’ll always have that. That’ll be part of the history book with this team. But we fell short with the ACC and we fell short in the postseason.”

Numerous South Carolina fans quickly noted online that Bakich shouldn’t be worried about the Gamecocks after a season-ending loss. After all, South Carolina had a down year, finishing the season with a 6-24 record in conference play and second-to-last in the SEC standings.

Nonetheless, it’s difficult for Bakich not to be proud of his team for sweeping their rivals earlier this spring. Over the three-game series, the Tigers outscored the Gamecocks 18-6. Clemson has swept the season series in three of the past four seasons.

Unfortunately for the Tigers, Clemson couldn’t replicate its success against the Gamecocks in the postseason. It was a disappointing ending to the season for the Tigers, who were the No. 11 overall seed in the tournament.

Clemson advanced to the Super Regionals last season but couldn’t make it to the College World Series. In fact, Clemson hasn’t appeared in the CWS since 2010. After the loss against Kentucky on Sunday, Erik Bakich vowed to lead the Tigers back to Omaha.

“This team is going back to Omaha,” Bakich said. “Clemson baseball is going back to Omaha. It’s going to happen… Clemson baseball hasn’t been to Omaha since 2010. We know. We’ve got it. We’re doing everything in our power to fix that.

“Falling short like this is not the standard. That’s not what this program is about… This is Clemson. We’re going to attract the right guys… Now we’ve got to go get them. We’ve got work to do, and we’re not backing down.”