Bakich and his Tigers not focused on postseason, locked in on No. 8 Coastal Carolina |
David Hood
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- Wednesday, May 10 2023
CLEMSON – Clemson baseball is playing its best baseball of the season, and now everyone is trying to predict where the Tigers will end up if they end up in the NCAA Tournament. Except for the players and coaches. They are taking it the proverbial one game at a time.
Clemson swept Louisville last weekend to improve to 31-17 overall and 14-10 in ACC play. The Tigers have won five ACC series in a row, sit solidly in second place in the ACC Atlantic, and appear on track to host an NCAA Regional. The next step in the journey is tonight’s trip to Coastal Carolina in Conway. The Tigers lead the all-time series 48-12, including an 11-5 mark at Coastal Carolina, a team they run-ruled 16-6 in Clemson back on April 4th. Clemson then heads to Blacksburg to take on Virginia Tech this weekend. For head coach Erik Bakich and his players, however, it’s all about the next game mentality, even though he doesn’t try to keep his players from reading articles or scrolling through social media. “I don't tell them to not look. I just tell them it's not going to do anything for us to really spend a whole lot of mental calories reading it, looking at it, playing the 'What If' game,” Bakich said. “It's always nice to be recognized. We'll be recognized this week, I'm sure, but it doesn't do anything in terms of securing anything. We have to go out and earn it. And if we get distracted by those types of things, that can get us off track to what's really important. “And what's really important right now is the recovery of our bodies and getting ready for Coastal. We haven't, you know, we haven't done anything yet. We're playing well, but we have to remember why we're playing well and what our preparation is. Our mindset is to play well and sell out to that because that's what allows us to play well so that the other stuff can happen.” Clemson jumped all the way to No. 16 in this week’s D1Baseball.com rankings, and following the sweep of Louisville, has a chance at hosting a regional. The Tigers are one of seven teams in the Carolinas that look to have a shot, along with Wake Forest, South Carolina, Duke, Coastal, ECU, and Campbell. Bakich acknowledged what his team has accomplished but knows there’s still work to be done, and right now, his players are buying into that mentality. “It's just really more of a disciplined mental focus, is all it is. And yeah, it's nice to be recognized,” Bakich said. "It's nice to read about our guys and the success they're having. I'm sure you guys hear this all the time, but the only ranking that matters to the last one. So we just need to keep our head down and there'll be a time when we can pick our head up, and take a look at what we've accomplished. But it's not right now.”
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