Erik Bakich says his Tigers will have chip on their shoulder going into NCAAs

Next up is an NCAA Tournament regional for Clemson, seeking to rebound from a decisive defeat in the ACC final.

Grayson Mann · Staff Writer · Sunday, May 25 2025

DURHAM - As the dust settled from Clemson's ACC Championship loss, Erik Bakich and Andrew Ciufo sat down with silent resolve.

Sunday will be a day this group wants to quickly forget, falling to the Tar Heels 14-4 as the Tigers watched a sea of blue storm the diamond to claim their conference crown.

Sitting in front of the media, there wasn't much that needed to be said.

As the Tigers look back on this tournament, however, they believe the body of work that got them to Sunday is a good recipe for success that can carry them deep into the regionals.

Clemson will learn Sunday night if it will be selected as one of the 16 regional hosts, and Ciufo believes this group is worthy of having postseason baseball back in Doug Kingsmore Stadium.

When he evaluates the body of work from the Tigers' run in Durham, he sees this as beneficial to the postseason, especially given the tough stretch the team endured before the conference tournament.

"I think it just gives us tournament experience," Ciufo said. "I'm pretty proud of our team coming off a tough couple week stretch, bouncing back against Pitt and then playing as well as we did this tournament. You can look at the big picture, obviously, like EB (Erik Bakich) said, we have another tournament to play next weekend to start the regional at Clemson. So like I said, it's the experience of what it takes to go deep into a tournament and all the depth you need from a bullpen perspective and just playing every single day, taking it game by game."

The Tigers won't have to wait very long for a reset, learning who they will face in the regionals on Monday, May 26th, at noon on ESPN2.

Bakich certainly doesn't mind that the reset comes with an added edge for this group to enter the next phase of postseason play, looking forward to having that boost in front of the home crowd.

"We will certainly have that and feel that, I mean something like this puts a little steel on the spine and callouses the mind a bit and we've had enough adversity and at the end of the trail end of the season, so our guys, they'll be in a great mindset," Bakich said. "They'll be playing with that chip on their shoulder, they'll want to play well at home, and a lot of them have the experience from doing it last year and the year before. So, it's a great opportunity for us to get back on the positive side of things."

As the team quickly washes away the blemish of the ACC Championship, there will be a sharp reminder that this group has been in a deep hole before.

Three straight series losses recently were set to define the Tigers, with regional projections putting Clemson on the road instead of playing in the confines of its home crowd.

The push to the conference championship has reset the postseason standing, now likely to be selected as one of the 16 host sites as the push to Omaha begins.

As that climb to the College World Series continues, the Tigers' backs will be against the wall, and they are looking forward to having the Doug Kingsmore crowd behind them as they begin this postseason fight.