The change in mindset that helped Clemson baseball turn around its season

Clemson was very much an average baseball team — at best — the first half of the season. The Tigers were 17-14 (2-8) through 31 games and in last place in the ACC.

It was at that point that Erik Bakich decided his ballclub needed a change in mindset.

Bakich decided that the Tigers were going to be much more aggressive in all aspects of the game moving forward. He wasn’t sure if the move would work or not, but he knew that something had to change.

“The first 31 games we’re 17-14, we’re 2-8 in conference and just made a decision that if we’re going to do this, we’re going to do this by pulling out all the stops,” Bakich said. “There’s nothing that we won’t do.”

Over the next several weeks, Clemson turned to plays that you’re more likely to see in a little league game than in college baseball.

A day after dropping Game 1 of its series with Florida State to fall to 2-8 in the ACC, Clemson pulled off a hidden ball trick against the Seminoles to get an out at third. Clemson ended up winning that game 8-1 and took the series from the Seminoles the next day. The Tigers have also been incredibly aggressive on the bases throughout the second half of the year.

“In the [ACC] championship game, we ran a first-and-third half steal in the first inning. Like who does that? But we do,” Bakich said. “We just started playing better once we started doing hidden ball tricks and gadget plays and just having a little more fun playing baseball.”

The moves certainly paid off.

Clemson is 26-3 since April 7 and enters the NCAA Tournament as the hottest team in college baseball. The Tigers swept their way through the ACC Tournament to capture the championship and won their 16th straight game in the process.

Even with Clemson entering the NCAA Tournament, where every game will be magnified, Bakich doesn’t plan on changing anything.

The Tigers will be aggressive in Friday’s opener against Lipscomb and as long as they continue to play in the postseason.

“It’s awesome. I love it. And we’ll have to keep that mindset,” Bakich said. “We’re not going to add any expectations to this. We’re going to keep playing like we’ve got house money, because we do. Our season was over after 31 games. We were going nowhere fast. We know what the other side feels like, and so for us, it’s like we’ve got nothing to lose. We’re going to keep that mindset and keep having fun playing ball as long as we can.”

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