Clemson's lack of offense 'frustrating' in series loss to N.C. State
CLEMSON -- In the top of the 5th inning of Saturday’s game against North Carolina State, Josh McLain hit a solid ground ball to Patrick Cromwell with runners on second and third.
Cromwell played it cleanly as Patrick Bailey ran toward home. For a split second, Cromwell hesitated. The third baseman then made a good throw to first, but McLain was safe by inches and the Wolfpack took a 4-1 lead.
That’s how the afternoon went for No. 2 Clemson in the 6-1 loss at home. Everything was a little off.
If you give a team like N.C. State an inch, it’ll take a mile.
“We got to do a better job of competing,” Monte Lee said. “We got to bring more energy… how you compete should never change.”
Clemson scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning looking to bounce back from yesterday’s performance. Two full-count walks, a sacrifice bunt, and another full-count walk loaded the bases for Kyle Wilkie with one out. Wilkie hit a 0-2 pitch to left field scoring the run.
Wolfpack starter Brian Brown struck out the next two batters to end the threat. That was the closest Clemson got to scoring the rest of the game.
The Wolfpack scored one run in five consecutive innings to grind away at the Tigers. It was as if Clemson was being killed softly. Out of the six runs scored by N.C. State, Evan Edwards’ solo home run was the only hit that scored a run.
It was a masterful afternoon of small ball from the Wolfpack, who took advantage of every opportunity and Clemson mistake.
Whether it was a balk from Spencer Strider in the 5th inning or Grayson Byrd stealing third on a pickoff attempt to end any threat, it was a frustrating as it gets for Lee.
An offense that is known for being so lethal at the plate was the most frustrating part for Lee in the first series loss of the season. Coming into the series, Clemson was averaging 6.9 runs per game.
In the last 18 innings against the Wolfpack, the Tigers have scored only once.
“No questions about it,” Lee said when asked if offensive production has been the most frustrating part of the weekend. “We’ve had 23 guys on base, scored one run. So yeah, I’m pretty frustrated about our lack of offensive production.”
Clemson struck out 11 times on Saturday afternoon, including three strikeouts from designated hitter Drew Donathan in his three plate appearances. The Tigers out-hit the Wolfpack but left 18 total baserunners in the last two games and haven’t been able to take advantage of their fair share of opportunities.
Six leadoff runners got on base for the Wolfpack and every one of them scored. N.C. State advanced nine runners while Clemson only advanced three. The Wolfpack deserve a lot of credit for their performance the last two days but Lee knows his team is better than what has been shown this week.
“We got guys on base, somebody has to step up and hit a ball into the outfield with runners on,” Lee said. “I know we are a better team than we have shown in the last two days, but we are going to go through tough times. Tough times don’t last, tough people do.”
This is the first time this season Clemson has lost two games in a row. Lee is looking for his guys to come out with a little more fire in their step and more purposeful energy on Sunday afternoon to avoid the sweep.
Kyle Wilkie and Robert Jolly were sitting 15 feet away from their head coach as Lee was saying his team hasn’t shown much a fight this weekend. The catcher heard the message loud and clear.
“Any time coach says something like that, it kind of irks you a little bit.” Wilkie said. “We were all there but the energy wasn’t as good today and I think that’s something we need to focus on tomorrow.”
The Tigers take on N.C. State to avoid a sweep at 1:00 PM on Sunday afternoon.
“We’re going to have to see how tough we are,” Robert Jolly said.