Will Wilson, N.C. State out-power Clemson in series sweep

CLEMSON -- A frustrated Monte Lee after Saturday’s 6-1 loss to North Carolina State said his team didn’t show much of a fight and had to swing the bats better.

Clemson came out with a different demeanor on Sunday afternoon. The Tigers were hot in the beginning and competed hard looking to avoid the sweep at the hands of the Wolfpack, but couldn’t get any bats going late when it needed to the most.

The Tigers fell to N.C. State 5-4 in the final chapter of a tough weekend series all around for Lee and his crew.

“It’s a tough pill to swallow today, losing three games at home,” Lee said after the loss.

This was the first time Clemson has been swept by N.C. State at home.

It was Will Wilson who was the hero today for the Wolfpack. He went 2-for-2 with two home runs, including a home run in the top of the 8th to break a 4-4 tie and give N.C. State the lead for good.

“They beat us with the long ball today,” Lee said.

The Wolfpack came into the series ranked third in the country in home runs per game (1.83) and batting average (.341). They used three timely home runs this afternoon to win their fifth game in five days.

The story continued to be Clemson’s lack of offensive opportunities, especially as the game wore on. After scoring one run in 18 innings the past two days, the Tigers came out hot and scored three runs in the first two innings. Logan Davidson started thngs off hitting a home run on the second pitch he saw. Grayson Byrd kept the momentum going with an RBI double the next inning.

The Wolfpack had an answer offensively for everything Clemson threw at them. After Clemson took a 3-1 lead, N.C. State answered right back with a Josh McLain 2-run home run to knot the game up 3-3.

With the power Clemson has in its lineup, the most irritating part of the weekend for Lee had to be looking across at 18-3 N.C. State being the hitting team he knows Clemson can be.

“The bottom line is: we got to get some hitters going,” Lee said.

This weekend, Clemson hit 4-for-27 with two outs, 7-for-45 with runners on base, and a staggering 1-for-16 with runners in scoring position.

That’s not going to get it done. Not in ACC play against some of the best competition in the country.

So is Lee worried about the confidence of his guys now that they are facing some adversity this week? With a five-game road trip coming up, and a series against a very good Louisville team next weekend, not at all.

“The tougher it is, the better it is,” Lee added. “That’s the way it should be. Nobody is going to feel sorry for you when you lose three games in a row. I’m not going to feel sorry for them; I’m not going to feel sorry for myself… The tougher it is the better we like it.

“We’re 16-4. I know we are 3-3 in the league, we also got 24 more league games to play. I think going into this season and after 20 games if you had said you’re 16-4, you’d feel like you are in a pretty good spot. Today is the first game out of 20 where I felt like we played a better baseball game than our opponent and lost. We won some games where we got outplayed. We’ve been lucky. We’ve had some good things go our way but now we are playing teams that can really play the game.”

Clemson looks to get back on track against Coastal Carolina in Conway on Tuesday night at 6:00 PM.