Erik Bakich proud of Clemson’s ‘connectivity’ throughout season

Clemson won its opening game of the 2023 NCAA Baseball Tournament and head coach Erik Bakich credited his team’s “connectivity.”

The Tigers took down Lipscomb 12-5 in the opening game and with Tennessee on deck, it was a nice start for Clemson. It wasn’t until the 8th inning where Clemson put up five runs to escape Lipscomb’s upset attempt. But that’s a credit to Bakich’s crew, which never took its foot off the gas pedal.

“I think you hit it on the head, it’s just whatever pitcher came in the game they picked each other up,” Bakich said. “Whether it’s the two out hitting the two out RBIs or pitchers coming in to get out of a big jam, it’s just a lot of connectivity with this team. You know, and it’s just a lot of guys who genuinely care for each other and care for Clemson and this team. We just want to see each other do well. 

“It’s just one thing I’ve noticed as the season’s gone on, they pull the rope for each other and they have each other’s backs. As a coach, in just watching, it’s great to see knowing that whoever gets their name called like Mac Starbuck today, he’s going to get the job done. And he hasn’t been there in a while … So, just really proud of the team. Good team win and great to see the way they picked each other up.” 

Billy Amick led the way on offense with five RBI in the game and scored a run. Austin Gordon went 4.1 innings pitched with six strikeouts and four earned runs before Nick Clayton, Reed Garris, Ryan Ammons and BJ Bailey finished it off.

Bakich was appreciative of the atmosphere and Clemson certainly fed off the energy.

“Well, appreciate (the stadium) rocking, you know, it felt like a 10th-man atmosphere out there. Packed, packed house and I know our players genuinely appreciate the atmosphere, the environment, the noise, the claps with two strikes,” Bakich said. “Just just being into it and really feeling like we had a home-field advantage, so really appreciate that. Great game, much closer than the score ended up being. It was a nip-and-tuck game there for most of the game.

“We’re facing a starting pitcher that could pitch on the weekend in any conference. Was outstanding, just funky and deceptive and had a really good slider and good fastball and some of the arms they brought out of the pen just had really good stuff.”

Bakich made sure to shoutout his offense to stay consistent with their backs against the wall.

“So you know credit to our offense for you know, sticking with it,” Bakich said. “I thought (they were) really, really tough, really tough with two outs … We had a bunch of two-out RBIs, two-run homer by Caden, two out grand slam by Billy, Cooper had a two-out RBI, base hit Riley Bertram had two RBI, two-out double. Just just love the way we played.”