After a long weekend of waiting, Clemson’s baseball team found out today whether it will play in the NCAA Tournament or if this is the end of the line for its season.
It’s the latter for the Tigers.
The NCAA Tournament’s 64-team field was announced early this afternoon, and Clemson wasn’t included. The Tigers did not receive an at-large berth, marking the second straight season their season has ended without a regional bid.
Clemson finished with a 35-23 overall record but won just 21 of its last 44 games after starting the season 14-0. It’s the first time since the 1985-86 seasons that Clemson has missed out on back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, though it was far from a surprise if not expected following the Tigers’ winless showing in last week’s ACC Tournament.
Clemson’s resume consisted of 13 top-50 RPI wins, but the Tigers had just 13 conference wins during the regular season, finishing fifth in the ACC’s Atlantic Division. They finished five games below .500 against league competition on the season after being outscored 27-8 in losses to North Carolina and Virginia Tech last week.
Now that Clemson’s season is officially over, a decision on the future leadership of the program could come soon. Monte Lee said last week he expects to be back for an eighth season as the head coach but acknowledged that ultimately won’t be his call.
