An open wound fueling Clemson baseball heading into 2024

Cam Cannarella fashioned a stellar freshman season.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Wed Jan 17 15:00:09 GMT-04:00 2024

An open wound is fueling Clemson baseball’s journey into the 2024 season.

Clemson’s ACC Championship season ended with a loss to Charlotte in the NCAA Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium last June, a jarring end to what had been a magical run for the Tigers under first-year head coach Erik Bakich.

Expectations are high heading into this season - the Tigers were No. 10 in the D1Baseball preseason ranking, released Tuesday. Wake Forest was the preseason top-ranked team, followed by Florida, Arkansas, LSU and TCU. Clemson was one of six ACC teams ranked in the top 25, joining No. 1 Wake Forest, No. 12 Duke, No. 13 NC State, No. 14 Virginia and No. 15 North Carolina.

Clemson finished the 2023 season with a 44-19 overall record, its best mark since 2018 and its first ACC title since 2016. The Tigers are led by sophomore outfielder Cam Cannarella, who is a preseason All-American.

Bakich joined a D1Baseball podcast last week and talked about the upcoming season, and he started by saying the goal is to get better each season.

“For us, the similarity is the target is going to always stay on growth. So last year's Team 126 didn't get to where we wanted to go, but had some nice storylines behind it and have a championship to show for it forever,” Bakich said. “This year, Team 127, the same spot, continual growth and improvement. The risks and the threats are maybe managing expectations. You got guys that probably had the target on, to compete and as hard as they can and earn a position or keep a position and then they have tremendous success. They can't go into this season thinking that they need to replicate that - just add on and just keep the target on competing.

“So, yeah, we had some things to build off of from last year as a team, a championship, a host, but ultimately, we finished the season not in Omaha. So it's that compound effect of just keeping improving. So, we hope to get hot at the end and be the last team standing, but individually with the guys, just making sure that they keep the target where it needs to be on today and not thinking about what the accolades will be six months from now.”

Bakich was asked what he learned about his team in the fall and he talked about the open wound that is fueling the team heading into this season.

“I don't know if I learned anything other than they're very hungry and they came into the fall on a mission, on a purpose, with an edge, I'd say like a chip,” he said. “Disappointed still the sting of feeling like we were moving 100 miles an hour and then just crashed. So I think still very much with that open wound that will never close, that is fueling them this season in a lot of guys, a lot of different ways, but just hungry and wanting to attack the fall and have a group of returning players and kind of get that interconnectivity with the new guys as well, which I thought we did a really good job of this fall.

“I thought we did enough off the field team building type events that it made the cohesion and the harmony on the field accelerate a bit. So, everything was good. We have a nice blend of returning and new players. I don't know roles right now, but there are some guys that were in leadership roles last year, like a Blake Wright that will be returning in a leadership role this year. But the exact positions, we've got some depth and we've got some maneuverability with guys being able to play different positions.”

With talent and depth, he knows what is expected.

“So we have no excuses. At least that's the thought coming out of the fall. No reason why we couldn't be a great team. So it's just committing to get better every day so that we earn that opportunity to get hot at the end because that's a tough thing and that's what every coach chases,” he said. “Every team chases it – to get hot at the right time, but you have to put in the time, all the months and days leading up to it. So, this group has done a fantastic job. We say how you do anything is how you do everything. And this group just shattered a team GPA record, they got a 3.27, which broke the record we set last year.

“And for all the people that, what's academics got to do with athletics? Well, it's just more of a mindset of wanting to be great in everything you do, because how you do anything is how you do everything. And so no discipline issues, no off the field issues with this group. They're very focused, laser focused. And so seeing the hunger that they have inside them to build upon what last year's team did is encouraging and motivating as a coaching staff.”