No Excuses: Bakich says the pieces are in place for a great season

Clemson won the ACC last year and enters 2024 as a Top-10-ranked team.

by David Hood - Senior Writer - Sun Jan 28 07:00:03 GMT-04:00 2024

CLEMSON – Erik Bakich says his team has all the pieces it needs to win.

Clemson began its 127th baseball season with the first full-squad training this weekend before they open the season with a three-game series against Xavier at Doug Kingsmore Stadium from Feb. 16-18.

Bakich is in his second season as head coach at Clemson, as he led the Tigers to the 2023 ACC championship in his first season at the program's helm. It was Clemson’s first ACC title since 2016 and was a big reason it earned the No. 4 national seed in the NCAA Tournament, the first time the program hosted a regional since 2018 and first NCAA Tournament appearance since 2019.

Among the returnees is preseason All-America outfielder Cam Cannarella, who was named ACC Freshman-of-the-Year in 2023 thanks to hitting .388 with seven homers, 47 RBIs, 72 runs, a .462 on-base percentage and 24 steals. Junior outfielder Will Taylor hit .362 with five homers, 46 RBIs, 67 runs, a .489 on-base percentage and 11 steals in 2023.

Junior righty Austin Gordon led the 2023 team in innings pitched (84.0) and had 76 strikeouts against only 22 walks along with a 4.61 ERA in 16 starts. Senior righthander Nick Clayton had an 8-0 record and a 3.17 ERA in 24 relief appearances in 2023.

“Excited about this team, really because of the players within the team, watching them grow and improve and come out in the fall on a mission. That hunger and that drive, it just hasn't stopped,” Bakich said Friday. “Just watching a group of guys that have just been very, very persistent and intent on getting better and on earning our way as we go through this start of this preseason into the season and just continuing to get better is just what we see as a coaching staff. We see guys that are just very driven right now. And so we expect to have a great training session today, another great one tomorrow, another great one the next day, and just keep on this path of steady growth and improvement.

“And so we can earn the opportunity to get hot at the end and be one of those teams that is competing to be the last team standing. We have no excuses. We feel like we've got enough pieces, and we’re really excited to see how these pieces come together over the next few weeks leading up to the start of the season and then seeing how it all evolves and how the roster continues to take shape as we figure out who goes where and establish roles as the season continues.”

Bakich said he knows his lineup will evolve as the season progresses, and he is excited to see how it all plays out.

“I’ve never been a believer in the opening day lineup is going to match the end of the year lineup. I've actually never even seen that,” he said. “Always seen a fluid situation because things happen and guys improve and guys get opportunities. Really excited to watch how this evolves and watch us grow and get knocked down and get back up and really show what the identity of Clemson Baseball Team 127 is throughout the course of this entire season.”

The 2024 schedule features 34 home games and 25 games against 2023 NCAA Tournament teams. Clemson plays Presbyterian and USC Upstate at Fluor Field in Greenville and South Carolina three times, including a neutral-site game at Segra Park in Columbia. The ACC Tournament returns to Charlotte, N.C. for the third time overall and the first time since 2022.