Everything Erik Bakich said after Clemson baseball was eliminated from NCAA Tournament

USA Today

2 days ago

Everything Erik Bakich said after Clemson baseball was eliminated from NCAA Tournament
With their backs to the wall, the Clemson Tigers turned in their ugliest performance of the season in Sunday's NCAA Tournament loss to the Kentucky Wildcats in the losers bracket of the Clemson Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
It was a recipe for disaster for the Tigers, whose seven errors and 13 hits allowed led to another disappointing postseason ending on its home field. Kentucky took advantage of Clemson's miscues by scoring 11 runs between the third and fourth innings en route to a 16-4 victory.
For the third straight season and the seventh time since 2011, Clemson was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in front of its home fans. The Tigers finished the season 45-18 overall, one more victory than the program recorded in each of its previous two seasons under coach Erik Bakich.
Bakich was disappointed by the team's loss but remained upbeat about the future and said that he thought the Tigers had even "overachieved" this season.
Erik Bakich opening statement
"Today obviously sucked and I don't want to dwell on how overly poorly we played in the game today when big picture (is) we have a group of seniors and a group of players that deserved a better finish than this. That's really the most disappointing thing; more disappointing than the seven errors and too many free passes and all the stuff.
"You've got guys like Dom Listi, Andrew Ciufo, Josh Paino, Lucas Mahlstedt, Reed Garris and all of our seniors that have just poured their hearts out for this team. To win 45 games, sweep South Carolina, and we did -- even though we didn't come close to reaching our goals here in the month of June, there were some things that we'll look back on and say there were some positives to take away from this season.
"I'm very disappointed that Cam Cannarella doesn't get to play in Omaha. That's a guy that comes around once every blue moon. A special talent like that, you want to see him shining the brightest on the biggest stage. I hate that for him, but I'm just in a mode right now where of course we're going to move on and look at what needs to happen for Team 129 to not be in this position. But right now, this moment, right here, this press conference, this is going to be about appreciation for our seniors.
"For Team 128, when you look at our stats, it doesn't equal 45 wins. There's no way you look at our stat sheet and say, 'That's a 45-win team.' So you really look at it and say these guys emptied the tank and squeezed every drop of everything to have some of the success that we've had this year. All that credit goes to guys like Dom Listi, who empties the tank every single day as do the rest of them and play as hard as they can possibly play. So yeah, the way the game was today, there's obviously no good takeaways of today. But big picture, this group collectively did everything right except we didn't finish where we wanted to."
Bakich on how he'll judge the 2025 team
"I'd say it's a team that overachieved to get to 45 win; a team that was very consistent with their work ethic and just the intangibles that they brought starting Day 1 in the fall until the very end. There was never a question of effort, never a question of attitude. I'll just always remember this group as they found a way in so many close games, so many one-run games, tight games, they just found a way to flex their mental toughness and come out ahead. It's just incredible, really. Early in the season, when our first goal was in front of us with the Gamecocks, that was an awesome weekend. So they'll always have that. That will be part of the history book with this team.
"But [ultimately], we fell short in the ACC, and we fell short in the postseason. We were one win away in the regular season and in the (conference) tournament from being champions and obviously ran out of gas here. It's a tough tournament. You have to understand how hard it is to get through a regional. Everybody's good now in college baseball. It's so important to get into the winners bracket and stay there. We didn't do it (Saturday).
"We are not going to let the outcome of one game today sour what were some pretty good achievements for this team. But that being said, it's not good enough. I know that. I've been here for the best of Clemson baseball in 2002 and have experienced coming so close, playing for a national championship. It feels exactly like this. There's only one team truly happy at the end.
"So you remember what this feels like and you also remember what it feels like to go to Omaha, too. You're playing with a chip and training with a motivation to not feel like this, but also to taste what it's like to experience the best of college baseball. Ultimately, that's the disappointing thing. When you love a group and the leaders and the kids and they do everything right, you just feel like they deserve to experience the best of college baseball. That's what makes the finality of a college season that falls short so tough."
Bakich on Clemson fans, standing ovations for Cam Cannarella, Andrew Ciufo and Dominic Listi
"The fans are awesome. We have one of the most passionate fan bases, so when you have a very passionate fan base, you know what you're going to get. They have high expectations, as do we. I think all of them appreciate what they've seen out of Cam Cannarella for the last three years. They understand. Some of them have been here since Coach [Bill] Wilhelm was here, and they've seen some star players come through this program. They recognize that that over the last three years, they've witnessed one of the best centerfielders in the history of college baseball -- if not the best.
"So I appreciate them showing their appreciation for Cam, and then I think they recognize that Dom Listi and Andrew Ciufo were great additions to our team. Dom gets on base over 50 percent of the time. That's just insane. Andrew Ciufo has just played lights out shortstop all year long and he really surged here offensively as of late. So I think everybody appreciates when you have guys that come in here and contribute to help Clemson. We experienced that last year with some of the grad transfers and we got it this year with some of them as well."
Here's the full postgame press conference with Erik Bakich's comments following Clemson's season-ending loss on Sunday, as well as comments from outfielder Dominic Listi.
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