Clemson Tigers Lose To Presbyterian In Midweek Debacle

For those of you that decided it was too painful to even watch, the Clemson Tigers lost yet another game, this time to Presbyterian on what was no other than April Fools' Day. This loss, however,  was no joke as the Tigers dropped to 14-14 on the season. The loss drops Clemson to 3-4 in mid-week games, with losses to Winthrop, Michigan State, Coastal Carolina, and now Presbyterian. Clemson is also 6-8 at home this season, one of the worst records in recent memory.

The Blue Hose came into the game with a 16-12 overall record, a team that the Tigers needed to beat in order to gain any kind of momentum going into this weekend's series against North Carolina. Clemson could not generate enough offense, however, and committed two sloppy errors ended any hopes the Tigers had of getting their third win in a row Wednesday night.

In the top of the first inning, Presbyterian's Cam McRae hit a two-run home run to give the Blue Hose an early 2-0 lead. Chris Okey came right back in the bottom of the inning and belted a two-out, two-run double to tie the game at two apiece.

The game remained tied until the fifth inning where the Blue Hose hit a two-out single to give themselves a 3-2 lead. Clemson answered quickly when Steven Duggar smoked a two-out RBI to drive in the tying run. The game would remain tied 3-3 until the ninth inning.

In the top of the ninth, Glen Casaceli, of Presbyterian, hit a  two-out single in the ninth inning that brought in both Brandon Martin and Guy Casaceli to score, what would be, the game-winning runs.

In the bottom of the ninth, the Tigers plated one run to make it 4-5, but their rally came up short when Tyler Slaton hit into a game-ending 1-2-3 double play with the bases loaded.

"Presbyterian College is playing good and they did what they had to do," said head coach Jack Leggett, via ClemsonTigers.com. "They had a big hit at the last minute that they had to and gave them the two-run lead that they needed. We both played pretty good defense all day long, but they just got one more than we did. We have to play Friday against a really good North Carolina team."

Clemson has looked good at times this season in wins over South Carolina and Virginia Tech, but the mid-week losses and poor execution have lead to a dismal season. The Tigers will need to turn it around in a hurry if they hope to make anything positive out of this season. Hopefully Clemson can find a way to string together some wins in the upcoming weeks, but if the Tigers do not, Clemson could miss out on post-season play of any kind, including the conference tournament.

Clemson will host North Carolina at 6:30 p.m. Friday, the Tigers are currently 5-7 in conference play, good enough for fifth overall in the Atlantic Division.