Clemson Misses NCAA Baseball Tournament for Second Consecutive Season

For the second consecutive year, the Clemson Tigers have missed the NCAA Tournament.

Jason Priester All Clemson

For the second straight season, Clemson will not appear in the NCAA Baseball Tournament.

The last time the Tigers (35-23, 14-16) failed to get into the NCAA regionals in consecutive seasons was during the Bill Wilhelm era when Clemson went five straight seasons (1982-86) without making an appearance, long before the field expanded to 64 in 1999. 

Monte Lee's Tigers started the season on a roll, reeling off 14 wins in a row. Clemson then lost six of its first eight ACC contests, before rebounding to win seven of its last nine conference games to clinch the 12th and final seed in the ACC Tournament.

It was a run that put the Tigers back in the conversation to make the field as Clemson headed to Charlotte with an RPI of No. 30. However, the team dropped both games in the ACC Tournament, being outscored 27-8 by North Carolina and Virginia Tech in the two losses.

"I mean it's really hard, it's really hard," Lee said about how the season ended. "It's tough to end the season. It's really hard to put into words the way that the end of the season feels. I've been coaching now for 22 years, played baseball. I've had my heart broken at the end of the year a lot of times. More than half my life I have been in this situation where your hearts broken at the end of the season. So it's really hard to put into words."

This comes just one year removed from Clemson turning in its first losing season since 1957 and has led to questions about Lee's future with the program. Although, the head coach said after the ACC Tournament that while ultimately it's out of his hands, he does expect to be back for an eighth season with the Tigers.

"I do expect to be back but ultimately that's not my decision," Lee said. "It's gonna be up to the administration. I'm sure that I will meet with the administration at some point and hear what they have to say. You know, I expect to be back but ultimately, that's not my decision. So we'll certainly cross that bridge when we get there."

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