Monte Lee says Tigers aren't desperate, but are determined to win ACC Championship

Lee says his team isn't in desperation mode.

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Tue May 24 08:12:16 GMT-04:00 2022

CLEMSON – Desperate? No, but the Clemson baseball team is going to Charlotte determined to win an ACC Championship.

Clemson (35-21 overall, 13-16 ACC) will play in Pool A this week at Truist Park in Charlotte against North Carolina on Tuesday and Virginia Tech on Thursday. Both games are slated to start at 7 p.m.

The Tigers finished the season with a nine-game home winning streak and are firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament, but head coach Monte Lee said his team is only thinking about one thing.

“Our mindset is to win it. That's our mindset. We want to go in there and win this thing,” Lee told the media Monday afternoon. “We need to focus on game one like we have all along. We know where we're at. We're right on that bubble, but why not go up there and try to win the thing. We play Tuesday and Thursday. Depending on Anglin's status - and we have to address that first because it would be a short-rest situation for him, but we would have four full days of recovery.

“We need to make sure he's ready. Between him and (Geoffrey) Gilbert, we can compete with anybody when those guys give us quality starts. It's a hitter's ballpark. Hopefully, we come into this week swinging the bats well one through nine. We've got a chance to score some runs. We're playing two really good teams, but our mindset is to go to Charlotte and win this thing.”

With the regular season complete, Lee just wants his team to continue doing what they’ve done over the last few weeks: pitching well and scoring runs.

“As a baseball team, we go through plenty of ups and downs through the whole course of the season, and I think if you start using words like 'have to' and 'desperation' and 'must wins' you're only showing mental weakness within your ball club if you do that,” Lee said. “That's the bottom line. We've played a lot of baseball. The hay is in the barn. Let's go play baseball. We know what we're doing. We know what our strengths are. We don't need to approach the North Carolina game any differently than we have any other game. It's pretty simple: if we get a good start on the mound, if we swing the bats the way we can swing the bats, we can compete with anybody in the country. That's the message.

“It's not going to change anything. We all know what we're facing. The guys will be ready to go, so let's go win game one and get some momentum going into game two.”

Clemson has been in 'playoff baseball' mode for the last month as the Tigers worked themselves into postseason consideration, so playing in an actual postseason tournament won’t be anything new, according to ACC Player of the Year, Max Wagner.

“Coach Lee said it two or three weeks ago. Every game we're playing is a playoff game,” Wagner said Monday afternoon. “Obviously, this is the conference tournament, which technically is a playoff, but we're going to play it like we have the last two or three weeks, play our brand of baseball and let the chips fall where they may. We're going to compete every pitch.”