There were a couple of things the baseball team had to acknowledge going into the weekend. Sixth-ranked Clemson (35-10, 11-4 ACC) is one of the best teams in the country, and Duke (14-32, 4-14) is not.
This meant that if the Blue Devils were to come out of the weekend with a win, they would have to capitalize on opportunities and not make any mental errors.
They failed at this task, and the Tigers took all three games of the series at historic Jack Coombs Field.
If the Blue Devils had a chance to knock off the Tigers it would have been Friday. Duke had the game in hand, leading 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. With a runner on second, leftfielder Doug Bechtold misplayed a fly ball that would have been the game's final out.
Instead,
"We had a chance to set the tempo Friday," coach Bill Hillier said. "I was on my way out of the dugout to shake hands with their coach, and then we misplayed a ball in the outfield and lost. Whenever you have a team like that and you have a chance to beat them, you've got to put them away."
The rest of the weekend proved the truth of Hillier's statement.
On Saturday the Tigers grabbed a five-run lead after two innings, and never let go. But Duke did try to make things interesting in the game's final inning. Down 8-2, the Blue Devils scored three runs in the ninth on a two-run double from Larry Broadway and an RBI-single from Kevin Kelly.
It proved to be too little, too late, as Clemson held on for the 8-5 victory.
Sunday was not exactly an improvement. The Tigers scored first with a run in the opening inning and kept on scoring.
In the sixth, Duke clawed back to make it 6-3. But Clemson put five runs on the board in the top of the seventh, and despite an eighth-inning Duke rally, held on for a 12-8 victory.
The series left Hillier wondering if his team has thrown in the towel, with one ACC series left to play.
"I'm not sure if they have given up or not," he said. "We've still got Carolina next weekend. I told them that if you can't get ready to play Carolina when you're putting on a Duke uniform, you don't have a heartbeat or any respect for the game."
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