One swing was all it took.

One swing was all it took to bring life back to Clemson. One swing was all it took for Justin Hawkins to prove why he should be in the lineup.

Although No. 16 Clemson ultimately suffered yet another heartbreaking, 9-8 loss to Duke Sunday afternoon, which was the second consecutive weekend the Tigers have been swept in conference play as well as the team’s seventh straight loss, Hawkins did his part.

The redshirt senior out of Prosperity, S.C., has not had the easiest year. As a versatile infielder who can hit for power, Hawkins struggled at the plate prior to the season and as a result has seen limited action in the lineup this year.

He finally got the opportunity to start this weekend. He went into this weekend hit-less but it won’t be his first hit of the season that is remembered most. It will be his 447-foot grand slam in the bottom of the fifth inning Sunday that tied the game at eight.

“Coming into this year I was struggling a lot at the plate,” Hawkins said after the game. “Everyday our guys come in, we work the same amount. We work really hard. I understand that I haven’t gotten a lot of opportunities but Coach (Monte) Lee is a wonderful coach and he knows who to play in the right moment and every time.

“With me struggling I figured that maybe there would be a chance and when I got my chance I just had to step up and take it. I feel like this weekend, working through some at-bats in a single game kind of helped me a lot. Everyday our guys show up and work hard and when we get our opportunity we just try to capitalize on it.”

Trailing 8-2 going into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Tigers rallied for six runs, all with two outs, to tie the game and bring hope back to the dugout. The surge was led by Hawkins’ grand slam which was a shot into the left field Chapman Grandstands.

“In that moment I knew it was going to come down to being in a position to do something big for the team there,” he said. “I saw the lefty was warming up in the bullpen (Matt Dockman) and we had faced him the night before so I had an idea of what he was going to throw me.

“I had a plan to walk up the plate and stick with that. I knew he was going to give me something that I could handle up in the zone and I was waiting for the opportunity. When I got it, I took it.”

Despite Hawkins’ contributions to the lineup this weekend it wasn’t enough to get over the rough patch that Clemson (25-15, 11-10 ACC) is currently going through.

It’s been hard for anyone to come up with the right answers of how to get back on track, but Hawkins just keeps treating every game the same.

“That’s what we did when we went to Florida State. Even those games, we treated every single one the same,” he said. “When we played this weekend we treated everyone the same, so I think we say respond, come back to the field Tuesday and do the same thing we’ve been doing.

“We are a heck of a team when we stick to the plan and we know that. Like I said earlier, it’s a hard time. It’s baseball, it’s a game of failure so you’re going to fail seven out of ten times. But the way we respond is we keep our head up. We keep grinding and we come to the field to get prepared.”