It was a story that’s been told before as Clemson scored seven runs off of 12 hits but fell a run short to Presbyterian College with an 8-7 loss over the Blue Hose Tuesday night at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in Clemson.

Eight of the Tigers in the starting lineup had at least one hit and Clemson catcher Kyle Wilkie went 3-for-5 at the plate.

“As a team I think the past ten games or so we’ve scored a lot of runs on a lot of hits,” Wilkie said. “Earlier in the season we were winning games where we might have been scoring one or two runs. For us, as hitters, we just have to keep doing that. It’s nobody’s fault that these games are 9-8. It’s just the way baseball is, it’s going to happen.

“We just know that other guys are going to step up and there’s going to be games where pitchers are going to hold other guys to zero runs and we’re going to score maybe one and we’re going to win that ballgame. It’s just that trust in each other that we’re going to pick each other up.”

Clemson scored six of its runs off of Presbyterian’s starting pitcher Austin Paradis who gave up those six runs on eight hits, with two walks and two strikeouts in three complete innings of work.

“(Paradis) was trying to get ahead early with fastballs and I think we were able to jump on it,” Wilkie said. “I know he threw me fastballs early. I’m pretty sure from watching other guy’s at-bats he was throwing fastballs early.

“We were just seeing his ball really well and whenever you can see it, your eyes are your best tool when you’re hitting. Whenever you can see it it’s going to be a good day.”

Although the close losses have been frustrating for everyone involved, Wilkie, a junior who has always been praised by head coach Monte Lee for his leaderships abilities, is doing all he can to keep the team up.

“I try to be vocal on the field and whenever something bad happens I’m like, ‘Hey let’s go’ or I go out and talk to the pitcher,” he said. “Obviously, you have the visit limitations where I have to pick and choose when I can go out and say stuff, but in the locker room there’s a group of us … me, you have Logan (Davidson), Carson (Spiers), and some of those other guys, Grayson (Byrd).

“Just the older guys that are in there and I think the leadership… we’re also trying to find answers. Like you said, it’s frustrating because we know how everyone feels. We can relate to everyone and show them what we’ve been through and how we can get through it.”

On the bright side, Clemson has clinched a spot in the ACC Tournament in Durham, N.C. on May 21-26. But before even thinking about that there are still two critical conference series left for the Tigers as they travel NC State this weekend and then conclude the regular season back at home against Wake Forest, who they are currently tied for fourth place in the Atlantic Division with as both teams sit with 12-12 records in the ACC.

“Like you said we just clinched a spot and we have two big series coming up,” Wilkie said. “If we start playing good baseball and get hot, I don’t care what happens before, if we get hot at the end that’s what is going to get us furthest.  So I think it’s going to be, like you said, a blank canvas and it’s just going to be us playing baseball going forward.”