OXFORD, Miss — For a ninth straight year, Clemson failed to advance out of an NCAA Baseball Regional.

The Tigers’ latest failure came in Oxford, Mississippi, where they were eliminated by Jacksonville State, 9-2, in Game 5 of the Oxford Regional at Swayze Field on Sunday. It is the earliest the program has been eliminated from the NCAA Tournament under head coach Monte Lee, who just wrapped up his fourth year.

A proud program that at one point advanced to the Super Regional Round of the NCAA Tournament nine times in the first 12 years (1999-2010) after the NCAA moved to its current format, Clemson now can’t get out of its own way.

“It has been a struggle,” Lee said. “If you look at it, we have won game one four years in a row and we have lost game two. When you lose game two, that puts your back against the wall,” he said. “So, you have to have extremely deep starting pitching to be able to make that run if you lose one of the first two games.”

And that is the issue. Clemson has not had the pitching.

The Tigers have gotten few good performances by its starting pitching in the regionals, especially in the Oxford Regional.

Clemson’s three starters—Jacob Hennessy, Mat Clark and Brooks Crawford—combined to allow 13 runs on 18 hits in just 9 2/3 innings this weekend. They walked six batters and struck out just four. The combined earned average for Clemson’s starting pitching in the Oxford Regional was 12.7.

“We have to do a better job developing starters and having guys ready to go deep into ballgames and get through lineups three times,” Lee said. “That is the key and we have not been able to do that and that is why we have not gotten out of the regional round.”

The Tigers’ lack of starting pitching is also the reason why they have been beaten up so badly in games they have been eliminated. In the last four games in which it was eliminated from the NCAA Tournament, Clemson has been outscored 45-10 by Oklahoma State, Vanderbilt (twice) and Jacksonville State.

“That has been the issue, I think, when you look at it,” Lee said. “You look at last year, and I hate to talk about previous seasons, but we lost game two and our starter got knocked out early in game three. We won that game and the next thing you know we are out of pitching to a degree.”

The Tigers got shelled by Vanderbilt, 19-6, in the next game, a game that saw the Commodores hit a record nine home runs off Clemson pitching.

“I think the whole key is you have to get deep starts. Look at Ole Miss,” Lee said. “You have (Will) Ethridge and (Doug) Nikhazy. Those two guys are able to go deep into the ballgame and they win.”

Ole Miss won the Oxford Regional with a 19-4 victory over Jacksonville State in Game 6 Sunday night. The Rebels went 3-0 in the regional and in all three games their starter pitched at least into the sixth inning.

Ethridge went seven innings in their first win over Jacksonville State and Nikhazy went eight against Clemson. Mississippi’s three starters combined to pitch 20 1/3 innings in three victories, allowing just four earned runs off 12 hits, while walking just three batters and striking out 17.

“It is pretty simple. We have to be able to go deeper into the ballgame with our starting pitching in the first two games of a regional if we are going to win a regional,” Lee said. “That is the bottom line. Just look around the country right now at the teams that are hosting regionals this year that have lost one of the first two games.

“Why did they lose? Probably because their starter got knocked out early in a game or they ran into a starter that was able to go deep into a game. That is baseball. Momentum is always going to be based on starting pitching.”

And that is something Clemson has not consistently had in quite a while.