Clemson’s 2019 baseball season did not go the way that head coach Monte Lee and his team had hoped.

The Tigers finished the year with a 35-26 overall record, including a 15-15 mark in ACC play, and failed to advance in the NCAA Tournament for a ninth straight year. It was the first time they did not reach 40 wins under Lee since he took the helm in 2016.

“I certainly would say we’re not satisfied with how the season went,” Lee said during his season wrap-up interview session on Tuesday morning. “I’m not satisfied. I’m certainly disappointed and frustrated with how our season went. There’s a lot of things that we need to improve upon.”

Following a 24-7 start to the campaign, Clemson dropped 19 of its last 30 games to end the season. The Tigers suffered an eight-game losing streak at one point during the skid down the stretch.

Clemson saw its season come to an end with a 9-2 loss to Jacksonville State in the Oxford (Miss.) Regional. It was the first time under Lee that the Tigers did not make it to the championship round of a regional.

“To get beat in the regional round again, a 35-win team — based on where we were at the halfway point, how the second half of our season went — certainly not up to my standards as a head coach, and our players either,” Lee said. “That’s not to say anything negative about our players. I think our players understand the expectations of the program and where we want to get to. We didn’t reach that, so I think we’re all disappointed with how the season ended, the second half of the season.

“We were unable to right the ship for a long period of time. We showed spurts in the second half of the year, but we were unable to get back on a hot streak again in the second half of the year. That falls on me as a coach. … In the second half of the year, we weren’t a real good team on a lot of days, and we need to find a way to get better.”

After losing a number of veterans from last season’s team, Lee hopes to see more vocal and emotional leadership emerge heading into next season and wants to see his team play with more passion.

“We’ve got to find more emotional, outspoken leadership within our team,” he said. “That’s not a negative on the guys that we have, but we were more of a business-like approach type group of guys. … I’d like to see us be a little more fiery than we were with this upcoming year. I think we need a little more energy in the dugout, during the games and in practice.”

Clemson is tasked with replacing several key contributors from the 2019 team, such as shortstop Logan Davidson, who was selected by the Oakland A’s in the first round of the 2019 MLB draft, along with players such as catcher Kyle Wilkie, infielder Grayson Byrd, second baseman Jordan Greene and relief pitcher Owen Griffith.

“We do have some new pieces in the infield and behind the plate that we’ve got to replace,” Lee said. “That’s our biggest area of focus right now moving into the fall. We feel like pitching wise, we’ve got some pieces back and we’ve got some good pieces coming in. We do feel like pitching depth could be a strength of ours. But again, we’ve got to keep those guys healthy, and those guys have to pitch well.”

Once a program that made the Super Regionals nine times from 1999-2010, Clemson has now missed it nine consecutive years.

Lee understands what the standard is for Clemson’s baseball program and knows there is a lot of room for improvement moving forward.

“We all know the expectations. I think that’s kind of a given,” he said. “The expectations are for us to be playing for championships, to win regionals, to host regionals, win regionals and advance past the regional round… I think everybody in the program understands the expectations. I think we also understand some of the things that we’ve done here that have been very positive, but we’re always working towards moving farther in the postseason than we have.

“Dan (Radakovich) and I have had great conversations, and I think both of us are certainly on the same page as far as areas that we need to continue to improve upon and work towards to get our team back to Omaha. That’s the ultimate goal.”