Though Clemson was trailing by seven runs heading into the seventh inning in its first meeting against Oklahoma State on June 4, you could not tell the Tigers were losing if you weren’t looking at the scoreboard.

The nearly 6,000 fans that were in attendance at the Clemson Regional that night were on their feet and were into the game. They were clapping without being told to on two strike counts. They were getting after the umpires, they were loud in key situations and they were supportive of their Tigers.

“They were cheering for our guys even when we were down my multiple runs,” Clemson head coach Monte Lee recalled in an exclusive interview with The Clemson Insider earlier this week. “I thought it said a lot about the Clemson fan base. This is a fan base that through tough times and through the good times, they are going to support our players and be there for our players and have ours players’ back.

“They are always going to support them. I thought it was really awesome and special for me to see in my first year.”

Lee says that’s why the Tigers, who finished the 2016 season at 44-20, were so good at home. Clemson posted a 24-9 record at Doug Kingsmore Stadium this season, which included wins over South Carolina, Boston College, Western Carolina, Georgia Tech, Florida State and NC State – all teams that advanced to the NCAA Tournament.

“I believe this. We were a really, really good home team this year, and a big part of that was our fan base,” Lee said. “I look at it like this. The head coach has to have the players’ back. The one thing I noticed about our fan base this year is our fan base had our players’ back. They really did.”

The fans had the Tigers back even when they deserved to be booed. Seven of Clemson’s nine home losses were by seven or more runs, including a 15-run loss to Georgia Tech, an 11-run loss to NC State, a 10-run loss to Pitt and a 10-run loss to Oklahoma State.

With the exception of the Georgia Tech loss, the Tigers rallied to win the following game after each embarrassing loss. They beat Pittsburgh, NC State and Florida State to win the three-game series, and then came back to blowout Western Carolina by 12 runs in an elimination game following the Oklahoma State loss.

“Even when we had bad losses, our fans came the next day. They kind of took on the same feeling that I did,” Lee said. “’Hey, let’s forget about today and let’s get ready for tomorrow.’ Our fans assumed that as well. So I thought that was huge for us.

“After tough losses, our fan base came out the next day and supported our guys.”

And they supported them right until the end. In the second meeting against Oklahoma State in the Clemson Regional Finals, the Tigers again found themselves in a big hole to the Cowboys’, but again they were cheering and clapping the entire game. It was one of the best environments for a baseball game at Doug Kingsmore Stadium in several years.

When Oklahoma State eliminated Clemson from the NCAA Tournament with a 9-2 victory on June 5, the team joined the 5,000 or so Clemson fans that stayed, even though it was after midnight, to sing the Clemson alma mater.

“The phrase, ‘Clemson Family,’ it really resonates with me because of our fan base and how supportive they were,” Lee said.