Monte Lee says changes could happen as Tigers prepare for No. 4 Georgia

Monte Lee played in Monday night's Celebrity Softball Game at Fluor Field (Photo by David Grooms)

by Nikki Hood - Staff Writer - Tue Apr 16 12:01:54 GMT-04:00 2019

GREENVILLE – Monte Lee’s baseball team was swept last weekend at Florida State, but the Tigers have a shot at redemption when they travel to take on No. 4 Georgia in Athens Tuesday night.

Georgia defeated Clemson 5-3 at Doug Kingsmore Stadium on April 2, and Tuesday’s game completes the home-and-home series. Lee wants to see how his team responds to the adversity.

“Our messages are always pretty consistent. We're going to talk about the things that we did well and the things that we need to get better at whether we win a series or lose a series and there are certainly a lot of things after this weekend that we can take that we can get better at and I think our guys understand that,” Lee said Monday at Greenville’s Prowl and Growl event at Fluor Field. “It was certainly a tough weekend for us, but we're optimistic. The great part about this weekend is that we get to turn right around tomorrow (Tuesday) and we get to play the No. 3 team in the country at their place, so we continue to be able to challenge our guys in tough environments when things didn't go the way we wanted them to last weekend. It gives our guys the opportunity to see how they respond in a tough environment tomorrow night.”

GAME SETUP

• Who – Clemson (25-11) vs. Georgia (29-8)

• Best Ranking – CU – No. 16 Collegiate Baseball; UGA – No. 4 Baseball America

• When – Tuesday (7 p.m.)

• Where – Athens, Ga. (Foley Field)

• Watch – SEC Network

• Video Announcers – Mike Morgan, Todd Walker

• Listen (Radio) – WCCP (105.5 FM), ESPN Upstate

• Listen (Internet) – ClemsonTigers.com, TuneIn

• Live Stats – ClemsonTigers.com

• Social Media – ClemsonBaseball

Lee said Georgia provides a stiff challenge.

“It's just an extremely tough test for our guys. In my opinion, of the teams we've played so far this year, I feel like Georgia is the most complete team that we've played,” he said. “It's just the challenge of it when you come off the toughest weekend that we've had all year long and we have to turn right back around and go play on the road - which is always tough - against one of the best teams in the country. Just the challenge of it for our guys, to throw them right back into the fire against a top-five club in the country. I actually am looking forward to it. We've got to show that we can compete with high-level programs and tomorrow is going to be a heck of a test in that regard.”

Clemson’s starting pitching struggled last weekend in the sweep at Florida St., and Lee said rotation and lineup changes are an option.

“Every week we're going to look at it and try to make decisions that we feel like are going to put our team in a position to be successful,” Lee said. “I would say that it's going to be a domino effect. We're going to go into tomorrow's game and try to win tomorrow's game. Once the dust settles after tomorrow's game and we're able to collectively look at our pitching staff and figure out what do we need to do for the weekend for Duke, then at that time we'll do it.

“There could be some changes made to the rotation for the weekend, and there could be some changes made to the lineup. We're not afraid to move our guys in and out of the rotation and in and out of the lineup to try and find the right combination to help us win games. It doesn't always work, but we're going to give guys opportunities to get in there and compete and help us.”