Sign-up for Tiger Illustrated Wireless Text Alerts sent right to your cell phone!Click Never miss breaking news on Clemson sports and recruiting. Here to view this Link.

[Additional Clemson - Oklahoma State Notes | Super Regional Dates/Times/TV]

CLEMSON – This season was always about resilience and redemption for the Clemson baseball team, and that theme played out perfectly Monday night.

The Tigers battled back from the indignity of missing out on the NCAA Tournament last season. They battled back from some shaky times over the first half of this season.

And in their NCAA Regional at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, they climbed out of a deep hole to assure the extension of their season and the return of the program to familiar heights.

Facing a four-run deficit midway through the seventh inning of this elimination game, top-seeded Clemson battled back for a 6-5 triumph that culminated a three-wins-in-two-days finish to punch the Tigers' ticket for a best-of-three Super Regional trip to Arizona State.

Clemson (44-20) and the Sun Devils (47-12) will play Saturday at 9 p.m., Sunday at 10 p.m., and Monday at 7 p.m., if necessary.

"We just battled," said coach Jack Leggett. "I'm really proud of our attitude and how tough we were tonight. We deserved to win. We deserved to come back and have another weekend of baseball."

It was only fitting that Clemson's list of heroes comprised guys who had to overcome personal struggles.

Kyle Parker, who'd descended into a wretched slump that precipitated his removal from the lineup, laced a two-out, two-run single to left in the eighth to push the Tigers ahead.

Matt Vaughn, who'd endured a difficult senior season after struggling to recover from offseason shoulder surgeries, pitched the final 3 2/3 innings and struck out two – including the game-ending strikeout of Mark Ginther, sparking a wild celebration on the field and in the stands.

Chris Epps, a sophomore outfielder/designated hitter who hit just .250 on the season, hit .526 in the NCAA Regional and was named MVP after sparking the comeback with a two-run homer in the seventh, trimming the margin to 5-3.

The Tigers are now 11-0 under Leggett in home NCAA Tournament games that could clinch a Regional or Super Regional championship. They are now 25-2 in NCAA Tournament home games since the tournament field expanded in 1999.

All of Clemson's runs Monday came with two outs. The Tigers advance to their fourth Super Regional appearance in five years after missing out on the NCAA Tournament last season for the first time since 1986.

"This whole team deserves the MVP award," Epps said.

After winning narrowly against Tennessee Tech in Friday's opener, the Tigers suffered a 3-2 loss to the Cowboys on Saturday night. That forced them to win two games Sunday against Tennessee Tech and Oklahoma State, then another against the third-seeded Cowboys (34-24) Monday.

Clemson smashed both teams Sunday by a combined score of 25-1, but nothing came easy in the finale.

The Tigers' starting pitcher, lefty Ryan Hinson, lasted just an inning. And Oklahoma State pitcher Tyler Lyons, another lefty, had everything working despite having thrown 107 pitches in Friday afternoon's win over Alabama.

Down 3-0 after four, the Tigers narrowed it to 3-1 on an RBI triple by Mike Freeman in the fifth.

But everything appeared to come unglued in the seventh, when Oklahoma State scored two runs off three Clemson errors.

Third baseman Matt Sanders airmailed a throw to first, Jeff Schaus botched a fly ball in left, and first baseman Ben Paulsen made an errant throw to second trying to turn a double play.

And in the bottom of the seventh, the Tigers had two out when Sanders stepped to the plate.

Sanders managed to get on thanks to a throwing error by third baseman Tyrone Hambly. Then Epps delivered the homer, and Oklahoma State coach Frank Anderson left Lyons in – and paid for it.

Freeman followed with a double down the right-field line, and Schaus brought the Tigers within 5-4 with an RBI single to right.

Anderson kept Lyons in for the eighth. Paulsen lead off the bottom of the frame, then Lyons appeared to have regained his bearings after striking out Wilson Boyd looking and inducing a line-out by Brad Miller.

But John Nester doubled to left center, putting runners on second and third.

Lyons was done. He pitched 7 2/2 innings, giving up three earned runs on eight hits while striking out seven.

"I felt like he could get the guy right there, so I left him in there," said Anderson, who was ejected in the top of the ninth for arguing a close call at first base. "He kind of took the crowd out of that thing for the first five or six innings."

Replacing Lyons was Randy McCurry, a freshman right-hander who'd totaled 10 saves this season with a 2.45 earned-run average.

Parker, who'd been battling confidence issues after going 17-of-96 since April 15, stepped to the plate. He'd been yanked from the starting lineup for Sunday's win over the Cowboys, and he fouled out in the bottom of the seventh after Leggett inserted him to pinch hit for Addison Johnson.

"It's kind of been biting at me, not getting the clutch hit," said Parker who had a team-high 12 home runs entering the NCAA Regional. "That's the big thing that was just kind of tearing me apart."

Parker was 1-for-10 on the weekend before the big hit.

Said Leggett: "It was hard to keep Kyle out of the lineup, because he's such a clutch and competitive athlete."

Vaughn replaced Tomas Cruz, who pitched 4 1/3 effective innings in relief of Hinson. Vaughn allowed a double to the Cowboys' No. 8 hitter in the eighth, but he induced a ground-out by Micheal Dabbs with a runner on third and two outs.

Tyrone Hambly led off the ninth, and Miller made a deft catch, turn and throw that appeared to narrowly beat a sliding Hambly to first.

Anderson was ejected a few moments later.

"I thought he came off the bag," Anderson said of Paulsen.

Neil Medchill followed with a rocket that Paulsen couldn't corral, and the tying run was on first.

Kevin David grounded out to second, putting the Tigers one out from Tempe.

Leggett elected to intentionally walk Tom Belza, a sudden celebrity who'd smashed four home runs in the Regional --- including one against the Tigers on Saturday.

That brought to the plate Ginther, whose solo homer in the fourth put the Cowboys up 3-0.

With runners at first and second, Vaughn struck Ginther out swinging and threw his glove to the turf in a mix of exuberance, relief and redemption.

Said Vaughn: "I think everybody looks at everybody on the team and they see that we've all struggled at one point in the season. And then again, we've all had our moments when we've stepped up.

"Everybody thinks: 'If he can do it, I can do it.' We're never out of it."

*** To chat with other Clemson fans about this article please visit The West Zone message board.