CLEMSON — Just when the Clemson baseball team thought things could not possibly get any worse, they did.

Thanks to Monday’s 4-2 loss to fifth-ranked Florida State and coupled with North Carolina’s three-game sweep of the Tigers back in April, Clemson endured its second home conference sweep of the season – a first in the program’s storied history.

“It’s frustrating,” Clemson catcher Doug Hogan said. “I thought there were times when we played pretty good. I thought Saturday and today, we played with them and hung with a pretty good ball club, but we had a few lapses there in the middle innings and that really cost us both games.”

What cost the Tigers (24-23-1 ACC) Monday was Jack Rye’s two-run homer to left field in the top of the third inning. Rye’s jack gave the Seminoles a 3-0 lead, which turned out to be more than enough for Florida State to clinch the ACC’s Atlantic Division title as well as sew up one of the top two seeds in the upcoming ACC Tournament.

“We played good defensively today and we pitched okay, but we just could get anything going at the plate. We never could get those back-to-back hits when we needed them,” Clemson coach Jack Leggett said.

Florida State’s Geoff Parker was a big reason why. The righty kept Clemson off balance – the second day in a row an FSU starter did such – by allowing just two runs off eight hits. In fact, he shut the Tigers out through seven innings, allowing just five hits – four singles and a double.

“That’s a good ball club,” Leggett said. “They’re very good offensively and they can pitch when they have to. That’s a good team.”

Clemson finally got to Parker in the top of the eighth when Hogan had a two-out single to left field which plated Jeff Schaus and Ben Paulsen. Hogan then moved up to second base after All-American candidate Buster Posey allowed his first passed ball of the season.

With two outs, and Hogan standing at second, Chris Epps ripped a shot to centerfield, but it fell right into the glove of center fielder Tyler Holt.

Epps also had a rip to left field that ended the same way in the fourth inning with a runner on base.

“That’s the way it seems it has been all year,” Hogan said. “It has seemed as if every little hop and bounce has gone the other way. But we can’t dwell on this. We have to put this behind us.”

The Tigers will have to put this behind them fast. Clemson will travel to Fluor Field Wednesday to battle a Furman team that’s leading the Southern Conference and then face a Georgia Tech squad that is also playing for its postseason lives.

“We really can’t worry about what anyone else is doing,” Hogan said. “We can only control what we do. We are going to have to win every game possible to get in the ACC Tournament and hopefully get in a regional.”

Clemson must first get in the ACC Tournament before it can think about the regionals. The Tigers, who have advanced to 21 straight NCAA Regionals, find themselves tied for seventh place in the ACC standings with Duke, and a half game up on ninth place Wake Forest for the final spot in the ACC Tournament.

Clemson will conclude its ACC season this weekend at Georgia Tech, while Duke and Wake Forest will meet in Winston-Salem this weekend in a crucial series. The Blue Devils close the ACC season at Virginia Tech the following week, while Wake visits Boston College to close out the year.

“Nothing is going to be easy for us,” Leggett said.

Posey led Florida State with three hits Monday, while Rye had two hits to go with his two RBIs. Tony Delmonico and Mike McGee also had two hits for the Seminoles, who had only swept Clemson one other time in its history at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, and that was in 2002.

“We are still trying to figure out who we are as a team,” Leggett said. “We have to keep working on it.”

Overall ACC Standings

Team W-L GB Overall

Miami 20-2 --- 39-5

Florida State 21-5 0.5 39-7

North Carolina 18-5 2.5 38-8

N.C. State 15-8 5.5 32-14

Virginia 13-11 8.0 33-15

Georgia Tech 12-12 9.0 33-14

*Clemson 10-16 12.0 24-23

*Duke 8-14 12.0 31-14

Wake Forest 8-15 12.5 19-27

Boston College 8-19 14.5 24-24

Maryland 8-19 14.5 26-24

Virginia Tech 4-20 17.0 20-27

*---has one conference tie; Note Division leader(s) in bold; the top eight teams in the standings will play in the ACC Tournament; a division winner is guaranteed at least the No. 2 seed in the ACC Tournament.