LOUISVILLE, KY — In a must win game in the ACC Tournament, the Clemson Tigers went to their Friday night starter, Charlie Barnes, to pitch.
The Tigers faced off with the Duke Blue Devils, and found themselves down early. In the first inning, a lead-off single came around to score and gave the Devils a 1-0 lead.
However, the Tigers answered with a solo shot from Chase Pinder to lead things off for them. The Tigers hit two more homeruns, one from Andrew Cox in the second and one from Logan Davidson in the fourth, to take a 3-1 lead.
Barnes pitched six innings, giving up two runs, one earned, on six hits. He also struck out four and didn’t walk a batter.
Alex Eubanks came in in relief of Barnes, and struggled heavily in the seventh inning. He gave up the tying run and threw almost thirty pitches in one inning of work.
After him, Owen Griffith came in. His defense let him down when Greene and Jackson had a miscommunication that lead to a ball dropping in fair territory and put the go ahead run on third. That run was later brought home on a check swing double down the third base line. Griffith quickly made way for Ryley Gilliam, but he gave up a two-run single to make the score 6-3 Devils in the eighth.
This game continued to highlight the struggles Clemson has had all year with errors, struggling to hit with runners in scoring position and bullpen woes.
Two errors led to three unearned runs, the Tigers went 0-5 with runners in scoring position and four of the six runs were given up by the Clemson bullpen.
One highlight of the game for Clemson was freshmen catcher Kyle Wilkie. Wilkie replaced Chris Williams after he injured his shoulder against Nevada earlier in the year, and he has struggled behind the plate often. However, against the Blue Devils, he was able to throw out three runners with excellent throws to second. He also had a hit and walked once in the game.
Clemson will play Virginia on Friday at 11 a.m. but cannot advance past pool play with the loss. The game could potentially have regional hosting implications if the Tigers can pull out a victory.