Clemson’s offense went quiet on Friday night as the Tigers were handed their first ACC loss of the season in a 4-0 defeat by the NC State Wolfpack.
Clemson went down early when starting pitcher Jacob Hennessy gave up a solo homerun to Brett Kenneman, the second Wolfpack batter he faced.
The next four innings were relatively quiet for both teams, but NC State mounted another offensive attack in the top of the fifth. After a leadoff walk, J.T. Jarett laid down a bunt to move the runner over. Hennessy fielded the ball, but overthrew Chris Williams. Jarett was safe and Brock Deatherage was on third with no outs. By the time the inning came to a close, the Wolfpack had scored two runs on three hits and taken a 3-0 lead.
Hennessy’s night ended after pitching 5.1 innings, giving up three runs on six hits and striking out seven.
Ryan Miller entered the game and pitched 1.2 innings of no-hit baseball before giving way to Owen Griffith.
State tacked on its fourth run in the eighth after a walk and two base hits.
The Tigers couldn’t seem to get out of their own way. Not only did Clemson commit five errors, they hit into two double plays and stranded six runners.
Offensively, Clemson could only muster six hits and was 0-6 with runners-in-scoring-position. The Wolfpack, on the other hand, was 3-9 with runners-in-scoring-position, though they did strand 10 runners.
The Tigers and Wolfpack will play game two of the series tomorrow at 4 p.m.