The No. 23 Tigers welcomed the Georgia Bulldogs to Doug Kingsmore Stadium Tuesday night for Military Appreciation Night and the second, final meeting between the two teams in 2016. The Bulldogs came to Clemson looking for revenge after the Tigers defeated the Dawgs in Athens earlier this month, thanks to a huge five-run ninth inning and a monster performance by freshman sensation Seth Beer.
Final Score:
Clemson: 12
Georgia: 0
Pitching
Freshman right-hander Ryley Gilliam got the start and turned a phenomenal outing, flirting with a no hitter into the fifth inning. He ended up throwing five strong innings, allowing only one hit and earning his second win of his young college career. Alex Schnell, Clate Schmidt, Alex Bostic and Patrick Andrews threw an inning apiece to finish out the final four innings of the ballgame, allowing just two hits altogether as they closed the door on
the Bulldogs.
Offense
After scoring 12 runs in the entire three-game series against Louisville this past weekend, the Tigers exploded for 12 runs off of Andrew Gist and the rest of the Bulldog relievers. It was a total team effort, and as Coach Lee pointed out, eight of the nine starters in the lineup “had quality at bats and scored runs.” That said, Chris Okey led the charge, and was presented with a number of opportunities to make an impact.
“I was trying to do my best Seth Beer impression,” Okey said. “I was just trying to get a good pitch to hit, and not do too much with it.” He did just that, depositing his seventh home run of the season, a grand slam, into the Chapman Grandstands in left field, and drove in five runs when it was all said and done.
Speaking of Beer, he had a successful night at the plate as well, collecting two base hits, driving in three runs and scoring twice. The contributions didn’t stop there, however, as Chris Williams and Reed Rohlman each smoked two run doubles into left field, and Chase Pinder and Weston Wilson both collected two hits in the game.
This was a big win for a Tiger team that had been slipping as of late, and should be a nice confidence boost as the team begins a long, 13-game home stand. “It’s good to be back home,” Coach Monte Lee said, and that couldn’t be truer. The Tigers are 16-2 at home this year, and will return to action this weekend in an ACC matchup against the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets.
