The Tigers traded hits with the Panthers all weekend. Friday’s game featured a Tigers blowout while Saturday saw the Panthers win by double digits.
Clate Schmidt pitched his fifth win on Friday giving up six runs, all earned, in 6.2 innings. The Tiger offense backed him up, exploding for 14 runs on 16 hits. Clemson was down 1-0 early, but retaliated by scoring in five straight innings and going up 12-5 by the end of the sixth inning.
Reed Rohlman had one of his best games yet, hitting in four of five plate appearances and driving in three runs. Seth Beer returned to the lineup and also reached base four times (two hits and two walks). Weston Wilson continued his torrid season at the plate going 2-4 with a single and a double and driving in two more.
The sixth inning really blew the game wide open for the Tigers as they widened their lead by an additional five runs. Chase Pinder singled to center field to start it off. White struck out, then Okey reached on a hard hit ball right to the shortstop.
Back-to-back walks by Beer and Wilson scored the first run. Reed Rohlman then singled to right field, scoring two, as he advanced to second base on
the throw.
Robert Jolly reached on a throwing error and Chris Williams had a sacrifice fly to left field. Jordan Greene flied out to end the inning. The events helped the Tigers end the game with a 14-6 win.
Head Coach Monte Lee changed the starting lineup a bit, most notably by starting Jordan Greene at third base instead of Adam Renwick. Renwick has a .141 average and a miserable .263 on base percentage so far this year. He has also collected six errors, the second most on the team. Greene has hit .250 up to this point, but his .375 on base percentage is what makes him
stand out.
Saturday was the complete opposite. The Panther hitters figured out pitcher Charlie Barnes pretty quickly, forcing him out of the game after just four innings pitched.
Barnes surrendered eight runs (seven earned) on 10 hits and one walk while striking out five. It didn’t look much better for the rest of the pitching staff either as they gave up seven more runs over the last
five innings.
Tiger hitting was scattered to say the least. After putting up three runs on four hits in the first inning, Clemson only had five more hits across the next eight
innings combined.
Beer hit another home run and extended his hitting streak to 23 and his run batted in (RBI) streak to seven games. That says a lot about not only Beer’s situational hitting, but the hitters ahead of him and their ability to get into scoring position.
Sunday’s game was a good change of pace from the recent double-digit scores. The score was just 4-3 and the Tigers looked good on the mound.
Alex Eubanks got the start and finished with 4.2 innings pitched, giving up three runs (two earned) on six hits and no walks, collecting four strikeouts in the process.
Pat Krall came in the fifth inning and finished the game out, pitching 4.1 innings and giving up no runs. Krall also received a save for his handiwork. The long outing drops Krall to a team-best 0.56 ERA over 32 innings this season.
The sixth inning proved to be another pivotal one for Clemson’s hitting. Chris Williams came through with an RBI single to center field, with the bases loaded, scoring two runs and tying the game at three. Williams has been hitting much better as of late, going 4-12 with three RBIs and a run over the weekend, raising his overall batting average to .225 for the year. Beer also singled, which extended his hitting streak to 24 games.
As far as fielding goes, K.J. Bryant made the only two Clemson errors. One was mental as he just positioned himself badly for a play. The other was a physical mistake; the ball just barely glanced off his glove as he was going to make the transfer to throw out a runner tagging to third base.
Overall, it was a good series for the Tigers. They showed grit coming back and playing hard after a blowout loss to secure a series win and compete for the Atlantic Division title. The Tigers’ next game is against Georgia in Athens at 7 p.m. on Tuesday.
