Continuing a rough stretch in ACC play, No. 24 Clemson dropped two of three to Miami at home this weekend, falling to 2-7 in conference play.
Miami took the opener Thursday night. Clemson, 19-10 and 2-7 in ACC play, managed to scrape out a win Friday, but couldn’t close it, dropping the rubber match Saturday afternoon.
Game 1
In an extra-inning thriller, Clemson came up short in an 8-3 loss after letting up five runs in the tenth to kick off the series.
Miami, 21-7 and 4-5 in ACC play, plated the first run with a solo shot in the first inning off Aidan Knaak, then added two more in the third.
The Tigers answered with a run in the fifth and two in the sixth to tie things up for the next four innings.
By the tenth, everything unraveled. With Dion Brown on the mound, a crucial error by Tryston McCladdie at third opened the door for three runs. Joe Allen then allowed two more runs, putting the game out of reach.
All eight of Miami’s runs came with two outs.
Game 2
Clemson responded with a 7-6 win Friday night as McCladdie bounced back in a big way, putting together a two-homer day while adding a double.
Miami once again struck first in the opening inning, but Clemson responded immediately with a two-run shot from Nate Savoie in the bottom half — his tenth of the year.
The Hurricanes reclaimed the lead with a three-run fourth, but Clemson answered right back to even things up again.
McCladdie’s two-run homer in the fifth gave Clemson another lead, though Miami quickly tied it once more.
In the seventh, McCladdie launched the go-ahead homer, his second of the game, earning the first multi-homer performance of his career and giving Clemson its final lead.
Game 3
A late rally in the bottom of the ninth gave Clemson a shot, but it wasn’t enough in Saturday’s 8-6 loss.
Starter Drew Titsworth allowed four runs across six innings before Miami broke things open in the seventh with a grand slam off Talan Bell to stretch the lead to 8-0.
With all hope ultimately squandered, the Tigers finally got on the board with a two-out, two-run McCladdie double in the seventh.
Bryce Clavon led off the ninth with a homer to make the score 8-3.
For a moment, life breathed back into the Tigers when Jacob Jarrell launched a three-run shot to cut the score to 8-6; however, Clemson couldn’t finish the job and ended up dropping the series.
Clemson will travel to Charlotte, North Carolina, to take on Wake Forest on Wednesday before heading to Stanford for a three-game series this weekend.
