Clemson baseball was defeated by Northeastern 5-3 on Sunday, ending the Tigers’ undefeated season and moving them to 14-1.
Propelled by a three-run fourth inning, the Huskies did just enough offensively.
Down by one in the top of the fourth, Clemson pitcher Nick Clayton retrieved a bunted ball and threw to third baseman Max Wagner, who missed the catch. This error allowed Huskies infielder Luke Beckstein to score for the Huskies, pushing the score to 2-0.
In the fifth inning, a single to center field sent another Husky to home plate. Following this play, Clayton was relieved by freshman Jay Dill. Dill allowed a run brought in and an additional hit, putting Northeastern up by four to close the fifth inning.
Northeastern had four hits in Clayton’s 4.1 innings and scored three runs.
Looking to bounce back from a scoreless first three innings for Clemson, the Tigers began to deliver in the fourth when a Northeastern wild pitch finally put Clemson on the scoreboard.
Yet with Northeastern’s starting pitcher Wyatt Scotti still on the mound, Clemson failed to score in the fifth and sixth.
In response to the opponent’s gain in the fifth inning, junior Jackson Lindley entered the mound to relieve Dill to start off the sixth.
In the eighth inning, sophomore pitcher Ryan Ammons was called in to relieve Lindley. These calls to the bullpen proved worthwhile for the Tigers, as Lindley and Ammons managed to keep Northeastern scoreless for the remainder of the game.
“I actually thought we pitched very well today,” head coach Monte Lee said after the loss. “We gave ourselves a chance. We just had a couple miscues on defense.”
Down by two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning, the Tigers were unable to deliver for a comeback.
Clemson totaled seven hits and had a combined team batting average of .206 for the game.
Sunday’s loss for Clemson was the team’s worst outing of the weekend, with a 9-6 victory on Friday and a 10-4 victory on Saturday.
The team’s performance was apparent not only in the loss, but also in the three fielding errors by Clemson and weak hitting performance.
“We just had a couple of miscues on defense,” Lee said. “We had a couple of errors that led to two runs, but we’re not going to play perfect defense all year.”
Lee recognized that the hitting performances were lacking for Clemson. He credited this mostly to a strong Scotti, calling him “the name of the game.”
Now at 14-1, Lee and his team will look to bounce back on Tuesday when they host Georgia State at 6 p.m. in Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
In the next 10 days, Clemson’s six upcoming games will take place at Doug Kingsmore Stadium, including an ACC opponent series versus Miami, Mar. 18-20.
