Raffield got himself into trouble early, walking the first batter of the game and then hitting the Buc’s designated hitter, Ethan Cady, on an 0-2 pitch. However, Raffield worked himself out of the jam, by retiring the next three batters including a hit-saving back hand by Tigers’ third baseman Alex Wagner, who made his first start of the season against the Bucs.
The Tigers went in order in the bottom of the inning, with two ground outs to third and a strikeout.
Raffield improved his own performance on the mound in the second inning, retiring the Bucs in order and picking up two strikeouts along the way.
Buccaneer’s starter Tucker Rogers collected two strikeouts of his own in the bottom of the second, again retiring the Tigers in order.
In his third inning of work, Raffield continued to improve on the mound, striking out the side and doubling his strikeout total to that point.
The Tiger bats woke in the third inning when freshman first baseman Caden Grice launched a 3-2 pitch onto the roof of the batting cage building beyond the seats in right field. It was Grice’s first collegiate home run.
That wasn’t the only first of the inning for the Tigers. Sophomore right fielder Elijah Henderson hit a ball that spun awkwardly between the pitching mound and home plate towards the third baseline. By the time Rogers was able to reach the ball, Henderson had reached first base.
Raffield again got himself into trouble in the fourth, however this time, he was not able to work his way out of the jam unscaved. After striking out the first batter of the inning, Buc’s shortstop Ashton King singled into left field for the team’s first hit of the day. Third baseman Jake Lyle grounded to Wagner at third base, but a bad transfer at second allowed Lyle to avoid the double play. With two outs in the inning, Buc’s catcher JL Bland hit a line drive hard into right field, and a stumbling Henderson just missed the ball next to the wall. The Tigers’ right fielder recovered and relayed the throw into Regan Reid at second base, who threw out Lyle at the plate.
However, after the umpiring crew took the call to video review, the call was overturned and the Bucs were awarded a run, tying the game.
The Tigers in the fourth did not fare much better than they did in the first two innings. The first two batters of the half inning went down strikes. In another first for the Tigers, Reid collected his first hit of the season, a grounder up the middle which a diving King stopped from reaching the outfield, but Reid was too quick, and beat out the infield hit.
Redshirt freshman Nick Clayton came on to pitch in the top of the fifth for the Tigers, ending Raffield’s day on the mound. After striking out the first two batters he face, Clayton gave up a two-out, 1-2 single to the Bucs’ lead off hitter David Beam. Cady followed Beam with a home run into the bleachers in right field, taking the lead from the Tigers. The York, S.C. native quickly refound his composure and struck out the next hitter for his third strikeout of the inning.
The Tigers appeared to be going down quietly in the bottom of the fifth inning as Rogers recorded the first two outs of the inning on the first two pitches he threw. However, Wagner sat on the first two pitches Rogers threw, and took the 0-2 offering deep to left center field for the Tigers’ second home run of the game, cutting the lead in half. After Henderson and Brewer reached base with two outs, left handed pitcher Daulton Montagna came to the mound for the Bucs to face Kier Meredith. Montagna ran his very first pitch in tight on Meredith and hit him to load the bases. However, Pennsville, N.J. native recovered by striking out James Parker to end the inning and leave three runners stranded for the Tigers.
Clayton returned to work in the sixth inning picking up two strikeouts on the first two batters of the inning. Bland took a 1-2 pitch from Clayton deep, but a leaping Henderson caught the ball over the fence and brought it back into the ballpark to end the inning.
The Tigers again looked to be going quietly in the sixth inning, this time recording two outs on three pitches. Like the fifth inning, the next Tiger batter collected a hit, this time a single off the bat of French. The Tigers reclaimed the lead when Caden Grice hit his second home run of the game to straight-away center field. Wagner walked and a fly out from Henderson ended the inning.
Despite Parker dropping a one-out pop up in the top of the seventh inning, the Tigers turned two on a ground ball to Reid at second base, ending the inning after three batters.
With one out, Kier Meredith notched his first hit of the season, ripping a double down the left field line. With Meredith’s double, Montagna’s time on the mound was done, and Zach Kirby came on to pitch. Kirby’s action on the mound was to intentionally issue Parker a free pass to first base, putting runners on first and second for Regan Reid. Reid hit the ball just down the third baseline, scoring Meredith and Parker and reaching second himself. After advancing to third on an Alex Urban sacrifice fly, the Tigers stranded Reid at third base when French went down on strikes to end the inning. Kirby exited the game following Urban’s fly out and Walker Joyce finished the inning on the mound.
The eighth inning saw Bryce Teodosio make his first appearance in a midweek game this season, coming into the game for Urban, but taking over defensively in center field. Henderson moved to left field and Brewer moved to right field to accommodate the defensive change. Geoffrey Gilbert returned to the mound for the first time after Saturday’s loss to South Carolina and retired the top third of the Bucs’ order on strikes.
The Tigers picked up another run in the seven-batter eighth inning, an RBI single off the bat of Dylan Brewer. The two batters after Brewer reached after being hit by a pitch and walking, loading the bases with two outs for Reid. On the 1-2 pitch, Reid took a half-hearted swing on a ball high and end to end the inning and again left three runners stranded for the Tigers.
Rob Hughes came to the mound in the ninth inning for the Tigers, making his first appearance of the season. After retiring the first two batters, including a strike out, assistant coach Andrew See made the trip out to the mound to pull Hughes. Freshman pitcher Alex Edmonson came on to record the last out of the game. A pinch hitter for the Bucs singled up the middle against Edmonson and extended the Bucs’ hopes. The next batter worked the count full, but grounded out to Reid to end the game, 7-3.
The Tigers return to action Friday at 4 p.m. against Notre Dame for their first ACC series of the season. The Fightin’ Irish come to town for the first time since the 2019 season, as the Tigers’ weekend lineup hopes to return to form after dropping the Palmetto Series 0-2.
