The Clemson baseball team used a combined effort of pitching and hitting to beat Binghamton on Friday, downing the Bearcats 11-3 on opening day at Doug Kingsmore Stadium.
Third baseman Blake Wright got the scoring started quickly for Clemson, hitting a solo homer in the first inning to give the Tigers an early lead. He wasn’t done there, as the junior would homer again in his next at-bat and finish the day going 4 for 4 with two home runs and three RBIs.
Clemson broke the game open in the third and fourth innings, scoring six runs to put the game out of reach for Binghamton. In the third, Wright launched his second home run of the game, and right fielder Chad Fairey hit a two-run double to add to the Tigers’ lead.
“It was awesome to see (Doug Kingsmore Stadium) packed,” Wright said of his performance. “Credit goes to the coaching staff and everyone who came up with a great game plan for us. It was fun.”
Wright wasn’t the only player who left the yard, as freshman catcher Jacob Jarrell tallied his first career hit and a home run, launching a two-run blast into the left field seats.
“To see Jacob Jarrell get his first collegiate hit as a home run, for a kid that works as hard as he does, is really cool stuff,” Clemson head coach Erik Bakich said of his young catcher.
Alongside Jarrell, Bakich started two other freshmen on opening day in left fielder Jack Crighton and center fielder Cam Cannarella. All three players got their first collegiate hits and had at least one RBI to go with it.
Apart from the approach at the plate, Clemson’s play on the base path ultimately helped the Tigers run up the score.
The team combined for 11 stolen bases, putting runners in scoring position all game.
“You try to weaponize an offense to score runs,” Bakich said. “You never want to be one-dimensional.”
“We just always want to weaponize our guys to be able to be dynamic, to score in multiple ways,” Bakich added. “When you can do multiple ways, you can run and hit the long ball; that’s usually conducive for double-digit scoring and high offense.”
On the pitching side for Clemson, starter Ryan Ammons had a dominant outing to open his season. In 5 innings, the left-hander recorded nine strikeouts and allowed only three hits and one run in his first career start on the mound.
“It’s tough when you’re facing a guy like that’s a strike thrower, that’s got three pitches that all can get swings and misses in the strike zone and out of the strike zone,” Bakich said of Ammons. “You combine the character traits of that kid and what’s in his heart and in his chest and the toughness that guy has. That’s the type of tone-setter we want at the beginning of the weekend.”
Clemson will face off against Binghamton on Saturday at 2 p.m. EST at Doug Kingsmore Stadium for game two of the three-game weekend series.
