The Tigers came into the mid-week series looking to continue their positive ways after winning 2 of 3 against top 5 Duke over the weekend.
Billy Barlow took the mound for the Tigers and had a solid outing going 3.1 innings scattering 4 hits and 2 runs across 61 pitches.
But the story of the night was the lack of pitching from the Winthrop Eagles. Eagles pitchers walked 9 Clemson hitters and the Tigers took advantage, scoring 7 of the 9 walks.
Clemson used a two-out rally in the first inning to take an early lead, a common theme in recent games. Blake Wright clubbed a solid single followed by a Jimmy Obertop double for the 1-0 lead. Tristen Bissetta walked and Will Taylor knocked in Obertop to lead after the first inning.
The Tigers added another run in the second before going cold at the plate for an inning.
Winthrop strung together three hits together in their half of the 4th resulting in 2 runs cutting the Tigers lead to 3-2. It was then that the wheels fell off for Winthrop pitching.
Clemson scored 10 runs between the 4th and 5th innings, and in an odd stat line, scored 6 runs with only 1 hit in the 5th. Winthrop booted two balls along with 4 walks that led to the 6 runs.
“It was great to open up a scoring margin and get a bunch of guys in.” Coach Bakich said after the game.
The Tigers would make wholesale from that point on, leading to a convincing 13-3 victory.
Blake Wright went 4-4 in the victory with 3 RBIs to lead the offense, although two of his hits never touched the grass. Wright was asked about how he’s feeling when he steps up to the plate during his hot streak, “I’m just trusting my approach and things I’m going over with my coaches.
Will Taylor added 4 RBIs after again, moving to the 6th hole in the lineup.
Four freshmen made their Clemson debuts on the mound for the Tigers and fared extremely well. Jacob McGovern, Nathan Dvorsky, Chance Fitzgerald and Luke Brown all were called on in the blow-out victory. Bakich added that it was great to have three career debuts, and one with a season debut.
Bakich was asked if there was any sense of a possible let down with the trap games mid-week, “there could always be a trap game or something like that…the best teams are consistently good and we’re going to be as good as we believe we can be, we need to show up every night.”
And show up they did tonight.
Next game is tomorrow night versus Presbyterian in Greenville.
